As Sherine Smith Seeks Office Yet Again, Questions Linger About Her Troubled Tenure at LBUSD

As November approaches and election season ramps up once again, astute observers may recognize a familiar name popping up on yard signs throughout San Clemente: Dr. Sherine Smith. It’s a name one may remember from Smith’s unsuccessful bid for Orange County Board of Education last cycle, or possibly even from her tenure as Superintendent of Laguna Beach Unified School District (LBUSD).

The official record is, of course, that she stepped down by her own volition—that she was not asked to leave. In June 2015, a special closed-door Laguna Beach Unified School District board meeting was held to evaluate Smith’s performance as Superintendent. It was here that Smith announced that her tenure would conclude the following year. Though Smith asked that the details be kept confidential, it left many to speculate.

“I think really what she wants to do is travel but her husband is still working,” said the Board’s President, Ketta Brown, at the time. “She’s got plenty of opportunities.”

Evidently, Smith wasn’t done in education. The following year, she became an adjunct professor at National University, and in 2022, she ran for the Orange County Board of Education. Despite the backing of Planned Parenthood, the California Teachers Association, Democratic Party of Orange County, OC Labor Federation, Smith was defeated by OCBOE incumbent Dr. Lisa Sparks by nearly thirty percentage points—a staggering loss.

Now, as previously mentioned, Smith is a candidate once more—this time, for a seat on the Capistrano Unified School District (CUSD) Board of Trustees. 

This begs the question: if Smith wasn’t ready to exit education altogether, what actually motivated her to abandon the Superintendent position and a comfy annual salary (with benefits) of $269,032?

Rumors abound. But it remains well-documented that Smith’s tenure was the subject of great criticism by parents going all the way back to 2012. That was the year Smith recommended Deni Christensen for the open position of assistant superintendent at LBUSD. It was later discovered that Smith and Christensen were former colleagues at Capistrano Unified School District, which itself became a point of criticism. Many parents felt Smith should give greater consideration to district-employed applicants rather than employing her former colleagues.

Christensen’s time at LBUSD was brief—she resigned just a year after being hired, and notably, within hours of a performance review of Smith. 

“Days before, Smith and Christensen faced the ire of parents at a school board meeting who questioned hiring practices, particularly filling high-paying administrative positions with other Capistrano colleagues,” wrote Rita Robinson for the Laguna Beach Independent. 

“Other complaints by parents included Smith’s advocacy for passage of a [then-new] city law, the social host ordinance, which permits fining party hosts up to $1,000 who allow underage drinking on private property,” Robinson continued. Smith believed that this fell within her contractual obligation to “serve as the district’s representative to the public,” though many parents argued she was overstepping her role.

Robinson also cites Smith’s “failed proposal to start the school year in August” for which parents were “not adequately consulted and [for which] teachers contended they were not fairly represented,” and notes that Smith’s performance “came under review by board members in closed-door sessions twice” within the month.

While Smith asserted that Christensen was not asked to resign and that “this was something she had been considering and was in discussions with a neighboring district,” she made no similar claim for the second administrator—Director of Human Resources and Public Communications Gerald Vlasic—who resigned that same day. Vlasic was also a former CUSD colleague of Smith’s and, as such, lent further credence to the accusations of hiring cronyism.

One wonders if Vlasic had also been “in discussions with a neighboring district” and just happened to depart on the same day as Christensen. Smith offered no comment.

“When something gets done that’s wrong, that’s when it starts to get intense,” Laguna Beach resident Howard Hills said at the time. “People feel very strongly that something happened here that’s wrong that shouldn’t have happened.”

The following year, when Smith was on the eve of another regularly-scheduled performance evaluation, several parents attended to vocalize their dissatisfaction with the Superintendent. A common point of contention then and in the years to follow was Smith’s decision to pursue not only a doctorate degree at USC while serving as Superintendent, but also to accept part-time work outside of the district on top of her quarter-million dollar annual salary.

When questioned about this in 2015 by Hills, she answered “I have no post-employment lined up that will conflict. If I had a position, I would tell you about it.” She went as far as to argue that her teaching an online course at Brandman University would “give the district insight on online classes.”

Despite her reassurances, when it came time to hire Smith’s replacement, recruiters specifically looked for candidates who “had already earned a doctoral degree, [avoid] nepotism in hiring, and [communicate] changes in district operations to all employees,” according to the Indy. 

That very much reads as a direct dig at Smith.