School scores state honor

Visitors representing the state’s Distinguished School program conferred the honor upon Laguna Beach High School immediately following a campus visit Friday.

The team spent the day examining the campus, visiting every classroom, as the final step in the Distinguished School selection process.

“We tried to pull away a couple layers to see if there were any hidden issues, but there was nothing there,” said Betsy Arnow, the coordinator of the county Department of Education’s Institute for Character Education, who led the delegation.

The honor is given to the top 5% of public schools in the state; the high school hasn’t received it since 1996, the year it was also designated as a national Blue Ribbon school.

The group dined on a lunch made by school board member Ketta Brown, and spoke to students and staff about their daily experiences.

“I just have to say — what a terrific place,” Arnow told key staff members at the end of the day. “It’s one thing to have a pretty campus, but it’s the culture here that really impressed us.”

Now that the school has received its Distinguished School designation, it can move forward in the national Blue Ribbon competition, Principal Don Austin said.