As the impasse in contract negotiations between Beverly Hills teachers and school district staff continues, the district’s high school seniors are starting to feel the effects as they prepare their college applications.

“A lot of our seniors are being affected by this by not being able to get their letters of rec,” student school board member Sean Toobi said during a Sept. 13 school board meeting.

“There’s so much that these letters are offering and that’s why kids are very worried about what’s happening, that’s why there’s a lot of stress and that’s why everyone’s asking these questions, [such as] ‘Why does this have to affect us?’” Toobi said.

In an update on labor negotiations issued last month, the district addressed questions by parents about whether all teachers and staff would refuse to write letters of recommendation to students this school year. November deadlines for college applications are approaching.

“Each employee has an individual right to make the decision on their own on whether to assist a college bound student,” the district’s update stated. “Historically teachers, mentors, and coaches have helped students to fulfill their application obligations based off the relationship the staff member and student have cultivated over years. Unfortunately, district office and building administration cannot require a staff member to fulfill this service to help a student.”

Ethan Smith, a teacher at Horace Mann School and president of the Beverly Hills Education Association, said that the organization is suggesting that all members refrain from working outside their current contract.

“High school teachers write letters of recommendation on their own personal time and therefore BHEA is advising teachers to not write those letters until the impasse is resolved,” he said via email.

The district and teachers union entered a fact-finding process after a few months of mediation by the State Mediation and Conciliation Service did not produce a deal. Factors such as the cost of living and wages in Beverly Hills Unified compared to other districts are under review.

“The goal is education, and with that comes the students,” Toobi said. “So, it seems like the talks have been accelerating, that there’s been a gain in momentum. But, on behalf of all the students I ask for the board, district staff and to all the union and the teachers out there, please, for the education, for the students, come to the table, accelerate these negotiations. If there can be a resolution by the time applications are due, at least come with some compromise so the seniors can get their letters. Because again, at the end of the day, all of us are here for education, all of us are here for students.”

Beverly Hills High School senior Lauren Samidi spoke in support of her teachers and encouraged the board to help reach a compromise.

“I’m not here to provoke an argument,” she said. “I’m standing here this evening to encourage a negotiation that can better fit the needs of those in the BHEA union.”

District officials have said declining enrollment has caused an overstaffing of teachers, which has limited their compensation relative to teachers in neighboring districts. Reconfiguring the district’s four K-8 schools into one 6-8 middle school and three K-5 schools was a proposed solution to the overstaffing issue, but discussions stalled earlier this year. Two of the three candidates in the Nov. 6 school board election competing for two open seats are in favor of reconfiguration. School board members Howard Goldstein and Lisa Korbatov are not seeking reelection.

“A lot of us stay silent during these discussions about negotiations and impasse,” school board member Noah Margo said. “Part of the reason is that they’re technically items we cannot talk about. So it’s not that we are ignoring the item, we are very much not doing that. We are working very cohesively, I think, as a board to try to resolve this situation.”