From left, Beverly Hills Chamber of Commerce Board Member David Mirharooni moderated a forum with Beverly Hills Unified School District Board of Education candidates Janessa LaVoice, Judith Manouchehri, Rachelle Marcus, Michal Salkin and Farrah Dodes. (photo by Joey Waldinger)

With roughly three weeks before election day, the five candidates for the Beverly Hills Unified School District Board of Education convened during a forum this week to make their case to voters.

During the hour-long event hosted by the Beverly Hills Chamber of Commerce, the candidates discussed their backgrounds and outlined their plans to improve the district, which they said has been hampered in recent years by a district-wide reconfiguration, lagging construction projects and the COVID-19 pandemic.

The slate of candidates, who are vying for two seats on the board, includes Farrah Dodes, a web designer with 10 years of volunteer experience in the district; Janessa LaVoice; a former ballet dancer who works as an applied behavioral analysis tutor; Judith Manouchehri, a real estate attorney; Rachelle Marcus, an incumbent board member and former BHUSD teacher for over 50 years; and Michal Salkin, a former OB-GYN who currently teaches at the USC Keck School of Medicine.

Although the candidates differed in their professional and personal backgrounds, they all agreed that the district had not met its potential, and their platforms largely took aim at the same set of issues, including pandemic-era learning loss and mental health challenges, school safety, a lack of transparency with construction projects and better career training opportunities.

“I’m running because I believe that BHUSD can do better,” Salkin said.

Her platform is informed by her own educational experiences, both formal and informal. She cites her teaching career at the USC Keck School of Medicine, the care she provides to her son, who has high-functioning autism, and her family’s tutoring to unhoused residents in Skid Row as having equal impact on her vision for the district.

Salkin said one of her biggest priorities is expanding Beverly Hills High School’s Career Technical Education programs, and she said that the district needs to better cater to students whose strengths and interests lie outside of traditional academia.

She also wants to show students how the lessons learned in the classroom can translate into an enriching career, whether inviting speakers from various fields to talk to students about their professional journeys, or allowing students to tour the offices of businesses throughout the city.

The pandemic’s toll on students’ wellbeing hit especially close to home for Salkin, she said. Before the pandemic, her son was making strides in his social education, but his progress was stunted when his lessons had to go virtual during the lockdown, Salkin said.

“We need to be proactive for all of our kids, because our kids here in Beverly Hills lost so much in these last few years. So, it’s not just disadvantaged kids, all kids need to be carefully educated,” Salkin said.

After working for 14 years as an applied behavioral analysis tutor, LaVoice also has a special connection to the issue of children’s mental health, she said. She has seen firsthand how helpful it is to give students access to psychologists, therapists and arts, athletic and extracurricular programs.

Asked by moderator and BHCC board member David Mirharooni about the threat that fentanyl and other illicit drugs pose to students in the district, LaVoice said that students might turn to these substances because they feel lonely or depressed, and by joining a club, sports team or art program, they are likely to find a sense of belonging that could alleviate feelings of distress.

“We need to address the root of the problem. There will always be drugs and students will always be able to access drugs. So, let’s get to the root of the ruin,” LaVoice said.

On her website, LaVoice says she wants to advance art courses based on students’ preferences and improve the quality of available art courses.

Some of her other positions have proven controversial in school board races across the county, including her opposition to critical race-theory and her desire to ban “The 1619 Project.”

“I do not support any teaching or teaching materials that divide students into oppressed and oppressor groups, based on the color of their skin, sexual-orientation or socio-economic status. I support teaching children to judge each other by the content of their character, not other factors,” LaVoice stated in an email.

Improving students’ math scores is another key part of LaVoice’s platform, and she cites special education as the district’s most overlooked issue, something she wants to rectify by reviewing and updating programs, increasing training and monitoring position controls.

“I am a results-oriented person, and I aim to deliver positive results to the BHUSD community,” LaVoice said.

Marcus, who has spent almost 60 years in BHUSD as a teacher, parent and board member, also worries that students’ math skills are slipping, a trend that she witnessed during her teaching career. Marcus was elected to the board in 2018 and her long history with the district is central to her position as a board member, she said.

“I have spent almost 60 years of my life involved in education …. [and] I just cannot imagine not being able to contribute to our district again,” Marcus said. “During my four years on the board, I studied the issues and I’ve done my homework to make wise, thoughtful decisions, and I’m not about to change that.”

Marcus’ platform focuses on putting students first, safety and finance. The district must do a better job assessing students’ performance throughout the year, and ensure that any student who falls behind receive the tutoring and help required to bring them up to grade level, she said.

She also called for increased resources to support students’ emotional and mental wellbeing, including extracurricular activities. She noted that the district already has in place several resources for student wellbeing, including the Positive Behavioral Interventions and Supports program and the Beverly Hills High School Norman Aid Center, which provides crisis intervention and management, conflict mediation, mental health education and peer counseling, and the district’s buddy system.

“We need to keep going with these programs, … [and] develop more programs, so the kids will always have a good feeling when they’re in school,” she said.

Regarding the risk posed by fentanyl, Marcus said that the district must provide constant support and education to parents, teachers and students, adding that the district has recently obtained Narcan and taught every teacher how to administer it in the event of a student overdose.

“Let’s not close our eyes to the problem, let’s be proactive and help our kids,” Marcus said.

Marcus, who is endorsed by the Beverly Hills Education Association, also said that her four years on the board will help her avoid some of the mistakes that have resulted in delayed construction. She recalled how, during her previous term, she was shunned from a committee that met regularly to discuss ongoing construction projects.

“That was when I decided we needed to form a facilities and construction committee for a little bit more oversight on what was going on. And during that time, we found out several important factors like licensing and money, and we decided it was time to take a new direction. And so, we decided to not renew the contract and go out for [a request for proposals] and move on with a new bond manager and director of construction. We [have] got them in place now, and we have great hopes that this will be something we can really work with,” Marcus said.

In her legal career, Manouchehri worked as in-house counsel for Panda Express for five years before starting a private practice as a real estate attorney. She has overseen more than $350 million in transactions, experience she said makes her uniquely qualified to solve the district’s construction woes.

“I’m the only candidate with the professional experience to deliver legal oversight to these projects. I have already reviewed the past bond manager agreements. I actually printed them out, hand wrote my comments, the comments that I would have given [to] Panda Express, a multibillion dollar international corporation, and I delivered those comments to several of the board members,” Manouchehri said. “We were out there signing documents naked and it is definitely time to move forward with adequate supervision, transparency and efficiency.”

If elected to the board, Manouchehri said she will create a transparent and robust oversight schedule and hold meetings every other Monday with key officials to discuss the construction progress, she said.

Manouchehri also wants the district to help students gain better career experience, and has been leveraging her connections in the city to do so. She has introduced several law firms to staff in the BHHS Career Center, invited students to tour her office and is working with Beverly Vista Middle School to establish a speaker series for their science classes, inviting speakers from NASA.

Her platform includes increasing academic rigor, and improving relationships between teachers, staff and administrators.

“The way you do anything is the way you do everything. Which means, to me, I’m not focused on any one single issue. I want to give our children a lot of good things so that each child has the … resources and access they need to excel, whether it be facilities, academic rigor or support,” she said

As the mother of three children attending BHUSD elementary, middle and high schools, Manouchehri will be able to share her first-hand experiences with the board, administration and staff “to really collaborate and have a holistic approach,” she said.

Dodes didn’t expect to become so involved with the school district when she first volunteered as her son was beginning kindergarten. Ten years later, Dodes is the Beverly Hills Education Foundation president, has served as treasurer of the Parent Teachers Association and held positions on seven district advisory committees, she said.

Dodes, who is also endorsed by the BHEA, said that her insider’s perspective will help her steer the district through an opportunity to correct course after being thrown off by reconfiguration and the pandemic.

“Basically, I live and breathe the school district,” Dodes said.

Her top priorities are school safety, ensuring mental health support for students and teachers, and ensuring the district’s financial stability and accountability, which she will accomplish from drawing on the same skills and experience that have made her an effective PTA treasurer and auditor in previous roles.

“I keep my eye on the ball. In my first year as treasurer at [Beverly Vista Middle School], I saved … about $70,000 because I was paying attention,” Dodes said.

Another big aspect of Dodes’ platform is building community relations. She wants to restore trust between parents and the district that was eroded during the pandemic and improve dialogue between the city and school district, especially by encouraging the city to celebrate the district’s successes.

“We have kids winning national championships … in robotics and culinary arts, and more recently we had a teacher who is one of the top 15 teachers in [L.A. county]. … The news reports on that, but I’m not sure if the city really recognizes it.”