Laguna Beach Unified to halt specialized Community Learning Center program for a year

A 34-year-old Laguna Beach Unified School District program at Top of the World Elementary School will be suspended for a year, trustees decided Tuesday night.

The board voted 4 to 1 to put the Community Learning Center, a specialized program for first- through fourth-grade students that integrates academics with community service, character development and social awareness, on hiatus for the 2017-18 school year while the district assesses its future.

Trustee Dee Perry dissented.

Some board members said they were concerned with the potential cost of hiring two full-time teachers — between $200,000 and $240,000, according to a staff report.

In May, the district reported that two teachers resigned, though no reason was given in the staff report.

Trustee Peggy Wolff said some teaching strategies and student activities that were novel to CLC in earlier years, such as project-based learning and Science, Technology, Engineering and Math-centered lessons, are available in general classrooms.

“I’m passionate about elementary schools,” Wolff said. “They can offer you things that are innovative, that are character building, that are bonding in your classrooms.

“I can’t legitimately fund two more teachers.”

“I don’t know how by closing it we are really improving the educational process for children,” Perry said.

A majority of the 14 speakers who addressed the board pleaded with trustees to not halt the program, saying the CLC creates bonds between parents, teachers and students with a curriculum fueled by collaboration and interactive projects.

Parents are required to volunteer time in classrooms and students participate in multiple field trips that have included visits to an orphanage in Mexico, according to the CLC website.

“CLC was the best thing I did as a parent for my kids,” said resident Kim Duensing, who has a first-grade student in the program after two of her older children went through CLC.

“If we just look at the budget for two, three, four years, that is such a myopic view,” she added. “It’s pretty clear from the community that we want an alternative program, whether it’s the alumni who have come and spoken or the wait list that is forthcoming. There are 160 people on the waiting list now.”

District staff said they posted the teacher openings internally for 24 days, but no employees applied to teach CLC.

There are currently 35 students in the CLC program, including 20 students in grades 1 through 2, and 15 in grades 3 through 4, Leisa Winston, assistant superintendent of human resources and public communication, wrote in an email.

State law prohibits school districts from involuntarily assigning teachers to work in an alternative program, such as CLC. Winston said the district considered transferring two existing teachers into CLC.

In addition to the lack of teacher volunteers, the district does not need to hire additional staff based on student enrollment, Winston said.

Laguna Beach Unified could use existing staff to either transfer two teachers into CLC or disburse the CLC students into the general population without hiring additional staff, Winston added.

bryce.alderton@latimes.com

Twitter: @AldertonBryce