BEVERLY HILLS—The Beverly Hills Unified School District decided on Tuesday, March 10, that they will leave guidelines having to do with inter-district permits untouched until they are more certain whether or not they need basic aid, which is financial support that comes from residents’ property taxes rather than the state.  Inter-district permits are used by students outside of the district neighborhoods to attend school in the BHUSD.

The inter-district attendance policy has several provisions and rules.  First, priority is given to students who are neighborhood residents.  Second, priority is given to those who have a brother and/or sister who are attending school in the district.  Depending on the individual case, priority is also given for child welfare issues as documented by a doctor, therapist or court.  The rest of the students who are out of the district neighborhoods but wish to attend BHUSD schools will be put in a lottery and the amount the school will take depends on space availability.  The inter-district permits are valid for one school year.

Canyon  News spoke to the Coordinator of Child Welfare and Attendance, Toni Staser, who gave us some statistics on the amount of inter-district permit students BHUSD has in its schools.  "BHUSD currently has 5143 current students enrolled," says Staser.  "Out of these, we have 909 permits.  That is 17.6 percent of the students.  The school with the most permits in our district is El Rodeo.  We should have a better picture of enrollment by June 30th."

Pat Escalante, Principal of El Rodeo, sent Canyon News an email regarding this issue which included this:

"I would say that my stand on the issue is to support the direction of the Superintendent and the School Board.  I feel confident in their decision making and willingness to take input from all stakeholders in the community regarding this decision.  As far as El Rodeo is concerned, the minute a student and their family comes onto our campus to register to become a student and member of our school community, their status as a resident or permit student is insignificant to us.  It is our expectation that all students and families will do their best to become successful members of our school community."

BHUSD is comprised of Beverly Vista Elementary, El Rodeo Elementary, Beverly Hills High School, Hawthorne Elementary School and Horace Mann  Middle School.  

 

Beverly Hills. Photo by Joanne DeCaro Afornalli