Newport-Mesa Unified taps NorCal educator, administrator to serve as superintendent latimes.com - get the latest breaking news, showbiz & celebrity photos, sport news & rumours, viral videos and top stories from latimes.com Daily Mail and Mail on Sunday newspapers.
Laguna Beach Local News
By Breeana Greenberg, Special to the Independent
Laguna Beach Unified School District Supt. Jason Viloria will earn a $322,149 annual base salary under a four-year contract approved by the Board of Education on a 4-1 vote June 24.
Effective Thursday, Viloria out-earns his counterpart in Newport-Mesa Unified School District, Supt. Russell Lee-Sung, who earns $298,000, according to his employment agreement. Newport-Mesa Unified is made up of 32 schools with about 19,000 enrolled students while Laguna Beach Unified consists of just four schools with less than 2,700 enrolled students.Â
Board member Dee Perry opposed Viloriaâs amended contract.
Over the last year, Viloria and school board members faced consistent scrutiny by a group of parents upset over distancing learning, including a November 2020 decision to keep middle and high school students at home even as surrounding school districts welcomed students back to campuses. These secondary students
Trustees approved a not-to-exceed $48,248 contract with Hank Bangser, who will serve as a bridge between outgoing Supt. Russell Lee-Sung and a new district head.
Print
Newport Mesa Unified School District Supt. Russell Lee-Sung who took over leadership of the district in the middle of a pandemic amid much controversy announced Wednesday he would retire this summer, after 36 years in public education.
In a letter to the school community, Lee-Sung, 57, explained his more than six years with the district would come to a close effective Aug. 3.
“I have been extremely honored and grateful to serve the Newport-Mesa Unified School District and our school community,” he wrote, recalling a period of leadership marked by a nationwide pandemic that forced the closure of schools and moved thousands of NMUSD students to online learning.