The Beverly Hills Unified School District has been facing backlash this school year, largely revolving around what the community claims to be a ‘lack of transparency.’
The board first came under fire last year, on November 12, 2024, following claims of racism and hate during the two election-related rallies on Beverly’s campus. Nearly one month later, on December 10, 2024, parents and community members spoke about the need for the district to take more preventative measures to guard against racism.
“At what point does the Beverly Hills Unified School District acknowledge that [they] have a very serious problem,” one speaker asked the board during public comment.
These long, and sometimes intense, public comment periods continued into the new year. At the first board meeting of the spring semester, during a nearly two-hour public comment session, students, parents and alumni discussed the suspension (administrative leave) of Media Director Mr. Romeo Carey. Some parents also expressed frustration over the board’s handling of the integration of Palisades Charter High students into the district following the devastating January 7 fire.
After a few long public comment sessions, the board decided to move public comment to the latter portion of the, sometimes three to four hour long meetings, and limited comments to “agendized items,” allotting twenty minutes to each item.
Now, four months after it all began, some parents are threatening to take action against the board, following the board’s decision to target administrative positions within BHUSD. On February 21, in a Aeries communication statement, the board announced the resignation of former Superintendent Michael Bregy. No statement directly from Bregy was released.
That week, newly elected board member Russell Stuart posted an image of the BHUSD logo to his Instagram and X. Written next to the letter “D” was “oge,” spelling out “DOGE,” the acronym for the Department of Government Efficiency, a program spearheaded by the Trump Administration and Elon Musk. Both the Instagram and X posts have since been removed.
At the most recent meeting, on March 11, some parents spoke about some aspects of the aforementioned timeline of events. One parent, Jackie Kruger, served both Stuart and the other recently elected member, Sigalie Sabag, with notice of intention to circulate recall petition papers.
When interviewed by highlights, Kruger said that the decision to look into launching a recall effort came the weekend before the meeting.
“I got a bunch of calls saying, we have [a problem]…they’re continuing down this road of complete closed door decision making and dismantling of what seems to be our whole school district,” Kruger said. Kruger also told Highlights that within the span of a few hours, she received about 100 voter-eligible community-member signatures per board member.
Near the end of the board meeting, Stuart responded to this potential recall effort and those launching it. “I saw the hate in these people’s eyes not knowing one thing that we have to do up here…continue on with [the] recall effort, it is going to be a waste of time, and what would be a better use of your time is to call us…instead of fighting us”.
Sabag also responded, saying that “while some have chosen to focus their energy on division and disruption, our focus as a board remains steadfast…doing what is right for our students.”
Highlights reached out to all five board members and acting superintendent Jason Hasty for comment. Hasty responded to our email.
In a written statement, he said “BHUSD maintains a non-partisan stance on such matters and does not have any comments regarding this issue specifically. At this time, the primary focus remains on ensuring a successful transition of leadership and prioritizing students and their education.”
