Yep, Already: Back-To-School Season in Full Swing

Tomorrow is the first day of August, which means that if you have kids enrolled in the Laguna Beach Unified School District, it's time to start prepping.

That usually means spending a lot of hours (and cash) at your fave retail establishment and loading up on school supplies and clothes. Don't stress, though—unless you spot Christmas stuff on sale, too. Seriously, Costco had Christmas items on sale before Labor Day last year ...

So far, summer has been mostly quiet at Laguna Beach Unified. Several retirements meant five new administrators were hired or promoted. They are:

• Dean West, former Director of Fiscal Services, who got bumped up to Assistant Superintendent of Business Services.

• Replacing West as Director of Fiscal Services is Shannon Soto, who had been a middle school principal in Capistrano Unified School District.

• Deni Christensen, who'll be Assistant Superintendent of Instructional Services, comes to LBUSD from Capistrano Unified School District, where she supervised 19 middle and high schools.

• New Director of Human Resources/Public Communications is Jerry Vlasic, who previously had been an elementary principal in Newport Mesa Unified School District.

• And Laguna Beach High School gets a new Assistant Principal: Courtney Robinson, who prior to her hiring had been an assistant principal in the Huntington Beach Union High School District.

The district also lowered the prices of meals for the coming year. Lunch, which previously cost $4.50, has been reduced to $3.90. Breakfast prices also dropped slightly, down to $2.90 from $3.

Prices were reduced, the district says, in order to "increase student participation at all school sites. Participants in the Food Services Program who meet state and federal government guidelines will continue to be eligible to apply for free or reduced pricing."