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Enough With The Lies!

Last March we broke a story about a string of layoffs at BHHS that were shrouded in deceit. Still, teachers, administrators, and coaches are getting fired to the dismay of the community. In the midst of one of the largest district personnel turnovers in history, the author of this editorial asks, "Why can't the district just tell the truth? When a teacher gets laid off, the community has the right to know the real reason the teacher is leaving."

      Volleyball coach Katie Washington, Hawthorne Principal Jennifer Boone, Assistant Principal Gayla Rabin, Journalism Advisor Jennifer Moulton, Counselor Elliot Bowles, and Science Teacher Kevin Kung all have two things in common: they are not returning to BHUSD this year, and they very well may have been forcibly removed by their superiors. If it were up to the city of Beverly Hill 's finely polished public relations team, students, parents, and fellow teachers would be led to believe these employees had "resigned" or "retired". Indeed, that is what the city has claimed, time and time again, when it comes to removing an employee.

There is only one problem with this image: it is not true.

      Towards the end of summer vacation, boys' volleyball coach Katie Washington told the Beverly Hills Weekly that Dr. Stepenosky told her to not return this year, despite district claims that her absence would be due to a resignation based on personal reasons. Parents and students were shocked. During a similar scenario, Hawthorne principal Jennifer Boone and vice principal Patricia Galante "decided to leave the district". In reality, the events unfolded as follows: on Monday, March 8, Ms. Boone told parents she was happy to say she would be returning next year. The following day she asked parents to show their support for her during the school board meeting the next day, and on Thursday of that week, declared she would be "resigning". Does the school board really think they can get away with a lie that blatant?

      Does the Board of Education actually think a constant flow of teachers and administrators is a good idea? I would sure hope not, but if they do, there are grave issues that need to be dealt with. When a new teacher enters the district, he or she has to adjust to the new school. The transition is by no means immediate, and it often takes several years for a teacher to develop a solid method of teaching according to the specific curriculum standards of that district. It is clear then, that when a new teacher is hired, the teacher will improve with time, as he/she develops a syllabus that works well given the district standards and the needs of the students. 

      With administrators, experience within the district is even more critical. It takes time to become acquainted with the intricacies of a district. To be a successful administrator in the BHUSD, you need to be connected with key people, such as active members of the PTA and BHEF. An administrator also needs to be familiar with the bureaucracy in place within the district, and needs to understand the many policies the Board of Education has implemented in the past. It is very hard on the district when administrators come and go. Half completed policy implementations do not get finished, and new administrators need to become familiarized with the district.

      In the recent years we have seen a superintendent (Gwen Gross), principals (Ben Bushman, Steve Fisher, and Jennifer Boone), assistant principals (Gayla Rabin, Richard Munitz, Dawnalyn Murakawa-Leopard, Patricia Galante), and a large number of counselors and teachers come and go. Although some elected to leave the district, many were forcibly removed. With threats of being fired, most "retired" or "resigned" to make the city and their superiors look good. After removing these people, administrators turn to the media and say how great the employee was, and how disappointed they are to be losing such a "phenomenal" person. I can't stand lies - not when they are that cold and ruthless. The bottom line is that a city that fires so many important teachers, counselors, and administrators does not look good. How is the district supposed to move forward with all the changes that need completing when the people in charge are being forced to leave? How are the employees supposed to feel secure in their jobs when they know they can be removed with ease (this applies to administrators and teachers before reaching tenure)?

- Jim Moore

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To Surpass Mediocrity

Due to the added support of the community (through organizations such as BHEF), Beverly Hills Unified School District is lucky enough to have some of the best funding of any public school in the country. Still, the programs at the school do not reflect an outstanding institution, in fact, we are not much better than average among similar schools.

      There are many issues with BHHS, but in my opinion, the most prominent is the lack of diversity among the school's programs. In the last issue we printed a story that clearly showed how the school is simply not performing at the academic level that it should be achieving. In this article, I would like to focus on another aspect of the school: the program offerings. I have always known BHHS is a great school. It was not until I began closely examining what we had to offer, and what similar schools had to offer, that I became somewhat disappointed in Beverly .

      Take a look at the class listings. Are there many classes that you wouldn't find at any other high school?  While other public schools are offering classes such as Vehicle mechanics, Geology, Marine science, AP Psychology, Independent study programs, and even degree programs, we are operating with the absolute basics. There are only a few classes offered that are not the basic core classes and the most common APs and electives.

      Beverly is comprised of a very diverse group of people, with an equally diverse set of interests. I feel it is one of the most important obligations of a school to offer as wide a variety of courses at all levels as possible (regular, honors, AP, degree program, etc.). Many students have particular interests and want to restrict their studies to those fields. Why should the school constrict students and have them wait until college to take them? When I look at the programs offered at other schools, I feel we are being left out. At Palos Verdes Peninsula High School , students can become Cisco certified (a degree program) in high school. The day they walk off campus, they can have a professional degree and can make upward of $60,000 per year in the computer industry. Other schools will offer new classes if enough students petition for it, allowing them to tailor their courses to their own interests. It is programs such as these that differentiate a good school from a great school.

      Of course, adding new classes inevitably means hiring new teachers who are qualified for the position. This means more money, and money is something which appears to be in very short supply in this district. The argument that there is not enough money to add classes does not have a base, however, because such an argument is one of priorities, not funds. We spend tens of millions of dollars each year. If we were to just abandon the new Science Center , the district would be able to pay for 25 new teachers for 20 years. Although I don't think the project should be abandoned to make room for new teachers and new classes (it is indeed a great project), I think there are many expenditures that are outrageously overpriced, or even worse, unnecessary. We have printed stories about district spending, so I am going to refrain from going off on a tangent and citing specific examples (see previous issues if you are interested), but the bottom line is that there needs to be more cost-benefit analyses of projects the Board of Education approves. Some of these expenditures are far too high, and many are just plain pointless. What it really comes down to is priorities. The Board of Education has to decide what is most important next time they approve funds to be allocated to a certain project.

      Work is being done to further the solution to this problem. Dr. Stepenosky has been working on a variety of programs to allow students to peruse their interests, such as allowing students at Beverly to cross-enroll at SMC and take classes there for high school credit (a program LAUSD has had for years, but we still do not), and bringing a college-level ethics course to the school. He is also developing a robotics team, has brought Astronomy back, and he may also soon bring the International Baccalaureate program to the school as well. These are all steps in the right direction, and I hope this progress doesn't stop, because there is still much that needs to be done.

- Zack Anderson

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Summer Vacation: Not A Time For Schoolwork!

      "Busy work is a dungeon that imprisons the mind and destroys the spirit." For generations people have strived for a new understanding of the unknown. And school was used as a gateway to that knowledge. However, over time, the education process has only worsened. Pointless classroom busywork, given by under-trained teachers with no better ideas of how to educate their students, moved from the classroom, to your home, to your weekends, and now to your summer vacation. Schoolwork and summertime are like two positively charged ions. They don't want to be anywhere near each other. The entire purpose of summer vacation is give the students minds a break from the ever-more demanding curriculum that the school systems are devising. And now they expect us to spend this time doing what? ... Schoolwork! For shame! They have taken what little joy we manage to get out of life and crushed it like an ant. We are no longer permitted the time to unfold and simply relax with our chums. Rather, a good portion of our average day is spent worrying about what we need to read for English, History, Math, whichever other course assigns summer work, and what we need to know so that we don't embarrass ourselves on the first day of school. This generation, lacking absolutely any time for relaxation, will lose it's ability to enjoy life and will end up burned out by the time we are thirty.

      To give us work to do over the summer is simply not right. Firstly, any information that we actually absorb over the break sure as hell won't be from some menial book. The amount of reading given by the English department is simply absurd. Four novels in two months may be acceptable to somebody who is not looking to relax or who considers reading novels relaxation, however, it is certainly an unfair assessment of the people who attend AP and Honors English classes. Moreover, we are given a simple test on these novels. They are never discussed, never utilized, and never given a second thought. I enjoy reading a good novel, but when we are required to read so much during a time that is supposed to be our break, I don't feel its right. Cut down the reading. Summer vacation is a time to rest, and with many people already taking summer programs, they have enough work as is. Classes other than English give out work as well. Some math classes and history classes expect you to be prepared before you walk in on the first day of school. Many have us read hundreds of pages before the first day of school. This again ignores that the students are in fact on vacation. Even worse, many students are already very busy with summer school, or other such programs which assign their own work in a desperate attempt to go through a year's worth of material in just over a month. What frustrates me is that very little time is devoted to discussing the work done over the summer. We read thousands of pages of summer reading, but don't even discuss it in class. Cut down the work, and at least incorporate the summer work into the curriculum.

      Simply put, the busywork given to students over the summer is too demanding to be done over summer break. Students need a time to rest. The added stress of the amount of summer work some classes require needs to be cut down. At least if there is going to be such work - incorporate it into the curriculum. Do us the favor of at least having one or two conversations about the material so that we don't feel we spent the summer doing work which has no bearing over the class.

- LSD

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