The Citizens Bond Oversight Committee (CBOC) presented an overall positive report to the Beverly Hills Unified School District (BHUSD) board regarding the management of two voter-approved school construction bonds.
The presentation by CBOC member Jasmine Yadgari and CBOC Vice Chair Marc Carrel at the board’s June 10 meeting covered actions taken in fiscal year 2023-24 with regard to Measure E, a $334 million bond initiative passed in 2008, and Measure BH, a $385 million bond initiative passed in 2018.
The report also summarized the findings of an annual financial audit prepared by Christy White, Inc., and an annual performance audit prepared by Moss Adams, LLP.
“Overall, the CBOC is very pleased,” said Yadgari.
The management of the two bond measures was rocky for multiple years. Both were drafted to improve BHUSD facilities, including seismic retrofits, modernization and increased security. In 2017, Team Concept Development Services (TCDS), owned by Don Blake, was brought on to manage the bonds.
Five years later, however, bond manager Fonder-Salari was hired to replace TCDS after the board and community members lost confidence in TCDS. TCDS had reported a budgetary shortfall estimated to be between $89 and $129 million, and stakeholders expressed concerns about a lack of transparency in the company’s operations.
In their report to the board on June 10, the CBOC wrote that the new bond management team has made “monumental improvements in transparency, cost savings, and billing controls.”
The committee noted that the budgetary shortfall has been reduced to approximately $7 million, and that BHUSD and Fonder-Salari have refined reports providing CBOC with line-by-line expenditures.
“The improvements that have been made by Fonder-Salari in terms of the transparency, what they’ve been doing, how they’re handling things, the cost savings [have been] a dramatic improvement from the former manager,” Carrel told the Courier after the board meeting. “This report from the CBOC highlights that there’s very few issues since Fonder-Salari has taken over.”
The committee requested that the financial and performance audits be made public. The board agreed; however it is not clear when or how that action will be taken.
In other business, the board voted 4-1 to amend regulations that govern parental rights and responsibilities in the district.
The amendment will add language stating that administrative personnel should only be present in non-disciplinary parent-teacher meetings under “exceptional circumstances.”
Board President Rachelle Marcus was the sole no vote.
The idea for the amendment was first put forth by Board Member Sigalie Sabag in the board’s May 27 meeting. On June 10, Sabag reiterated her belief that parents should be allowed to form a relationship with their child’s teacher independent of an administrative presence.
“The parent has a right to meet the [teacher] in the classroom like it’s always been for many years,” she said, later adding, “It’s not anything contentious, it’s not anything hostile.”
Sabag did not cite a specific incident that prompted her request for the change.
The amendment was met with questions and some concern by Katherine Warren, the president of the Beverly Hills Education Association (BHEA)—the union that represents public school teachers in Beverly Hills—and Marcus.
During public comment, Warren expressed the apprehension felt by some instructional staff.
“Who has requested this change in policy?” Warren said. “Teachers? Administrators? Where did this come from? … If an administrator is not present, what recourse does a teacher have if a meeting becomes contentious?”
Marcus said that as a former teacher, the language struck her as restrictive and unfriendly.
“I feel that the tone of this is very unwelcoming,” she said. “As a teacher … when I’m meeting a parent for the first time, if I want an administrator there, I should be allowed to do that … I find it almost offensive.”
Much of their concern centered on a sentence in the proposed amendment which originally stated, “No administrative personnel shall be present unless warranted by exceptional circumstances.”
Following a discussion, the board agreed to change the sentence to read, “Administrative personnel shall be present only when warranted by exceptional circumstances.”
