The Beverly Hills Unified School District (BHUSD) Board of Education at its Sept. 8 meeting heard a report on summer improvement projects at district campuses.
At Beverly Hills High School (BHHS), updates were made to the culinary classroom, the Associated Student Body (ASB) classroom, the KBEV classroom and Building B2’s second-floor hallway.
New flooring and upgraded sinks were installed in the culinary classroom. The ASB classroom moved to a new location, updated with a hard surface floor, new tag boards and fresh paint. In the new KBEV classroom, students will enjoy more space and increased storage.
Additionally, the wall between Building B2’s second floor and its glass lobby/bridge was opened to provide additional access to Building A. The hallway was closed during construction for the past 10 years.
Student Board Member Michelle Schmidt, a BHHS student, expressed her appreciation of the upgrades, noting that students are happy with them.
“These renovations and changes helped us so incredibly much, especially opening the B2 door,” she said. “The amount of time it saves is incredible. So, thank you for that. Also, the ASB room … as well as culinary, they’re such a big part of our school, and I think enhancing their work environment will help them and the general environment.”
At the Hawthorne campus, which houses the city’s preschool, play equipment was repainted and improvements were made to fencing, gates, landscaping and the water fountain. Upgrades were also done in the restrooms, and a partition wall was removed.
“There are a lot of things that just got left to the wayside for the past few years that we decided to freshen up a bit,” Will Karrat, the district’s executive director of maintenance, operations and construction, told the board.
At Beverly Vista Middle School, landscaping was updated along with upgrades to exterior lights. El Rodeo Elementary School received repainting in areas that were damaged in a 2025 fire, and a kiln was installed at Horace Mann Elementary School.
Board members voiced their gratitude for the upgrades.
“It’s amazing what you did during the summer and how much you accomplished,” said Board Member Rachelle Marcus. “You really gave our district a facelift, and I’m sure that everybody appreciates it when they see it. So, thanks for everything, Will, and keep up the good work. I really think you do a yeoman’s job.”
In other business, the board unanimously approved a resolution regarding the expansion of the city’s existing preschool program into a comprehensive early childhood center. Currently, the city of Beverly Hills runs a preschool program in collaboration with BHUSD from the Hawthorne and Horace Mann campuses.
The resolution directs district staff to develop a phased implementation plan. Staff is asked to prioritize the continuation of BHUSD’s operation of the existing preschool. Additionally, staff is tasked with seeking all necessary approvals to expand early childhood programming to include younger groups, including ages zero to 18 months and ages 18 months to 3 years.
Options will also be developed for caregivers and parents to participate in alongside their young children, such as parent and me classes, grandparent and me classes, music and sensory development classes, and more.
According to Dustin Seeman, the district’s assistant superintendent, all necessary documentation for the early childhood education center has been submitted to the state.
Board members were unanimous in their enthusiasm for the program.
“Just as we’ve been investing in our teachers, our student programs, our athletics, our community building, I think the next step is for us to invest and establish a vision for a comprehensive early childhood center,” said Board President Judy Manouchehri. “I hope that this will develop into a flourishing program where the community can bring their children to us from day one as babies, and also it would mean that then these babies will turn into our BHUSD students.”
Vice President Sigalie Sabag agreed that implementing the early childhood program is an important step for families.
“If you start out, and you start these programs in Beverly Hills, and then they go into the preschool, and then they go into our elementary school, and so on and so forth,” she said. “These are friends for life, and this is where it begins.”
Staff will present their report to the board by Dec. 1.
