Robert Fraisse

Top of the World Elementary School students and staff celebrated Monday morning with a special flag ceremony in which they raised their newest flag, honoring their selection as a California Distinguished School. The school was selected to be one of 370 campuses out of 5,700 across the state to be honored for its academics and focus on the whole child. “This is a very special day, and we’re here for a very special reason,” Principal Ron La Motte told students.

The Laguna Beach Unified Board of Education heard a report on primary-level foreign language teaching options at its Tuesday meeting. The district currently offers language courses in middle and high school; in kindergarten and first grade, an exposure program teaches kids basic words and concepts. A committee was tasked with determining the best practices in the district for expanding the foreign language program to other primary grades. A committee gave three options for the best fit in the district.

Local school fundraising organization SchoolPower partnered with the Surf & Sand Hotel on April 25 to honor the many business donors who provide vital support to education throughout the year. Event Chair and Trustee Cynthia Houalla described the reception as a ?feel-good event. Jim Rogers started it and thanks to the Surf & Sand, it?s grown. Our generous friends in the local business community deserve this.? The 27-year-old Laguna Beach Education Foundation receives strong support from school families, but also relies on local businesses to contribute close to half the dollars raised annually.

It?s clear there are strong feelings on both sides of the 7-year-old controversy about renaming the Laguna Beach High School mascot from Artists to Breakers. It?s also clear there may be a resolution in the works under a new district administration that is not afraid to tackle a tough subject. A lot of people have examined how the school mascot name got changed, and a lot was written about it in the newspapers at the time. A detailed report on the controversy was written by the Laguna Beach League of Women Voters, who were asked to look into the handling of two school elections held to determine and uphold the name change.

Laguna Beach School District officials are on “heightened alert”  in the wake of the widely reported swine flu outbreak. “We will be monitoring ill students and staff as they come through the health office,” Supt. Robert Fraisse wrote in a letter to parents on Monday. “We will be reporting any increase in absenteeism to the local health department.” Irene White, director of Special Education, said the district has not seen a decrease in attendance since the flu outbreak made the news.

Laguna Beach Unified School district officials have decided to move ahead with determining which entryway they would like to see built at El Morro Elementary School — once the adjacent Crystal Cove State Park project is under construction again. A district committee has narrowed down its preference for a reconfigured entry at the school, which shares an entry road with Crystal Cove State Park. The park has been in the throes of constructing a new campground and RV park facility, but the park project was abruptly halted in midstream Jan. 21 by the state due to issues regarding bond funding for the project in the wake of the state budget crisis.

The following is from the April 27 meeting of the Laguna Beach Unified School District Board of Education. Registration pilot deemed success Laguna Beach High School Principal Don Austin announced to the board that the newly adopted Open-Informed Consent Registration procedure was a ?massive success? that decreased the number of unregistered students to about 3.5%, compared with 18% last year at this time. He attributed the success to the availability of a variety of teachers, administrators and staff throughout the procedure, which enabled students to access all information necessary to help them choose the correct courses.

Laguna Beach High School was one of only three Orange County schools to be nominated Wednesday as a 2007-08 Blue Ribbon School. ?I think this distinction is something the entire community can celebrate,? Principal Don Austin said. ?A quick look at the list of honored schools indicates that we are truly recognized as one of the elite campuses in the state.? ?The Blue Ribbon nomination is a very high honor signifying a history of excellence for any school given this distinction,?