Beverly Hills High School
Encyclopedia
Beverly Hills High School (usually abbreviated as "Beverly" or as "BHHS") is the only major public high school in Beverly Hills, California
. (The other public high school in Beverly Hills, Moreno High School, is a small alternative school
located on Beverly's campus.)
Beverly is part of the Beverly Hills Unified School District
and located on 19.5 acres (78,913.8 m²) on the west side of Beverly Hills, at the border of the Century City
area of Los Angeles
. The land was previously part of the Beverly Hills Speedway
board track
, which was torn down in 1924. Beverly, which serves all of Beverly Hills, was founded in 1927. The original buildings were designed by Robert D. Farquhar
in the French Normandy style. The school also receives its funding from its on-campus oil tower.
The current Principal is Carter Paysinger.
As of the 2005–06 school year, the school had an enrollment of 2,368 students and 100.4 classroom teachers (on a full-time equivalent
basis), for a student-teacher ratio of 23.5.
Award of Excellence by the United States Department of Education
, the highest award an American school can receive. Newsweek
ranked Beverly Hills High School as the 267th best public high school in the country.
, 17% Asian
, 5% African-American, 4% Latino
.
About 35% of Beverly's current student body was born outside the United States, and 41% of its students speak a first language other than English.
by Michael Leahy. Published in 1988 it is a comprehensive book that followed Leahy's sociological study of Beverly students in the mid-1980s. In 1984, Beverly had a 100% graduation rate but three students committed suicide. These suicides piqued Leahy's interest in Beverly and he followed the lives of six Beverly seniors from the day they started school until the day they graduated in 1985.
Leahy had heard many stories about Beverly having intense academic pressure, rampant cocaine abuse, and being a "den of hedonism." However, after speaking to Beverly students he concluded that sex and drug abuse were neither higher nor lower than the middle-class high schools of the LA area. Beverly's social attitudes and morals were also nearly identical to these schools.
Leahy did note that Beverly's academic pressure was unusually high which led to cheating and high anxiety amongst students.
, Whatever It Takes
, The Bachelor and the Bobby-Soxer
, and It's a Wonderful Life
, both of which featured a scene in Beverly's unique "Swim Gym," perhaps the only gymnasium that has a basketball court that can split open to reveal a recreational-sized, 25 yards (22.9 m) swimming pool. The gym in Beverly Hills High was used in the video for boy band NLT
's That Girl.
The front of Beverly High was shown in a short clip of Nickelback
's music video for their song Rockstar
, although it only shows the part that reads "Hills High School" (the "Beverly" portion was cut off).The school was also in the cartoon show Totally Spies!.
wanted the show to be set at Beverly Hills High School, and the show to be filmed on Beverly's campus. The Beverly Hills school board declined both requests. So, the TV producers created the fictional "West Beverly Hills High School" (or "West Beverly") and the show was filmed at Torrance High School
, in Torrance, California
. "West Beverly" is a clear reference to Beverly, because Beverly's campus is located on the western border of Beverly Hills. The fictional school, East Beverly Hills High School was in the book series The Privileged Life.
For many years Beverly has selected high-achieving students from twelve LAUSD
middle schools on diversity permits in an attempt to increase the number of minorities enrolled. Selections have been made based on test scores, grades and writing samples. According to enrollment data for the 2006–2007 school year, however, seven out of ten students who entered the school this way were of Asian ethnicity. In April 2007 due to pressure from parents and activist Earl Ofari Hutchinson
, who criticized the school for not recruiting more African-American and Latino students, Superintendent Kari McVeigh agreed to extend the application deadline until April 27, as reported in the Los Angeles Times
and the Beverly Hills Courier
, hoping that more students from these minority groups would seek to enroll. According to the Beverly Hills Courier (May 25, 2007), "civil rights leaders hailed the final student selections" as "an honest effort to obtain ethnic diversity."
The school board voted 3–2 in the spring of 2008 to offer the children of alumni, who live outside the district's boundaries, preference in enrollment. The intended purpose is to influence these alumni to support the school district regarding bond measure or tax issues and fund-raising. Critics protest that, while legacy preferences are long established and constitution
al for institutions of higher education
(college
s and universities
), legacy enrollment in public schools is anti-democratic, constitutionally questionable, and subvert public education
to the benefit of the wealthy.
(PEG) Channels requirements for cable companies (free access by Public-access television
, Education-access television and Government-access television (GATV) entities in the community). KBEV airs the longest running high school news program in the country, The Norman Newservice (now The Norman News). The program has hosted important guests such as Ronald Reagan
in the past. Highlights, the school's newspaper, has also won numerous awards for its reporting and writing. In October 2007, Highlights won first place in the 13th Annual California State University Northridge Journalism Skills Competition, with a total of seven out of twelve possible awards in news writing, feature writing, opinion writing, sports writing and photojournalism. The Highlights staff recently took home awards from the national JEA conference in St. Louis, Missouri
. In April 2009, the "Highlights" staff ranked 3rd place among the nation in Phoenix, Arizona
.
and built in 1939 as a New Deal
project. It features a basketball court that opens to reveal a 25 yards (22.9 m)-long swimming pool underneath, as mentioned previously. It is featured in It's A Wonderful Life
as the location of the dance. Sports including volleyball, basketball, wrestling, swimming and water polo can all be played in this facility. Beverly offers the following sports:
BHHS's stadium is a multipurpose facility that is used for football, soccer, baseball, lacrosse, and track and field.
Each year around late March to early April, the school holds its annual musical performance by performing arts students. Many of these musicals are based on Broadway award-winning musicals, directed by the 3 theater teachers, Herb Hall, Joel Pressman, and Josh Butchart. BHHS is also famous for its Theater Acting Workshop, where only Juniors and Seniors who audition get in. Nicolas Cage
once enrolled in this class, as did his son.
BHHS also has an almost 200 member marching band. The BHHS marching band has had the privilege of performing at Disneyland for the past couple of years, after strict training in the skills of marching and playing at the same time. After several months of training, the band auditions in front of a strict jury of professional marching specialists. About 300 worldwide marching bands audition every year and only 20 get accepted. The BHHS marching band has gotten bigger and stronger each year under the direction of Richard Farmer. now under the direction of Bill Bradbury.
BHHS now has a very successful competitive Winter Drumline. The BHHS Drumline is in its second competitive season. They compete in the SCPA and WGI circuits. The BHHS Drumline has performed such shows as "A Tour of Technology: The Inner-Workings of a Computer" and "Censor State: The State, The Conceded, The Resistance".
Beverly Hills High School also has two award-winning groups, the Madrigal Singers (a chamber choir
) and Minnesingers (currently an all-women's choir), conducted by Joel Pressman, a Beverly alum. Both groups have won a wide range of awards for their performances, usually at Heritage Festivals. They have traveled across the United States to well-known locales such as San Francisco, Las Vegas
, New York, Chicago, Orlando
, Washington, D.C. and even internationally to Mexico, France and New Zealand. Additionally, in December, both groups go Christmas caroling to raise money for their festival trips. The groups were founded by Robert Holmes, who also helped found the Idyllwild School of Music and the Arts Summer Music Festival see Idyllwild Arts Summer Program
.
BHHS's Dance Company is renowned for their success in dance. They hold annual shows in January, which they practice for immediately when the school year starts. A few years ago, the Dance Company traveled to its sister school in Cannes, France, where they were invited to perform. BHHS also has a hip-hop group, AP Posse, which performs in between Dance Company numbers.
under many homes and apartment buildings in Beverly Hills for decades.
As of May 2006, the Beverly Hills High School wells were pumping out 400 barrels (63.6 m³) to 500 barrels (79.5 m³) a day, earning the school approximately $300,000 a year in royalties.
In the mid-1990s an art studio volunteered to cover the well enclosure, which at that time was solid gray in color, with individual tiles that had been painted by kids with cancer. The studio created the design and drew the lines on the tiles, but children painted the tiles in between the lines. The studio made the design rather abstract: the design consists of random shapes on different-colored backgrounds. A ceremony inaugurating the design was held in 2001.
Beverly gained more notoriety when Erin Brockovich
and Ed Masry announced having filed three lawsuits in 2003 and 2004 on behalf of 25, 400, and 300 (respectively) former students who attended Beverly from the 1970s until the 1990s. In April 2003, the Texas-based lawfirm of Baron & Budd partnered with the law office of Masry & Vititoe to lend its expertise in lawsuits related to health risks of volatile chemicals. The number of actual cancer claims filed in Santa Monica was ninety-four.
The lawsuits claimed that toxic fumes from the oil wells caused the former students to develop cancer
. The oil wells are very close to all of Beverly's sports facilities, including the soccer field, the football field, and the racetrack. Beverly students—not just athletes but students taking required physical education classes from the 1970s until the 1990s—were required to run near the oil wells.
The city, the school district, and the oil companies named as defendants disputed this assertion, claiming that they had conducted air quality tests with results showing that air quality is normal at the high school. In 2003, the University of Southern California Keck School of Medicine published a "Community Cancer Assessment Regarding Beverly Hills, California" which failed to support Masry's claims.
After receiving complaints about Beverly's oil installation, the region's air-quality agency investigated Venoco Oil (doing business as Venoco, Inc) and in 2003 issued three Notices of Violation regarding the operation of the drilling island. Venoco, Inc's penalty settlement included requirements that the company maintain continuous air quality monitoring at the high school, and prevent any oilfield gas (which is primarily methane gas) from being released into the atmosphere.
On December 12, 2006, the first 12 plaintiffs (of over 1000 total) were dismissed on summary judgment
because there was no indication that the contaminant (benzene) caused the diseases involved and the concentrations were hundreds to thousands of times lower than levels associated with any risk. In Fall of 2007, the plaintiffs agreed to pay the School District and the City up to $450,000 for expenses from the lawsuits. This payment of expenses is without prejudice to any of the plaintiffs in the case, which is on appeal.
The oil wells may have inspired a 1991 episode of the sitcom Saved By the Bell
titled "Pipe Dreams." In it, oil is discovered at fictional Bayside High School in Pacific Palisades, California
. There's excitement about the financial possibilities, but when a company comes in to drill, the character of Jessie realizes that it could be detrimental to the local environment.
In June 2004 Beverly Hills Courier Editor Norma Zager was named "Journalist of the Year" in the Los Angeles Press Club's Southern California Journalism Awards competition for her coverage of the Erin Brockovich-Edward Masry lawsuit. Two books about the oil wells and lawsuit have been published, "Parts Per Million: The Poisoning of Beverly Hills High School" by Joy Horowitz was published in July 2007 and "Erin Brockovich and the Beverly Hills: Greenscam" by Norma Zager was published in October 2010.
taught the drama and acting program at the school from 1964 to 1985. While Beverly Hills High School alumni are known predominantly for their connections with the entertainment industry, BHHS has also produced well-known scholars in many scientific disciplines.
Beverly Hills, California
Beverly Hills is an affluent city located in Los Angeles County, California, United States. With a population of 34,109 at the 2010 census, up from 33,784 as of the 2000 census, it is home to numerous Hollywood celebrities. Beverly Hills and the neighboring city of West Hollywood are together...
. (The other public high school in Beverly Hills, Moreno High School, is a small alternative school
Alternative school
Alternative school is the name used in some parts of the world to describe an institution which provides part of alternative education. It is an educational establishment with a curriculum and methods that are nontraditional...
located on Beverly's campus.)
Beverly is part of the Beverly Hills Unified School District
Beverly Hills Unified School District
The Beverly Hills Unified School District, abbreviated BHUSD, is a school district based in Beverly Hills, California. It was formed in 1935.Beverly Hills USD serves the city of Beverly Hills. It consists of four K-8 schools, one high school and a special education school...
and located on 19.5 acres (78,913.8 m²) on the west side of Beverly Hills, at the border of the Century City
Century City, Los Angeles, California
Century City is a 176-acre commercial and residential district on the Westside of the city of Los Angeles. It is bounded by Westwood on the west, Rancho Park on the southwest, Cheviot Hills and Beverlywood on the southeast, and the city of Beverly Hills on the northeast...
area of Los Angeles
Los Angeles, California
Los Angeles , with a population at the 2010 United States Census of 3,792,621, is the most populous city in California, USA and the second most populous in the United States, after New York City. It has an area of , and is located in Southern California...
. The land was previously part of the Beverly Hills Speedway
Beverly Hills Speedway
Beverly Hills Speedway was an American board track in Beverly Hills, California, USA. It was the home to speeding Model Ts and airplanes which cut through the airspace of Beverly Hills during the roaring 20s. Built in 1919 on what is currently the site of the Beverly Wilshire Hotel and many shops...
board track
Board track racing
Board track, or motordrome, racing was a type of motorsport popular in the United States between the second and third decades of the 20th century. Competition was conducted on oval race courses with surfaces composed of wooden planks...
, which was torn down in 1924. Beverly, which serves all of Beverly Hills, was founded in 1927. The original buildings were designed by Robert D. Farquhar
Robert D. Farquhar
Robert David Farquhar was an architect working in California 1905 - 1940.-Early life:Farquhar was born in Brooklyn, New York, the son of David Webber Farquhar and Sarah Malvina Joslyn. He attended Phillips Exeter and Harvard...
in the French Normandy style. The school also receives its funding from its on-campus oil tower.
The current Principal is Carter Paysinger.
As of the 2005–06 school year, the school had an enrollment of 2,368 students and 100.4 classroom teachers (on a full-time equivalent
Full-time equivalent
Full-time equivalent , is a unit to measure employed persons or students in a way that makes them comparable although they may work or study a different number of hours per week. FTE is often used to measure a worker's involvement in a project, or to track cost reductions in an organization...
basis), for a student-teacher ratio of 23.5.
Awards and recognition
During the 1999–2000 and 2004–05 school years, Beverly Hills High School was recognized with the Blue Ribbon SchoolBlue Ribbon Schools Program
The Blue Ribbon Schools Program is a United States government program created in 1981 to honor schools which have achieved high levels of performance or significant improvements with emphasis on schools serving disadvantaged students. The program centers around a self-assessment conducted by the...
Award of Excellence by the United States Department of Education
United States Department of Education
The United States Department of Education, also referred to as ED or the ED for Education Department, is a Cabinet-level department of the United States government...
, the highest award an American school can receive. Newsweek
Newsweek
Newsweek is an American weekly news magazine published in New York City. It is distributed throughout the United States and internationally. It is the second-largest news weekly magazine in the U.S., having trailed Time in circulation and advertising revenue for most of its existence...
ranked Beverly Hills High School as the 267th best public high school in the country.
Student demographics
In 2008, Beverly Hills High School had 2,412 students: 70% CaucasianCaucasian race
The term Caucasian race has been used to denote the general physical type of some or all of the populations of Europe, North Africa, the Horn of Africa, Western Asia , Central Asia and South Asia...
, 17% Asian
Asian people
Asian people or Asiatic people is a term with multiple meanings that refers to people who descend from a portion of Asia's population.- Central Asia :...
, 5% African-American, 4% Latino
Latino
The demonyms Latino and Latina , are defined in English language dictionaries as:* "a person of Latin-American descent."* "A Latin American."* "A person of Hispanic, especially Latin-American, descent, often one living in the United States."...
.
About 35% of Beverly's current student body was born outside the United States, and 41% of its students speak a first language other than English.
Student Life
Perhaps the most recently published book on student life at Beverly is Hard LessonsHard Lessons
Hard Lessons is a 1988 nonfiction book by Michael Leahy.- Plot overview :The book follows the lives of six Beverly Hills High School students, class of 1986, and deals with the challenges and anxieties of teenage life in modern America....
by Michael Leahy. Published in 1988 it is a comprehensive book that followed Leahy's sociological study of Beverly students in the mid-1980s. In 1984, Beverly had a 100% graduation rate but three students committed suicide. These suicides piqued Leahy's interest in Beverly and he followed the lives of six Beverly seniors from the day they started school until the day they graduated in 1985.
Leahy had heard many stories about Beverly having intense academic pressure, rampant cocaine abuse, and being a "den of hedonism." However, after speaking to Beverly students he concluded that sex and drug abuse were neither higher nor lower than the middle-class high schools of the LA area. Beverly's social attitudes and morals were also nearly identical to these schools.
Leahy did note that Beverly's academic pressure was unusually high which led to cheating and high anxiety amongst students.
In the media
Beverly has been featured in many films and TV shows, either as part of the plot or a filming location. In many movies, including Clueless, Real Women Have CurvesReal Women Have Curves
Real Women Have Curves is a 2002 American movie starring America Ferrera. Directed by Patricia Cardoso and produced by George LaVoo from a screenplay by LaVoo and Josefina Lopez , it debuted at the Sundance Film Festival, where it won the Audience Award in addition to Special Jury Prizes for both...
, Whatever It Takes
Whatever It Takes (film)
Whatever It Takes is a teen comedy starring Shane West, Marla Sokoloff, Jodi Lyn O'Keefe, and James Franco. It was first released in America on 31 March 2000...
, The Bachelor and the Bobby-Soxer
The Bachelor and the Bobby-Soxer
The Bachelor and the Bobby-Soxer is a 1947 American screwball comedy film directed by Irving Reis. The screenplay was written by Sidney Sheldon. The film stars Cary Grant, Myrna Loy, and Shirley Temple in a story about a teenager's crush on an older man. The film was a critical success...
, and It's a Wonderful Life
It's a Wonderful Life
It's a Wonderful Life is a 1946 American Christmas drama film produced and directed by Frank Capra and based on the short story "The Greatest Gift" written by Philip Van Doren Stern....
, both of which featured a scene in Beverly's unique "Swim Gym," perhaps the only gymnasium that has a basketball court that can split open to reveal a recreational-sized, 25 yards (22.9 m) swimming pool. The gym in Beverly Hills High was used in the video for boy band NLT
NLT (band)
NLT was an American boy band whose members were Travis Michael Garland, Kevin McHale, Justin Joseph "JJ" Thorne, and Vahe "V" Sevani. They were discovered by Chris Stokes, who signed them to his TUG Entertainment label in 2006.-History:On March 13, 2007, they released their debut single, "That Girl"...
's That Girl.
The front of Beverly High was shown in a short clip of Nickelback
Nickelback
Nickelback is a Canadian rock band from Hanna, Alberta. Since 1995 the band has included guitarist and lead vocalist Chad Kroeger, guitarist and back-up vocalist Ryan Peake and bassist Mike Kroeger.. The band's current drummer and percussionist is Daniel Adair who has been with the band since 2005....
's music video for their song Rockstar
Rockstar (Nickelback song)
"Rockstar" is the fifth U.S. single by the Canadian rock band Nickelback from their 2005 fifth studio album All the Right Reasons. It was only released in the U.S. and Canada, and has since been re-released worldwide...
, although it only shows the part that reads "Hills High School" (the "Beverly" portion was cut off).The school was also in the cartoon show Totally Spies!.
West Beverly Hills High School
Initially, the producers of the 1990s television drama Beverly Hills, 90210Beverly Hills, 90210
Beverly Hills, 90210 is an American drama series that originally aired from October 4, 1990 to May 17, 2000 on Fox and was produced by Spelling Television in the United States, and subsequently on various networks around the world. It is the first series in the Beverly Hills, 90210 franchise...
wanted the show to be set at Beverly Hills High School, and the show to be filmed on Beverly's campus. The Beverly Hills school board declined both requests. So, the TV producers created the fictional "West Beverly Hills High School" (or "West Beverly") and the show was filmed at Torrance High School
Torrance High School
Torrance High School is a high school located in Torrance, California. Founded in 1917, it is one of the oldest high schools in continuous use in California and is the oldest of the four high schools in the Torrance Unified School District. Four of its buildings are listed on the U.S...
, in Torrance, California
Torrance, California
Torrance is a city incorporated in 1921 and located in the South Bay region of Los Angeles County, California, United States. Torrance has of shore-front beaches on the Pacific Ocean, quieter and less well-known by tourists than others on the Santa Monica Bay, such as those of neighboring...
. "West Beverly" is a clear reference to Beverly, because Beverly's campus is located on the western border of Beverly Hills. The fictional school, East Beverly Hills High School was in the book series The Privileged Life.
Enrollment controversies
The Beverly Hills Unified School District has faced controversies in student enrollment, mainly regarding diversity, and more recently, legacy enrollment (alumni preference).For many years Beverly has selected high-achieving students from twelve LAUSD
Los Angeles Unified School District
Los Angeles Unified School District is the largest public school system in California. It is the 2nd largest public school district in the United States. Only the New York City Department of Education has a larger student population...
middle schools on diversity permits in an attempt to increase the number of minorities enrolled. Selections have been made based on test scores, grades and writing samples. According to enrollment data for the 2006–2007 school year, however, seven out of ten students who entered the school this way were of Asian ethnicity. In April 2007 due to pressure from parents and activist Earl Ofari Hutchinson
Earl Ofari Hutchinson
Earl Ofari Hutchinson is a journalist, author, and broadcaster.Hutchinson is also the author of nine books about the African American experience. He serves as the President of the National Alliance for Positive Action, and is a contributor to The Huffington Post, Blacknews.com and...
, who criticized the school for not recruiting more African-American and Latino students, Superintendent Kari McVeigh agreed to extend the application deadline until April 27, as reported in the Los Angeles Times
Los Angeles Times
The Los Angeles Times is a daily newspaper published in Los Angeles, California, since 1881. It was the second-largest metropolitan newspaper in circulation in the United States in 2008 and the fourth most widely distributed newspaper in the country....
and the Beverly Hills Courier
Beverly Hills Courier
The Beverly Hills Courier is a free weekly tabloid-sized print newspaper of circulation in Beverly Hills and the surrounding communities, and a daily web newspaper. The publication was founded by now-publisher emeritus March Schwartz in 1965 with the editorial guidance of his managing editor Arthur...
, hoping that more students from these minority groups would seek to enroll. According to the Beverly Hills Courier (May 25, 2007), "civil rights leaders hailed the final student selections" as "an honest effort to obtain ethnic diversity."
The school board voted 3–2 in the spring of 2008 to offer the children of alumni, who live outside the district's boundaries, preference in enrollment. The intended purpose is to influence these alumni to support the school district regarding bond measure or tax issues and fund-raising. Critics protest that, while legacy preferences are long established and constitution
Constitution
A constitution is a set of fundamental principles or established precedents according to which a state or other organization is governed. These rules together make up, i.e. constitute, what the entity is...
al for institutions of higher education
Higher education
Higher, post-secondary, tertiary, or third level education refers to the stage of learning that occurs at universities, academies, colleges, seminaries, and institutes of technology...
(college
College
A college is an educational institution or a constituent part of an educational institution. Usage varies in English-speaking nations...
s and universities
University
A university is an institution of higher education and research, which grants academic degrees in a variety of subjects. A university is an organisation that provides both undergraduate education and postgraduate education...
), legacy enrollment in public schools is anti-democratic, constitutionally questionable, and subvert public education
Public education
State schools, also known in the United States and Canada as public schools,In much of the Commonwealth, including Australia, New Zealand, South Africa, and the United Kingdom, the terms 'public education', 'public school' and 'independent school' are used for private schools, that is, schools...
to the benefit of the wealthy.
News services
BHHS has two award-winning news services. KBEV-Channel 6 is a student-run television channel that began in 1974 on Theta Cable as part of the Public, educational, and government accessPublic, educational, and government access
Public, educational, and government access television, refers to three different cable television specialty channels...
(PEG) Channels requirements for cable companies (free access by Public-access television
Public-access television
Public-access television is a form of non-commercial mass media where ordinary people can create content television programming which is cablecast through cable TV specialty channels...
, Education-access television and Government-access television (GATV) entities in the community). KBEV airs the longest running high school news program in the country, The Norman Newservice (now The Norman News). The program has hosted important guests such as Ronald Reagan
Ronald Reagan
Ronald Wilson Reagan was the 40th President of the United States , the 33rd Governor of California and, prior to that, a radio, film and television actor....
in the past. Highlights, the school's newspaper, has also won numerous awards for its reporting and writing. In October 2007, Highlights won first place in the 13th Annual California State University Northridge Journalism Skills Competition, with a total of seven out of twelve possible awards in news writing, feature writing, opinion writing, sports writing and photojournalism. The Highlights staff recently took home awards from the national JEA conference in St. Louis, Missouri
St. Louis, Missouri
St. Louis is an independent city on the eastern border of Missouri, United States. With a population of 319,294, it was the 58th-largest U.S. city at the 2010 U.S. Census. The Greater St...
. In April 2009, the "Highlights" staff ranked 3rd place among the nation in Phoenix, Arizona
Phoenix, Arizona
Phoenix is the capital, and largest city, of the U.S. state of Arizona, as well as the sixth most populated city in the United States. Phoenix is home to 1,445,632 people according to the official 2010 U.S. Census Bureau data...
.
Athletics
The Beverly Hills High School "Swim Gym" was designed by Stiles O. ClementsStiles O. Clements
Stiles Oliver Clements was a Los Angeles architect trained at the École des Beaux-Arts, Paris, and a key figure in the art deco movement of 1920s Los Angeles...
and built in 1939 as a New Deal
New Deal
The New Deal was a series of economic programs implemented in the United States between 1933 and 1936. They were passed by the U.S. Congress during the first term of President Franklin D. Roosevelt. The programs were Roosevelt's responses to the Great Depression, and focused on what historians call...
project. It features a basketball court that opens to reveal a 25 yards (22.9 m)-long swimming pool underneath, as mentioned previously. It is featured in It's A Wonderful Life
It's a Wonderful Life
It's a Wonderful Life is a 1946 American Christmas drama film produced and directed by Frank Capra and based on the short story "The Greatest Gift" written by Philip Van Doren Stern....
as the location of the dance. Sports including volleyball, basketball, wrestling, swimming and water polo can all be played in this facility. Beverly offers the following sports:
- BaseballBaseballBaseball is a bat-and-ball sport played between two teams of nine players each. The aim is to score runs by hitting a thrown ball with a bat and touching a series of four bases arranged at the corners of a ninety-foot diamond...
- BasketballBasketballBasketball is a team sport in which two teams of five players try to score points by throwing or "shooting" a ball through the top of a basketball hoop while following a set of rules...
- Cheer leading
- Cross CountryCross country runningCross country running is a sport in which people run a race on open-air courses over natural terrain. The course, typically long, may include surfaces of grass and earth, pass through woodlands and open country, and include hills, flat ground and sometimes gravel road...
- DanceDanceDance is an art form that generally refers to movement of the body, usually rhythmic and to music, used as a form of expression, social interaction or presented in a spiritual or performance setting....
- American FootballAmerican footballAmerican football is a sport played between two teams of eleven with the objective of scoring points by advancing the ball into the opposing team's end zone. Known in the United States simply as football, it may also be referred to informally as gridiron football. The ball can be advanced by...
- GolfGolfGolf is a precision club and ball sport, in which competing players use many types of clubs to hit balls into a series of holes on a golf course using the fewest number of strokes....
- LacrosseLacrosseLacrosse is a team sport of Native American origin played using a small rubber ball and a long-handled stick called a crosse or lacrosse stick, mainly played in the United States and Canada. It is a contact sport which requires padding. The head of the lacrosse stick is strung with loose mesh...
- Soccer
- SoftballSoftballSoftball is a bat-and-ball sport played between two teams of 10 to 14 players. It is a direct descendant of baseball although there are some key differences: softballs are larger than baseballs, and the pitches are thrown underhand rather than overhand...
- SwimmingSwimming (sport)Swimming is a sport governed by the Fédération Internationale de Natation .-History: Competitive swimming in Europe began around 1800 BCE, mostly in the form of the freestyle. In 1873 Steve Bowyer introduced the trudgen to Western swimming competitions, after copying the front crawl used by Native...
- TennisTennisTennis is a sport usually played between two players or between two teams of two players each . Each player uses a racket that is strung to strike a hollow rubber ball covered with felt over a net into the opponent's court. Tennis is an Olympic sport and is played at all levels of society at all...
- Track and FieldTrack and fieldTrack and field is a sport comprising various competitive athletic contests based around the activities of running, jumping and throwing. The name of the sport derives from the venue for the competitions: a stadium which features an oval running track surrounding a grassy area...
- VolleyballVolleyballVolleyball is a team sport in which two teams of six players are separated by a net. Each team tries to score points by grounding a ball on the other team's court under organized rules.The complete rules are extensive...
- Water PoloWater poloWater polo is a team water sport. The playing team consists of six field players and one goalkeeper. The winner of the game is the team that scores more goals. Game play involves swimming, treading water , players passing the ball while being defended by opponents, and scoring by throwing into a...
- WrestlingWrestlingWrestling is a form of grappling type techniques such as clinch fighting, throws and takedowns, joint locks, pins and other grappling holds. A wrestling bout is a physical competition, between two competitors or sparring partners, who attempt to gain and maintain a superior position...
BHHS's stadium is a multipurpose facility that is used for football, soccer, baseball, lacrosse, and track and field.
Performing arts
Beverly Hills High School claims that its Performing Arts Department is "nationally famous for the quality of its musical and theatrical productions and for its famous alumni," and the school claims that the department "is highly visible in the industry, with casting directors, writers and producers attending performances and visiting classes to speak with the students."Each year around late March to early April, the school holds its annual musical performance by performing arts students. Many of these musicals are based on Broadway award-winning musicals, directed by the 3 theater teachers, Herb Hall, Joel Pressman, and Josh Butchart. BHHS is also famous for its Theater Acting Workshop, where only Juniors and Seniors who audition get in. Nicolas Cage
Nicolas Cage
Nicolas Cage is an American actor, producer and director, having appeared in over 60 films including Raising Arizona , The Rock , Face/Off , Gone in 60 Seconds , Adaptation , National Treasure , Ghost Rider , Bad Lieutenant: Port of Call New Orleans , and...
once enrolled in this class, as did his son.
BHHS also has an almost 200 member marching band. The BHHS marching band has had the privilege of performing at Disneyland for the past couple of years, after strict training in the skills of marching and playing at the same time. After several months of training, the band auditions in front of a strict jury of professional marching specialists. About 300 worldwide marching bands audition every year and only 20 get accepted. The BHHS marching band has gotten bigger and stronger each year under the direction of Richard Farmer. now under the direction of Bill Bradbury.
BHHS now has a very successful competitive Winter Drumline. The BHHS Drumline is in its second competitive season. They compete in the SCPA and WGI circuits. The BHHS Drumline has performed such shows as "A Tour of Technology: The Inner-Workings of a Computer" and "Censor State: The State, The Conceded, The Resistance".
Beverly Hills High School also has two award-winning groups, the Madrigal Singers (a chamber choir
Choir
A choir, chorale or chorus is a musical ensemble of singers. Choral music, in turn, is the music written specifically for such an ensemble to perform.A body of singers who perform together as a group is called a choir or chorus...
) and Minnesingers (currently an all-women's choir), conducted by Joel Pressman, a Beverly alum. Both groups have won a wide range of awards for their performances, usually at Heritage Festivals. They have traveled across the United States to well-known locales such as San Francisco, Las Vegas
Las Vegas, Nevada
Las Vegas is the most populous city in the U.S. state of Nevada and is also the county seat of Clark County, Nevada. Las Vegas is an internationally renowned major resort city for gambling, shopping, and fine dining. The city bills itself as The Entertainment Capital of the World, and is famous...
, New York, Chicago, Orlando
Orlando, Florida
Orlando is a city in the central region of the U.S. state of Florida. It is the county seat of Orange County, and the center of the Greater Orlando metropolitan area. According to the 2010 US Census, the city had a population of 238,300, making Orlando the 79th largest city in the United States...
, Washington, D.C. and even internationally to Mexico, France and New Zealand. Additionally, in December, both groups go Christmas caroling to raise money for their festival trips. The groups were founded by Robert Holmes, who also helped found the Idyllwild School of Music and the Arts Summer Music Festival see Idyllwild Arts Summer Program
Idyllwild Arts Foundation
Idyllwild Arts Foundation encompasses two institutions in Idyllwild, California for training in the arts: the Idyllwild Arts Academy and the Idyllwild Arts Summer Program...
.
BHHS's Dance Company is renowned for their success in dance. They hold annual shows in January, which they practice for immediately when the school year starts. A few years ago, the Dance Company traveled to its sister school in Cannes, France, where they were invited to perform. BHHS also has a hip-hop group, AP Posse, which performs in between Dance Company numbers.
Oil wells
A cluster of 19 oil wells in a single "drilling island" on Beverly's campus, owned by Venoco Oil Company, can easily be seen by drivers heading west on Olympic Boulevard toward Century City. The oil wells have pumped much of the oil from under Beverly's campus, and many have been slant drilling into productive regions of the western part of the Beverly Hills Oil FieldBeverly Hills Oil Field
The Beverly Hills Oil Field is a large and currently active oil field underneath part of the city of Beverly Hills, California, USA, and portions of the adjacent city of Los Angeles...
under many homes and apartment buildings in Beverly Hills for decades.
As of May 2006, the Beverly Hills High School wells were pumping out 400 barrels (63.6 m³) to 500 barrels (79.5 m³) a day, earning the school approximately $300,000 a year in royalties.
In the mid-1990s an art studio volunteered to cover the well enclosure, which at that time was solid gray in color, with individual tiles that had been painted by kids with cancer. The studio created the design and drew the lines on the tiles, but children painted the tiles in between the lines. The studio made the design rather abstract: the design consists of random shapes on different-colored backgrounds. A ceremony inaugurating the design was held in 2001.
Beverly gained more notoriety when Erin Brockovich
Erin Brockovich
Erin Brockovich-Ellis is an American legal clerk and environmental activist who, despite the lack of a formal law school education, or any legal education, was instrumental in constructing a case against the Pacific Gas and Electric Company of California in 1993...
and Ed Masry announced having filed three lawsuits in 2003 and 2004 on behalf of 25, 400, and 300 (respectively) former students who attended Beverly from the 1970s until the 1990s. In April 2003, the Texas-based lawfirm of Baron & Budd partnered with the law office of Masry & Vititoe to lend its expertise in lawsuits related to health risks of volatile chemicals. The number of actual cancer claims filed in Santa Monica was ninety-four.
The lawsuits claimed that toxic fumes from the oil wells caused the former students to develop cancer
Cancer
Cancer , known medically as a malignant neoplasm, is a large group of different diseases, all involving unregulated cell growth. In cancer, cells divide and grow uncontrollably, forming malignant tumors, and invade nearby parts of the body. The cancer may also spread to more distant parts of the...
. The oil wells are very close to all of Beverly's sports facilities, including the soccer field, the football field, and the racetrack. Beverly students—not just athletes but students taking required physical education classes from the 1970s until the 1990s—were required to run near the oil wells.
The city, the school district, and the oil companies named as defendants disputed this assertion, claiming that they had conducted air quality tests with results showing that air quality is normal at the high school. In 2003, the University of Southern California Keck School of Medicine published a "Community Cancer Assessment Regarding Beverly Hills, California" which failed to support Masry's claims.
After receiving complaints about Beverly's oil installation, the region's air-quality agency investigated Venoco Oil (doing business as Venoco, Inc) and in 2003 issued three Notices of Violation regarding the operation of the drilling island. Venoco, Inc's penalty settlement included requirements that the company maintain continuous air quality monitoring at the high school, and prevent any oilfield gas (which is primarily methane gas) from being released into the atmosphere.
On December 12, 2006, the first 12 plaintiffs (of over 1000 total) were dismissed on summary judgment
Summary judgment
In law, a summary judgment is a determination made by a court without a full trial. Such a judgment may be issued as to the merits of an entire case, or of specific issues in that case....
because there was no indication that the contaminant (benzene) caused the diseases involved and the concentrations were hundreds to thousands of times lower than levels associated with any risk. In Fall of 2007, the plaintiffs agreed to pay the School District and the City up to $450,000 for expenses from the lawsuits. This payment of expenses is without prejudice to any of the plaintiffs in the case, which is on appeal.
The oil wells may have inspired a 1991 episode of the sitcom Saved By the Bell
Saved by the Bell
Saved by the Bell is an American television sitcom that aired between 1989 and 1993. The series is a retooled version of the 1988 series Good Morning, Miss Bliss, which was itself later folded into the history of Saved by the Bell...
titled "Pipe Dreams." In it, oil is discovered at fictional Bayside High School in Pacific Palisades, California
Pacific Palisades, Los Angeles, California
Pacific Palisades is an affluent neighborhood and district within the U.S. city of Los Angeles, California, located among Brentwood to the east, Malibu and Topanga to the west, Santa Monica to the southeast, the Santa Monica Bay to the southwest, and the Santa Monica Mountains to the north. The...
. There's excitement about the financial possibilities, but when a company comes in to drill, the character of Jessie realizes that it could be detrimental to the local environment.
In June 2004 Beverly Hills Courier Editor Norma Zager was named "Journalist of the Year" in the Los Angeles Press Club's Southern California Journalism Awards competition for her coverage of the Erin Brockovich-Edward Masry lawsuit. Two books about the oil wells and lawsuit have been published, "Parts Per Million: The Poisoning of Beverly Hills High School" by Joy Horowitz was published in July 2007 and "Erin Brockovich and the Beverly Hills: Greenscam" by Norma Zager was published in October 2010.
Notable alumni
BHHS has a number of famous alumni, many of whom are entertainers, the children of entertainers or other prominent people. In addition, many famous people have taught at the school; soap opera actor John IngleJohn Ingle
John Ingle is an American actor known for his role as scheming patriarch Edward Quartermaine on the ABC daytime drama, General Hospital.-Career:...
taught the drama and acting program at the school from 1964 to 1985. While Beverly Hills High School alumni are known predominantly for their connections with the entertainment industry, BHHS has also produced well-known scholars in many scientific disciplines.
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(born 1959), convicted felon, political activist and businessman who was a central figure in a series of high-profile political scandalsJack Abramoff scandalsThe federal investigations into Jack Abramoff and his political and business dealings are among the broadest and most extensive in American political history, involving well over a dozen offices of the FBI and over 100 FBI agents tasked exclusively to the investigation...
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(born 1926), director and producer - Jamie Lee CurtisJamie Lee CurtisJamie Lee Curtis is an American actress and author. Although she was initially known as a "scream queen" because of her starring roles in several horror films early in her career, such as Halloween, The Fog, Prom Night and Terror Train, Curtis has since compiled a body of work that spans many...
(born 1958), actress - Bryan DattiloBryan DattiloBryan Ronald Dattilo is an American actor. He is best known for his role as Lucas Horton on the NBC daytime soap opera Days of our Lives, a role he played from 1993–2001, and from 2002-2010. He still recurs on Days....
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(born 1968), actor, director and screenwriter. - Carrie FisherCarrie FisherCarrie Frances Fisher is an American actress, novelist, screenwriter, and lecturer. She is most famous for her portrayal of Princess Leia in the original Star Wars trilogy, her bestselling novel Postcards from the Edge, for which she wrote the screenplay to the film of the same name, and her...
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(born 1964), actor/director - Taylor HumphriesTaylor HumphriesTaylor Humphries is an American producer, writer, actor and director.-Early years and education:Humphries was born in Washington D.C. and raised in Los Angeles and D.C. Humphries graduated from Beverly Hills High School and received his BFA in Theatre/Film Production from Hampton University in...
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(born 1990), actor - Tiger JKTiger JKSeo Jung-kwon better known by his stage name Tiger JK is a Korean American rapper, producer, songwriter, enterprenuer, and founding member of Drunken Tiger. He is the founder and former CEO of Jungle Entertainment an imprint distributed by CJ E&M...
(born 1974) lead hip-hop rapper of Drunken TigerDrunken TigerDrunken Tiger is a critically acclaimed Korean/American hip hop group which debuted in 1999 and has since released eight albums.As of 2009, Drunken Tiger's central figure is Korean American Tiger JK... - Daryn KaganDaryn KaganDaryn A. Kagan is creator and host of the award-winning , a media company specializing in inspirational and motivational news content...
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(born 1951), actress - Michael KlesicMichael KlesicMichael Vladimir Klesic is an American actor.Klesic was born in Tarzana, California. He was raised mostly in Los Angeles and attended Beverly Hills High School in Beverly Hills, California...
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(born 1964), singer-songwriterSinger-songwriterSinger-songwriters are musicians who write, compose and sing their own musical material including lyrics and melodies. As opposed to contemporary popular music singers who write their own songs, the term singer-songwriter describes a distinct form of artistry, closely associated with the... - Christopher B. LandonChristopher B. LandonChristopher Beau Landon is an American screenwriter best known as the writer of 2007 film Disturbia and as the son of filmmaker Michael Landon.-Career:...
(born 1975), screenwriter - Katherine Kelly LangKatherine Kelly LangKatherine Kelly Lang is an American actress. She is known for her role as Brooke Logan Forrester on The Bold and the Beautiful .-Personal life:...
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(1927–2005), mathematician - Monica LewinskyMonica LewinskyMonica Samille Lewinsky is an American woman with whom United States President Bill Clinton admitted to having had an "improper relationship" while she worked at the White House in 1995 and 1996...
(born 1973), (did not graduate from BHHS – transferred to Pacific Hills SchoolPacific Hills SchoolPacific Hills School is a co-educational, college-preparatory independent school located in West Hollywood, California, serving the needs of a diverse student population in grades 6-12....
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(born 1966), actress - Leighton MeesterLeighton MeesterLeighton Marissa Meester is an American actress and singer. Meester first garnered attention for playing Blair Waldorf in the CW television series Gossip Girl...
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(born 1974), actor - Frank MorrissFrank MorrissFrank E. Morriss is a film and television editor with more than fifty film and television program credits dating from 1968. Morriss was honored at the 1974 Primetime Emmy Awards as "film editor of the year" for the television film The Execution of Private Slovik. Morriss has been nominated twice...
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(born 1973), actress - Robert L. Street, Stanford UniversityStanford UniversityThe Leland Stanford Junior University, commonly referred to as Stanford University or Stanford, is a private research university on an campus located near Palo Alto, California. It is situated in the northwestern Santa Clara Valley on the San Francisco Peninsula, approximately northwest of San...
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born as Ariel Marcus Rosenberg, (born 1978), musician - Betty WhiteBetty WhiteBetty White Ludden , better known as Betty White, is an American actress, comedienne, singer, author, and former game show personality. With a career spanning seven decades since 1939, she is best known to modern audiences for her television roles as Sue Ann Nivens on The Mary Tyler Moore Show and...
(born 1922), actress - Frank WilkinsonFrank WilkinsonFrank Wilkinson was a civil liberties activist, Executive Director of the National Committee Against Repressive Legislation and Executive Director of the First Amendment Foundation....
(1914–2006), civil liberties activist. - Kelli WilliamsKelli WilliamsKelli Renee Williams is an American actress. She is best known for her roles as Lindsay Dole on the Legal drama The Practice and as psychologist and deception expert Dr. Gillian Foster on Lie to Me....
(born 1970), actress - Daniel YerginDaniel YerginDaniel Howard Yergin is an American author, speaker, and economic researcher. Yergin is the co-founder and chairman of Cambridge Energy Research Associates, an energy research consultancy. It was acquired by IHS Inc...
(born 1947), author and economics researcher, whose works include his 1991 opus, The Prize: The Epic Quest for Oil, Money, and PowerThe Prize: The Epic Quest for Oil, Money, and PowerThe Prize: The Epic Quest for Oil, Money, and Power is Daniel Yergin's 800-page history of the global oil industry from the 1850s through 1990...
. - Youth BrigadeYouth Brigade (band)Youth Brigade is a Southern California punk music trio formed in 1980 by brothers Mark Stern, Adam Stern, and Shawn Stern. The band subsequently founded BYO , which served both as their record label and as a statement of their attitude toward the young people involved in the punk subculture, which...
(Mark Stern, Adam Stern, and Shawn Stern)
Sources
- Leahy, Michael; Hard Lessons: Senior Year at Beverly Hills High School, Chapter 1, Little, Brown & Co., 1988
External links
- Beverly Hills High School
- Beverly Hills Unified School District homepage
- Beverly Hills Unified School * http://articles.latimes.com/1993-12-09/news/we-1602_1_culver-city/3 District, National Center for Education StatisticsNational Center for Education StatisticsThe National Center for Education Statistics is the part of the United States Department of Education's Institute of Education Sciences that collects, analyzes, and publishes statistics on education and public school district finance information in the United States...
- Beverly Hills High School Alumni Website
- Official Beverly Hills High School academic achievement profile
- Highlights, Beverly's newspaper, available online
- Beverly Hills High School Drumline
- Beverly's Robotics Team's Website
- Aerial Photograph from Google Maps