Laguna Beach : Teachers Protest Plans for Meeting on Coach

A school board’s effort to stem controversy over reinstatement of a football coach arrested for possession of cocaine has created some controversy of its own.

Last week, trustees of the Laguna Beach Unified School District asked high school teachers to meet with them today to hear their rationale for allowing head coach and former All-Pro football player Cedrick W. Hardman to work as a volunteer coach.

After Hardman’s arrest, the board initially suspended Hardman without pay. But last month’s controversial 4-1 vote allows him to assist football coaches without pay and to be reinstated next August if he successfully completes a drug diversion program.

But Wednesday morning, 32 of Laguna High School’s 42 teachers signed a petition protesting the meeting with trustees and asking that it be canceled.

Since teachers weren’t consulted when the board decided Hardman’s fate, it is too late to talk about the matter, science teacher John Cunningham reasoned.

Cunningham said the faculty had taken a strong stand against drugs, but “they (board members) weren’t listening to us. . . . This is just a ploy to justify their position, a way of making them look better.”

School Supt. Dennis Smith said this morning’s meeting will go on and teachers are welcome to attend. The meeting is part of a series of informal discussions between the board, faculty members and school PTAs over Hardman’s case, he said, although ironically, “it came at the behest of teachers.”

Smith added that he was unhappy that the session had prompted a protest. “Normally, if teachers are disappointed or unhappy, they go to their principal. So I’m disappointed that this has happened.”