Beverly Hills School Board Elects New VP, Reviews Applications

BEVERLY HILLS, CA — The Beverly Hills Unified School District board of education on Tuesday elected board member Mary Wells to be the new vice pesident to replace former Vice President Tristen Walker-Shuman, who resigned in September.

The board also moved eight provisional candidates forward for public interviews to fill Walker-Shuman's board seat.

The board opened applications on Oct. 5 for a provisional board member and received 20 applications.

Eight candidates were chosen at Tuesday's meeting to be interviewed at a future board meeting. The eight candidates moving forward are Robert Meyers, Gabe Halimi, Aaron Reitman, Judy Friedman, Judy Manouchehri, Howard Goldstein, Brigitte Lifson and Michal Amir-Salkin.

Earlier this month, the board voted unanimously to elect a provisional member by appointment rather than holding a full election, which would be costly. The last board member election cost the district nearly $50,000, the Beverly Hills Courier reported.

The new provisional board member will complete Walker-Shuman's term, which ends in November 2022.

Walker-Shuman's Resignation

Walker-Shuman resigned Sept. 22 amid what she called a "distracting" battle over her residency. Early in September, an anonymous complaint alleged that Walker-Shuman had moved away from Beverly Hills in August. Walker-Shuman denied the claims and presented as proof her driver's license and an absentee ballot.

The Los Angeles County District Attorney's office investigated the claims and closed its investigation on Sept. 15, saying it would take no further action, according to the Beverly Press.

The Los Angeles County Office of Education also closed its investigation of Walker-Shuman. The board hired an independent counsel on Sept. 14 to conduct an investigation, but closed it when Walker-Shuman resigned.

"I am no longer willing to sacrifice my personal peace, my family or my time to oppose the current malign efforts. This manufactured issue has become an untenable distraction at a time when all of our efforts should be focused on servicing our students and recovering from the ongoing pandemic,” she said in a statement about her resignation.

Wells' Background

Wells was elected to the board in 2020 and promised a safe return to campus amid the pandemic. She also promised financial savings through budget management and more, according to her campaign website.

Wells has been a Beverly Hills resident for 13 years and has three children, one of whom graduated from the district in 2016, she told KBEV. Wells served on the Citizens' Bond Oversight Committee on school development projects, using her professional background in construction management.