The Beverly Hills Unified School District (BHUSD) Board of Education addressed district spending, professional development for teachers and several proposals for new initiatives at its March 25 meeting.
Much of the dialogue centered around cutting costs and providing more detailed information to board members about spending plans.
Following a discussion about approving an agreement with a vendor to provide audiovisual upgrades to the theater technology systems at Horace Mann Elementary School and Beverly Vista Middle School, board members decided to table the issue until more proposals were sought. A recent request for proposals yielded only one bid.
The project is estimated to cost over $1 million for both schools combined. During discussion, board members expressed concern over not seeing an itemized spending breakdown.
“What are the details?” said Sabag. “What are they fixing, what is destroyed and what are the prices for everything? I think we have a right to see the details if it’s a million dollars going on two schools.”
Board members also expressed uneasiness over receiving just one bid for the project, as reported by city staff.
“I know of plenty of companies in Los Angeles who do this kind of work,” said Stuart. “To believe that for a half-million-dollar job or million-dollar job, there’s no one else who’s interested in doing the work, I find that almost impossible to believe, especially when it’s staging sound systems. This is Hollywood, there’s 300 companies that do that kind of work.”
Interim Superintendent Dr. Jason Hasty received direction to repost the request for proposals on the district’s website, send the request to companies who might be interested and provide the complete scope of the proposed contract in the agenda the next time it comes in front of the board.
In other business, the board voted to approve the resignation of 33 employees under a retirement incentive plan for which 146 district employees were eligible. The plan was developed by the district along with Public Agency Retirement Services (PARS), and those submitting their resignations at the end of the school year will include some certificated teachers and some classified staff, according to Board President Rachelle Marcus.
Retiring employees will receive 80% of their last salary on a payment plan of their choosing. If approximately nine positions remain unfilled, PARS predicts the district could save an estimated $6.6 million over five years.
Continuing their focus on spending, the board reviewed and approved funding for teachers’ attendance at several upcoming conferences and workshops. During discussion, Board Vice President Judy Manouchehri aired her concern that teachers may miss classroom time for the conferences, particularly just before statewide student testing.
“I 100% support our teachers bettering themselves, going out, learning, being inspired, refreshing, coming back and sharing that with their colleagues and their students,” she said. “But I’m very, very protective of instructional time.”
As other board members agreed with Manouchehri, Dr. Dustin Seemann, the district’s assistant superintendent of education services voiced irritation.
“I’m going to get slightly frustrated in this conversation,” he said. “We can’t talk out of both sides of our mouths and say things like, ‘We want to ensure that we increase our AP scores, yet we’ll think about whether we’re going to allow our teachers to go, yet we are sitting on a million dollars’ worth of professional development funds.'”
At the end of the meeting, the board discussed several potential new initiatives. The first, proposed by Stuart, would allow the district to secure intellectual property rights relating to BHUSD and its assets to “work with potential sponsors and endorsement partners to identify and pursue branding opportunities … [and protect] the integrity of our brand,” Stuart said.
Board members informally green-lit the project, which Stuart will work on along with Manouchehri and Hasty.
The second, proposed by Manouchehri, would upgrade uniforms and other gear for student athletes and participants in extracurricular teams such as robotics and orchestra.
“The students want consistent, fresh uniforms,” she said. “The students want gym bags that reflect that they come from BHUSD. They want to look uniform; they want to be presentable.”
During the public comment portion of the meeting, which took place early in the evening, district parent Jackie Kruger gave an update on the effort to recall Stuart and Sigalie.
The two board members were served with notifications of an intent to circulate recall petitions against them at the board’s March 11 meeting. However, in order to proceed, proponents of the recall must serve the initial paperwork again. The petitions were filed too soon after the start of Sabag and Stuart’s term, under California law.
Chief among the concerns of those participating in the recall effort, said Kruger, is a lack of transparency on the part of the district.
Kruger acknowledged that, following a meeting between herself, Manouchehri, Sabag and two other individuals, the district sent a survey to members of the community about the search for a new superintendent.
“If the meeting and survey are just the first steps toward greater transparency and inclusiveness and committing to listening and working on behalf of the entire community, then there will be no need for recall,” she said. “We hope that that is the case.”
