The Beverly Hills Unified School District (BHUSD) Board voted unanimously on April 15 to approve the contract for the district’s new superintendent, Alex Cherniss, Ed.D. At a previous closed session on April 10, the board voted 3-2 to approve Cherniss’ appointment, with Board President Rachelle Marcus and Board Member Amanda Stern voting against it.
Neither Marcus nor Stern addressed the reasons for their changed votes at the April 15 meeting and had not responded to requests for comment as of press time.
Speaking to the Courier following the approval of his contract, Cherniss said that one of his primary goals at BHUSD is to “take our district to the next level.”
“I’d like to bring innovation and creativity to the forefront and prepare our students for future jobs that haven’t been invented yet,” he said. “To do that, we need to really push the envelope.”
Cherniss said that “pushing the envelope” may involve rethinking the classroom experience, including taking under consideration changes made to learning during the COVID-19 pandemic.
“COVID changed the game, and all of a sudden, we learned very quickly that there are different ways that kids can learn,” he said. “They can learn at home; they can learn online … and so a lot of families don’t want to go back to the old days. You’re seeing explosions in homeschooled kids, you’re seeing a lot of online schools … we as educators, we need to be on the cutting edge as well. And so that’s going to be one of my roles here, is to bring that to our district.”
When pressed on whether he was considering remote learning for students at BHUSD, Cherniss demurred.
“I’m not sure what our models will look like, but I know that we will create more flexible learning opportunities where, rather than the student conforming to the classroom, the classroom will conform to the students,” he said.
Cherniss comes to BHUSD from the Placentia-Yorba Linda Unified School District (PYLUSD), where he served as superintendent for just under two years. During his tenure there, he spearheaded the opening of an intensive sports program, the Universal Sports Institute, as well as a district-run charter school, the Orange County School of Computer Science.
The endeavors were met with mixed responses from the Placentia-Yorba Linda community, with some parents expressing concern over their cost and a lack of transparency about their implementation.
Cherniss did not specify whether he would pursue similar endeavors at BHUSD, however when speaking to the Courier, he suggested he would rely on fundraising rather than scaling back costs to finance new projects in the district.
“One thing that we’ll always be looking at is, are there ways to enhance revenues?” he said. “Whether it’s community partners, whether it’s property, whether it’s different types of partnerships. We’re going to be looking at ways to expand revenues.”
Cherniss parted with PYLUSD on rocky terms with some members of that community. A Change.org petition was initiated on April 15, 2024, demanding his resignation because of what it called “failed vanity projects,” “rushing through a new, multi-million-dollar project” and several other allegations. It garnered 871 signatures.
On Dec. 19, 2024, Cherniss was placed on paid administrative leave by the PYLUSD board. Representatives for PYLUSD did not respond to requests for details about the circumstances surrounding Cherniss’ leave, however Cherniss told the Courier that newly elected members of the PYLUSD Board, who were seated in November 2024, “wanted to go in a different direction.”
“I created a new computer science school,” he said. “I created a new Universal Sports Institute. And I did so with three board members basically approving everything … in November, the board switched and no longer had support for those programs and those initiatives.”
At the April 15 BHUSD board meeting, multiple members of the public spoke in support of Cherniss, including two individuals who traveled from Placentia Yorba-Linda to speak on Cherniss’s behalf.
“Our loss is your gain,” said Leandra Blades, a trustee of the PYLUSD board. “What you guys are going to gain is a leader in innovation, but also an exceptional educator.”
Beth Fisher, who identified herself as a parent, former employee of PYLUSD and the founding principal of OCSCS, echoed Blades’ sentiments.
“When it comes to leader credibility, there are five dimensions, and Dr. Cherniss ticks off every box: competence, dynamism, trust, immediacy,” Fisher said. “If you don’t know what that means with him, you will … he’s going to propel you into the future.”
One member of the public spoke in opposition to Cherniss’ appointment. Kimberly Lifschitz, who identified herself as a parent of a BHUSD student with an Individualized Education Program, said that the announcement of Cherniss’ hiring “destroyed [an] already fragile trust” in the board.
“BHUSD’s announcement highlighted the Universal Sports Institute and OCSCS as examples of the innovation Dr. Cherniss will bring to our district,” she said. “Is the board planning to facilitate similar wildly expensive projects here? From where in the district’s budget will we take that money?”
Speaking to the Courier following the meeting, Lifshitz said her concern stems from the fact that special education resources are often the first to go when district funding is reallocated.
“If the number of aides in a class starts to get cut, that’s going to affect my son and his classmates first,” she said. “I don’t see how you could kind of blow the hole in a budget the way it seems like previous districts had without impacting funding for the classroom.”
Prior to his work as a superintendent, Cherniss was employed by BHUSD as a middle school math teacher, K-8 principal, director of human resources and assistant superintendent of business services.
In a statement, BHUSD Board President Rachelle Marcus voiced her eagerness for Cherniss to begin his role.
“It’s with great pleasure that I welcome Dr. Cherniss back,” she said. “I have nothing but confidence in what he’s going to do.”
Cherniss will step into the position of BHUSD superintendent on June 1, and his appointment will span three years.
