The director of Long Beach Unified’s center for Black student success has been placed on administrative leave, days after a group of Black parents and community members sent a letter demanding the district fire her and recommit to Black students.
The district would not say why Norma Spencer was placed on leave but said it was “not connected to any single action or correspondence.”
Two years ago, LBUSD announced that Spencer would lead the center, which has provided academic support, extracurriculars and social and emotional learning since it opened the following year in May 2025. Some parents have been raising concerns about the center and Spencer’s leadership since then. In October, parents told the Long Beach Post that the center lacked a clear plan, had opened prematurely and offered programming that did not meet the community’s needs.
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These concerns came to a head in the late-April letter sent to district leadership and signed by 16 parents, educators and LBUSD alumni. The letter alleged that Spencer had diminished parent input, undone progress and allowed friction to fester among the center’s staff…