The Beverly Hills Unified School District (BHUSD) said goodbye to three longtime community members in recent weeks. Dr. Art Fields, Horace Mann School principal, passed away Feb. 16. Fields was the principal for 26 years and retired in 2001. Those who knew him remember Dr. Fields for leading with a firm hand and loving heart.
Rita Creagh, beloved El Rodeo School teacher, passed away on Jan. 16 from COVID-19. Creagh worked as a special education and 3rd grade teacher at the school for 32 years.
Students, teachers, and administrators of the District will remember her fondly.
Lynn Gifford, longtime Preschool Special Education teacher and BHHS graduate, passed away on Feb. 16. Gifford dedicated the past 25 years to BHUSD, teaching at Horace Mann and Beverly Vista prior to reconfiguration, and Hawthorne Elementary since 2019.
“Losses like this are never easy,” Board member Tristen Walker-Shuman said during the Feb. 23 meeting. “And even more so when it’s a really remarkable BHUSD community member and really like a family member, so condolences to their families.”
