The Beverly Hills Unified School District (BHUSD) Board at its July 22 meeting reviewed the first draft of a new social media policy and discussed a proposed program which would develop opportunities for student internships and business collaborations.
During public comment, several individuals spoke about their concerns regarding a newly implemented Standards-Based Educational Instruction policy, which was passed unanimously at the board’s July 16 meeting.
Board Member Amanda Stern excused herself shortly after the meeting began because she was not feeling well. Stern later sent a message to Board President Rachelle Marcus, which Marcus read aloud, indicating that “all tests indicate [Stern is] okay.”
The newly drafted BHUSD social media policy was first presented to the board at its April 15 meeting. BHUSD does not currently have a policy governing its official social media accounts.
The draft presented on July 22 included oversight rules, prohibited content, staff expectations and more.
Under the policy, prohibited content would include political endorsements or partisan messaging; the unapproved promotion of commercial products and/or services; confidential student information; graphic, violent or sensitive material; personal opinions or commentary; and explicit AI content or other misuse.
Board members agreed that students’ social media accounts should not be tagged, which they defined as mentioning the student’s social media handle.
However, the board agreed that naming students—not tagging them—was acceptable as long as their guardians signed the media release form.
Colby Gilardian, BHUSD’s public information officer, noted that posts spotlighting student accomplishments often get a lot of traction.
“The ones that do the most well are the ones where we highlight our students,” he said. “The college decision series was a big one, excellence in action, sports games recaps, stuff like that where it’s really student-centered.”
The policy will come back before the board for another reading at a future meeting.
In other business, the board agreed to continue the development and implementation of a new committee, called the BHUSD BRIDGE Committee (Building Relationships to Inspire Development & Growth for Everyone).
The idea for the committee was brought by Board Member Russell Stuart and was first discussed at the board’s May 13 meeting. On July 22, Stuart said that some changes had been made to the proposal since their last discussion.
Primarily, those changes involve narrowing the BRIDGE committee’s focus to collaboration between local businesses and students, in which students would be given the opportunity to intern at local businesses and those businesses in turn could potentially work in some capacity with BHUSD.
“The BRIDGE concept that I brought several months ago [proposed] a very vast, large, all-encompassing community involvement … I wanted to kind of change it into an idea where it is really, truly focusing on finding opportunities for our students,” he said.
“A lot more businesses are going to want to do business with us if we open up that door and let them know that we’re more positive to those kinds of opportunities,” Stuart added.
Superintendent Dr. Alex Cherniss will discuss the proposal with BHUSD Assistant Superintendent, Education Services Dr. Dustin Seeman and the Chamber of Commerce.
During public comment, three individuals spoke against a new policy related to Standards-Based Instructional Education.
The policy, which was brought by Board Member Sigalie Sabag, imposes limits on how teachers handle controversial issues in the classroom and tightens expectations that they do not deviate from their curriculum.
Among those who spoke was Judith Chan, the Vocal Music teacher at Horace Mann Elementary School. Chan has taught in the district for nearly 25 years.
Upon bringing the policy for review by the board, Sabag cited an incident that took place in Chan’s class as an example of why the policy needed to be implemented.
Without naming Chan, Sabag stated at the June 24 board meeting that a music teacher “wasn’t teaching music; she was only teaching about protesting. That’s all she was teaching.”
At the July 22 meeting, Chan said she was there to address Sabag’s “reference to me in particular, her false allegations against me.”
According to Chan, the incident Sabag referenced occurred in 2022 around the time of Black History Month and Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.’s birthday. Chan taught the song “We Shall Overcome,” which she said is “a standard,” and her class watched a short cartoon video about King.
A student then asked what civil rights movements are. Chan said she asked the class for their responses. One student mentioned the story of Rosa Parks, and another mentioned the Black Lives Matter movement. They briefly discussed what civil rights are, Chan said, then “moved on to other music activities.”
Chan said that following that routine incident, Sabag, who was not yet a member of the board, stated during the public comment period of a board meeting that Chan “took it upon herself to teach her kids about Black Lives Matter and racism during her whole class.” In a written complaint, according to Chan, Sabag wrote that Chan “put teaching music aside in order to indoctrinate the students with [Chan’s] beliefs.”
Sabag refused to meet with Chan in person, Chan said, despite a human resources request that she do so.
Chan said that the district investigated the incident and “found all the claims [Sabag] had against me were unsubstantiated.”
“So, Mr. Stuart, when you asked her in the meeting what happened to the music teacher,” Chan said, “I was surprised that she did not volunteer to give you the information that I was cleared from any wrongdoing.”
The policy went into effect on July 16 following the board’s vote.
