The Beverly Hills Unified School District reversed its position on requiring schools to display the flag of Israel. (photo by Edwin Folven)

Less than two days after the Beverly Hills Unified School District Board of Education narrowly approved a resolution that would require the display of the flag of Israel on all school campuses in May, the superintendent announced he was reversing the board’s decision.

“In light of heightened safety concerns around the displaying of flags on our campuses I have made the decision to take immediate action for the safety and security of our students,” Superintendent Dr. Alex Cherniss said in a statement. “Until further notice, no flags will be displayed on our campuses other than the flag of the United States of America and the flag of the State of California.”

The initial resolution, which was aimed at combating antisemitism and recognized May as Jewish Heritage Month, was controversial when it was first passed on Aug. 26. Community members including the mayor and vice mayor of Beverly Hills and several BHUSD students praised the resolution for supporting Jewish students. However, it was met with intense criticism from residents – including many who are Jewish – for its requirement to display the flag of Israel. Additionally, some residents perceived the resolution as a conflation of Jewish identity and the state of Israel.

It was also condemned by the Greater Los Angeles office of the Council on American-Islamic Relations, which commended Cherniss’ decision to reverse the policy.

“While we welcome Superintendent Cherniss’ decision not to display the flag of Israel on public campuses as a necessary step toward protecting students’ safety, his statement did not address the overarching concern raised by students, teachers and community members – public schools should not be used to make political statements in support of foreign governments committing a genocide,” CAIR-LA Executive Director Hussam Ayloush said. “The three board members who voted in favor of the proposal – Judith Manouchehri, Sigalie Sabag and Russell Stuart – are attempting to exploit their roles as trustees of public schools, funded by taxpayer dollars, to advance their personal political bias without regard to the mental and emotional well-being of the students they represent. BHUSD must act in the interests of all students, not just those who support Israel. By refusing to acknowledge the immense harm in displaying the flag of a foreign state currently engaged in a campaign of genocide, the district has shown that it clearly values the safety of some students over others.”

Cherniss said he made the decision in accordance with board policy 2210, which states, “when immediate action is necessary to avoid any risk to the safety or security of students, staff or district property or to prevent disruption of school operations, the superintendent or designee shall have the authority to act on behalf of the district.”

According to Board Member Dr. Amanda Stern, the school district received direct threats to safety. She said that city leaders and law enforcement reached out to the school district expressing concern over an influx of antisemitic and hateful messages following the policy requiring the display of flags.

An emergency meeting was called on Aug. 29, where the board unanimously ratified Cherniss’ decision with a new resolution that prohibits the display of all flags other than those of the United States, California, Beverly Hills, the school district and individual schools. The new resolution applies to all schools, offices and properties and includes flagpoles, buildings, fences and classrooms. However, the resolution does not restrict student activities such as clubs, or individual student expression.

“The last three days were absolutely one of the biggest crises that I personally have been pulled into and voluntarily wanted to mitigate since my tenure on the board,” said Stern, who voted against the initial resolution that required the display of the flag of Israel.

She added that while she appreciated and supported the intention of the original resolution in fighting antisemitism, the mandatory display of the Israeli flag damaged the district’s reputation and created an unneeded safety crisis.

“I don’t know if you guys anticipated the amount of undue stress and self-inflicted wounds this did to our standing as a district. I’m embarrassed by the media, I’m embarrassed that several law enforcement folks and leaders in the city expressed deep concern for the hate mail they got,” Stern said. “To date, I have received – and this is no exaggeration, I’ve just stopped counting – 480 highly negative, vulgar, antisemitic comments.”

Community members expressed some relief that the decision was reversed. However, many were outraged that the new policy also prohibits the display of the LGBTQ+ Pride flag in June during Pride Month. The district had previously flown the Progress Pride Flag at all schools and district offices each June since 2021.

“There was no public appetite to do away with Pride flags, so you endangered our community with an unforced controversy to make bigoted lemonade out of lemons – to use your bumbling error on a collateral attack on the LGBTQ community,” parent Daniel Lifschitz said.

He added that the initial resolution requiring the display of Israeli flags inflamed antisemitism even further.

“We’re now as close to a Skokie-style Nazi march down Moreno Drive as the community has ever gotten,” Lifschitz said. “And somehow after all this, you think flags as a general concept are the problem, and that banning them writ large is the only way to fix the mess that was made? That’s like stabbing yourself with scissors and then banning arts and crafts.”

Stern echoed the concerns over the Pride flag, at one point asking her colleagues if they personally and professionally wanted to get rid of the Pride flag.

Manouchehri responded by accusing Stern of politicizing the issue.

“It’s so upsetting that you are selling our Jewish students down the river and making a Jewish versus LGBQT issue, which it is not,” Manouchehri said.

At times, the board’s conversation descended into an argument.

“All of those [480] people that sent the emails demonstrate the need, and that antisemitism is the oldest and sickest disease in the world,” Manouchehri said.

“It is terrible, but we made it worse,” Stern said.

“We didn’t make it worse,” Manouchehri said. “It needed, unfortunately, apparently to happen so that the community could see that antisemitism is alive. It’s real. You have to be scared to go out in the street. I would not allow my children to wear a Star of David at this day and age.”

Board President Rachelle Marcus, who voted against the display of Israeli flags, attempted to reign in the meeting.

“What started all this was a policy about antisemitism and here we are at this horrible crossroads of being at each other’s throats almost over the flag,” Marcus said.

Although there was intense disagreement, the board refined the resolution prohibiting flags to not apply to student expression, and it was passed in a unanimous vote.

“It’s unfortunate that a crisis that had to be mitigated through operational measures would somehow implicate other flags which clearly do not pose the same level of danger to our students,” Stern said in an interview. “However, moving forward, I am confident that revisited and renewed policies and resolutions such as that of the June Pride Month will be sufficiently presented so that we can continue to celebrate many different groups and cultures in our school district.”