Beverly Hills School Board Fills Vacant Seat

BEVERLY HILLS, CA — The Beverly Hills Unified School District Board of Education voted unanimously Tuesday to fill its vacant seat with Gabriel Halimi, a graduate of Beverly Hills schools who served as the student board member in 1999-2000 during his senior year at Beverly Hills High School.

The board has been searching for a new board member since Sept. 21, when former Vice President Tristen Walker-Shuman resigned following a controversy and district-led investigation into whether or not she lived in Beverly Hills and met the board’s residency requirements.

The board had until Nov. 21 to appoint a new board member, or a district-funded special election would have taken place, the Beverly Press reports. The board received 20 applications for the position, and in October narrowed those down to seven finalists: Halimi, a businessman, attorneys Judith Friedman, Brigitte Lifson, Judith Manouchehri, Robert Myers, and physicians Michal Amir-Salkin and Aaron Reitman. Each applicant was interviewed for about 30 minutes and asked the same list of questions, Beverly Hills Weekly reports. The questions ranged from how to address declining enrollment, opinions on mandatory vaccinations for all students, and the biggest problems facing students and the district.

The voting lasted for three rounds, according to Beverly Hills Weekly. In the first round, each board member voted for up to three applicants, a second round with up to two applicants, and a final round. Board member Noah Margo was not in favor of appointing Halimi, Beverly Hills Weekly reported, and disagreed with his view that the district could benefit from more subcommittees. Margo said Halimi “might be our best compromise” but said he will “[have] his eye out.”

Halimi will serve until Nov. 2022, when he will run in a special election.

Halimi is the CEO and vice chair of Flo Technologies Inc., and the general manager of the Consumer Protected Channel, and vice president of smart transformation for Fortune Brands Global Plumbing Group, according to his application. He has also worked with the Jewish Federation of Greater Los Angeles, the Society of Young Philanthropists, Moishe House, and the Or Shemesh preschool, which he co-founded. He graduated from Beverly Hills High School, then UC Santa Barbara, then Loyola Law School.

“I’m a product of BHUSD, having graduated from Hawthorne and Beverly Hills High School, so I have a unique vantage point into the business of education in Beverly Hills and have a strong desire to give back for our next generation of students,” Halimi said in his application. “I moved into Beverly Hills approximately eight months ago for a number of reasons, but not least of which was to hopefully put my young four children in BHUSD schools.”

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