Gardens Park, Fine Arts Theatre & BHUSD Turnover — Lemons into Lemonade?

Gardens Park, from Rodeo Drive to Rexford Drive.

Additionally, the show will include food trucks, a beer and wine garden, and live music, alongside a Creative Zone for all ages. Visitors can also engage with art demonstrations in various mediums like chalk art, watercolor, and trace drawing.

This year’s event will feature a number of returning and new artists, such as Serhii Fomichov, Alex Paul, and Zhan Zhan, alongside demonstrations by the Los Angeles Printmaking Society (LAPS) and chalk artist Stacy Nalapraya.

Parking is available in surrounding public structures, and a map can be accessed at beverlyhills.org/parking.

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Fine Arts Theatre Beverly Hills to Host Third Annual “Super Star Wars” Weekend

The Fine Arts Theatre Beverly Hills has announced its third annual “Super Star Wars” event, taking place over Memorial Day weekend from May 23 to May 26. The event will feature screenings of all nine mainline Star Wars films across the four-day holiday weekend.

On Friday, May 23, screenings will begin with Episode I: The Phantom Menace.

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BHUSD Turnover — Lemons into Lemonade?

Over the last few months, there have been extraordinary changes in the composition of BHUSD leadership.

Let me summarize those changes.

In November, two new members of the Board of Education were elected, Sigalie Sabag and Russell Stuart. At the same time, Dr. Amanda Stern, the highest vote-getter, was re-elected.

In February, Dr. Michael Bregy, who had served as Superintendent of BHUSD for eight years, abruptly “resigned”. Unusually, the resignation took immediate effect and no reasons have been given for his resignation. Notably, only a few months earlier, in August 2024, Dr. Bregy was awarded a new three-year extension to his contract through 2028 with an increase in compensation.

In March, the Board announced that El Rodeo Principal Sarah Kaber, who had just been awarded the Association of California School Administrators (“ACSA”) Elementary Principal of the Year, and her assistant principal, Kevin Painter, would be re-assigned. The two new members of the Board of Education were served (prematurely) with notices of an intention to seek to recall them. And the Board hired an outside crisis communications firm.

In April, the Board voted 3-2 to hire Dr. Alex Cherniss as the new superintendent. Dr. Cherniss had previously been a BHUSD Principal, Director of Human Resources and Assistant Superintendent of Business Services. He went on to become Superintendent in San Marino USD, Palos Verdes Peninsula USD and, most recently, at Placentia Yorba Linda USD. He had joined Placentia Yorba Linda USD in May 2023 and was placed on paid administrative leave in December 2024 after two new members (that he had reportedly campaigned against) were elected to the School Board.

I know that Dr. Cherniss’ suspension was controversial and have no opinion on whether it was justified. I have, however, expressed concern that it will be difficult for Dr. Cherniss to put in the time required to be an effective leader of the Beverly Hills Unified School District while enduring a 75 to 120 minute each way commute from his residence in Los Alamitos. Dr. Cherniss told me that his brother lives in Cheviot Hills and his cousin lives near his new office at Hawthorne so he will be able to stay nearby when the need arises.

At the same time, BHHS Principal Drew Stewart announced that he was resigning to take a position at a middle school closer to his home because the commute to Beverly Hills was too difficult. Similarly, it was necessary to identify a new principal for Horace Mann Elementary School. The net result is that within a very short time, the principals at three of the four schools in the District must be replaced. We will, in short order, have several new faces at the top.

On May 9, the District announced that new principals had been hired for El Rodeo and Horace Mann. The new principal for El Rodeo is Kim D’Aloisio who had been Principal at LAUSD Oliver Wendell Holmes Middle School in Northridge (70% Hispanic). Interestingly, Ms. Aloisio, like Ms. Kaber, was also given an ACSA award as Middle School Principal of the Year. The new Horace Mann Principal is Dr. Steven J. Suttle, who had been Principal at Repetto Elementary School (54% Asian/35% Hispanic) in Monterrey Park, part of the Alhambra Unified School District.

The success or failure of Ms. Aloisio and Dr. Suttle will depend in large measure on how they adjust to the very different environment of Beverly Hills and BHUSD parents.

Board of Education member Judy Manoucheri told me that she is excited about the two new elementary school principals. She explained that “we are bringing in educators who have succeeded at what we are trying to achieve – academic excellence.”

The vacancy at the high school remains and finding the right person will be one of Dr. Cherniss’ first challenges.

Reflection on the turnover of the past few months raises the questions of why this has happened and where we go from here. I spoke about this with Stern who was recently the President of the Board of Education and who has appointed me, for better or for worse, to the District’s Finance Committee. She was nice enough to share her views with me subject to the clear admonition caveat that these are her personal views and not the views of the Board or the District.

Dr. Stern’s one and only priority is to improve the academic performance of the schools and our students. Toward that end she views the changes in top-level personnel as an opportunity rather than a problem or symptom. To use one of many clichés of which I am fond, “when life gives you lemons, make lemonade.” [There are many other clichés that I could throw at you but I try to limit myself to one per column.]

Specifically, she perceives the need to shift resources from highly compensated administrative personnel to educators who can identify, diagnose and then improve the performance of students who need more personalized attention. Dr. Stern points out that a recent audit showed that out of every $ spent by the District, 55 cents go to administration. She said, “This needs to change so that we direct more of our resources toward academic achievement.” She wants to free up resources for what she refers to as “intervention” to assist students who are not performing.

Dr. Stern is keenly aware that the District’s resources exceed the resources of most other California school districts but that those resources are not making a difference. She explains: “We spend more but get less than we would expect. Part of the solution could be a re-allocation of those resources.”

Dr. Stern is also encouraged by the changes that Dr. Cherniss seems to be bringing about. While Dr. Stern cast one of the two votes against the hiring, she likes what she has seen so far. She notes that he quickly took charge of the selection and vetting of the two new elementary school principals and is moving to hire on very short notice a new principal for the high school. She has been impressed by Dr. Cherniss’ understanding of the financial issues and the way in which he has taken charge of negotiations with the teachers.

Dr. Stern is convinced that responsibility and accountability for the schools’ academic achievement must be placed on the Superintendent after the Board has articulated policy. She believes that the Board should work with Dr. Cherniss to identify achievable specific goals for academic improvement, give him the responsibility to achieve those goals and hold him accountable for achievement.

Dr. Stern believes that as a member of the Board of Education, her role is “to provide direction, not perfection.”

Let me offer a few concluding thoughts:

Dr. Stern is correct — we do not expect perfection; after all, to borrow from the wonderful poem by Joyce Kilmer, “only God can make a tree.”

While I appreciate the optimism expressed, I am not convinced that all of these changes all at once are for the best. We have never received any explanation for Dr. Bregy’s abrupt departure shortly after a contract extension and a pay raise. The Board of Education center of gravity may have shifted after the election but that alone does not explain the inexplicable.

Similarly, we have not received any explanation for the demotion of Sara Kaber on the heels of an ACSA award similar to, but arguably more relevant than, the ACSA award touted as a highlight of Ms. Aloisio’s background.

I am not persuaded that Dr. Cherniss can handle the special challenges of the Superintendent position while enduring a multi-hour daily freeway commute. Beverly Hills Fire Chief Greg Barton’s family home is also a substantial distance from the City — he sleeps on a cot in the fire station five nights a week.

Dr. Suttle and Ms. Aloisio may have enjoyed success at their prior schools but those schools appear very different from the Beverly Hills elementary schools which present their own set of challenges.

Everyone involved — the Board, the administrators, the teachers, the students and their parents and the community at large — understand that improvement is needed. Only time will tell whether these changes will put us on the right path.