Board Weighs Meeting With Schools Chief

The superintendent of the Laguna Beach Unified School District, absent from the job for more than a month with an undisclosed ailment, was offered a meeting Tuesday night the school board.

Board President Kathryn A. Turner proposed that Supt. Reed Montgomery meet with any two school board members of his choice, in an effort to resolve the dispute. It was not immediately known if he will accept. He was not at the school board meeting.

Montgomery has refused to discuss his condition, saying it is “very complex.”

Montgomery began the unexplained medical leave on Dec. 5 and said publicly he planned to return to work Jan. 5. But uncertainty and concern over his situation led school board members to place Montgomery on administrative leave with orders to see a doctor appointed by the district for an independent medical assessment.

He saw the district-appointed doctor on Jan. 7. The results of that examination have not been made public.

The president of the teachers union, Dennis Haryung, told the board Tuesday night that “morale in this district is on thin ice to say the least” because of the issue. He said he has been “besieged by phone calls from faculty.”