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BEVERLY HILLS VOLUME: LIV
NUMBER 50
www.bhcourier.com
MAYOR CLAUS — Mayor Julian Gold dressed up as Santa Claus to entertain visitors at last weekend’s Beverly Hills Holiday Concert outside City Hall. Pictured right is “Mayor Claus” with Deborah Frank, Annette Saleh (with Lucky), Franny Rennie, Councilmember Lili Bosse and the City’s Director of Community Services, Nancy Hunt-Coffey. For more photos of the concert, see page 11.
By Laura Coleman There’s a new Board of Education majority in town, and it’s one helmed by women. On Tuesday, Rachelle Marcus and Tristen WalkerShuman were sworn in as new members on the Beverly Hills board for the next four years. The two new elected officials join Isabel Hacker, Noah Margo and Mel Spitz on the board, each of whom has two years left on their terms. “I’m looking forward to serving with [Walker-Shuman] and the other honorable members, Noah, Mel and Isabel, on the board,” said Marcus, a veteran educator with more than a half-century of teaching experience who garnered 46.33 percent of the vote to serve.
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Fashion Health & Wellness Real Estate Outlook Sports Birthdays Letters to the Editor
George Christy, Page 6 Holiday Movies Are Where It’s At These Days, And We Include Reminders Of The Popular Films That Have Delighted Us Through The Years
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December 14, 2018
Beverly Hills/Rosen Settlement, Part II: Spagnoli Inherits A Department In Disarray
Marcus, Walker-Shuman Sworn In As New School Board Is Installed
THIS ISSUE
SINCE 1965
SWEARING IN — At Tuesday’s BHUSD Board of Education meeting, Tristen Walker-Shuman (above, left) and Rachelle Marcus were sworn in to their seats on the school board. Photo by Ben Platt
“For 55 years I have been a teacher in the district,” Marcus said following her swearing in by Sinai Temple Senior Rabbi David Wolpe. “I have worked
with administrators, teachers, parents, and most importantly, the students. Now, as I accept this position on the school (see ‘BOARD OF EDUCATION’ page 15)
School Board OKs $250K Consulting Proposal To Help With Reconfiguration By Laura Coleman In one of its first orders of business, on Thursday evening the newly seated Board of Education unanimously approved a $250,000 consultant proposal with the Leadership Advisory Group (LAG) to provide strategic management as the district moves forward with reconfiguration. “We are at a monumental time in our history to transform our district and make an incredible impact on the entire community. This means...a paradigm shift which will require a new strategic vision plan, agility, and leadership coaching that will allow us to increase our level of impact,” said Beverly Hills Unified School District Superintendent Michael Bregy following the 5-0 board
vote. “Our driving purpose is more than a reconfiguration, it is to truly transform our culture, operating norms to ensure we can best serve the needs of our students.” The quarter-million-dollar consulting proposal for three parttime LAG consultants was the only such proposal that Bregy brought to the board to help move the district forward in reconfiguring the school district for the 2019-20 school year. A BHUSD spokesperson declined to publicly state how many other firms had responded to the district’s Request for Proposals or share how much other consulting firms proposed to charge the district. The three-month consulting (see ‘RECONFIGURATION’ page 17)
By Victoria Talbot Since her first day as Police Chief, Sandra Spagnoli has rarely been seen in public out of the uniform of the Beverly Hills Police Department. When Spagnoli became chief, the Department changed. She expects that her officers will also wear their uniforms. She and her employees pay for their meals in restaurants and obey parking and traffic rules. More than two years ago, following a wave of residential burglaries in the wake of State legislation (including Prop 47 and 57 and AB109) to reduce jail sentences, releasing thousands of prisoners from jails, Councilmember Lili Bosse requested a Town Hall meeting. The meeting, on April 13, 2016, was the first public opportunity for the new chief to greet the community. It was a packed auditorium, standing room only, including a large number of police officers. Spagnoli introduced herself. She was joined by Bosse, Vice Mayor Nancy Krasne, Councilmember Julian Gold and City Manager Mahdi Aluzri. Then, Capt. Mark Rosen took the microphone and assumed center stage. He pointed to the law enforcement professionals in the room and told the audience that all the officers worked for him. At the time, the department had a deficit of 10-12 officers from the 127 budgeted. Years of low recruitment and poor morale had impacted the department, according to a 2015 report by Management
Partners contracted by the City. The report made 24 recommendations for change and improvement including recruitment, succession planning and promotion. The report showed employees strongly indicated that they did not feel they had sufficient opportunities to develop their skills, to compete for promotions, or for special assignments. The department, the report found, lacked strategic vision, suffered from low morale and flawed hiring practices, employed poor disciplinary procedures and suffered from a lack of transparency in promotional practices, poor succession planning and poor team building. In 2015, Management Partners urged the BHPD to initiate a review of their promotional practices and to involve employees with clear and measurable standards to be considered for promotion. When Spagnoli inherited the BHPD in 2016, thenInterim Chief Dominick Rivetti had made little progress implementing the 24 recommendations, leaving the Management Partners recommendations largely for the incoming chief, according to a report Rivetti made to the Beverly Hills City Council on Nov. 24, 2015. In an update on the Management Partners report released this week, Spagnoli has implemented 20 of the 24 recommendations in the 2015 report. Two of the incomplete recommendations were in progress, and the other two were determined to be either unnecessary or not feasible. (see ‘BHPD’ page 13)
LOOKING TO THE FUTURE — Brie Larson, who stars as Carol Danvers/Captain Marvel in the upcoming Marvel Studios Captain Marvel, participated in a panel at Brazil’s Comic Con Experience, which was held in Sao Paulo. For more photos, see George Christy’s column on page 6.