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Schools

Deadline Nears for Board of Ed Filing Period

Four candidates so far will compete for three seats in the November election.

With a 5 p.m. Friday deadline to file papers to enter the Nov. 8 Board of Education election, four candidates have officially entered the race for three seats.

Current board Vice President Brian Goldberg, systems developer Damien Bean and motion picture producer and current Traffic and Parking Commissioner Andy Licht all submitted paperwork July 18, the of the filing period.

Frances Bilak filed her paperwork Aug. 5, guaranteeing that there would be an election. She has two children at —a daughter entering first grade and a son headed into sixth. Her husband and father-in-law both graduated from , making her children the family’s third generation of Beverly Hills Unified School District students.

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“I care about the current condition and the future of the BHUSD. … I have chaperoned on school trips, been involved in school committees, been a school mom, attended most PTA meetings, been elected to the PTA board, been involved with the BHEF [Beverly Hills Education Foundation] and am so vested in the BHUSD because my children are going to be in this district for many years to come,” Bilak wrote in an email to Patch. “I want to make sure that I can be one of those parents who don't just sit back and say what needs to be done, but works on helping to get it done.”

Bilak, who moved to Beverly Hills in 2007, said that her experience as a lawyer will be an asset to the board.

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“Running my own law firm in Washington, D.C., I learned the importance of business mechanics, legal analysis, as well as political maneuvering and negotiation, which I believe will all help me in my position as a BHUSD board member,” she wrote.

Resident , an economist who was a co-recipient of the 2007 Nobel Peace Prize with colleagues from the United Nations Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, has pulled election papers from the Los Angeles County Registrar-Recorder’s office but has not yet filed.

Incumbent board members Myra Lurie and Steven Fenton, neither of whom have children in the district, have said they do not plan to run again. This will be the first election in at least eight years that every candidate has children enrolled in the BHUSD.

Goldberg has three children who will be at this fall, Bean has one child at El Rodeo and one at BHHS, while Licht will have two children at the high school and one at .

“Parents make good candidates because they really are in touch with the issues facing the schools,” Licht told Patch. His daughter Lucy, an incoming BHHS senior, has been named the board's next student representative. Licht said this would not be a conflict of interest because the student member does not get to vote on board matters.

Potential board members agreed that it's good a fourth candidate has joined the race, making the November election competitive.

“The candidates will have to get out now and meet voters and explain their views," said Licht, a 1975 BHHS graduate.

Goldberg told Patch that "without an election, people could come into office without having to explain their positions on topics important to the voters.”

Up-to-date filing information is available on lavote.net by using the “candidate filing” search page.

Goldberg's education platform is available on his website, while Bean’s campaign views are available here. Licht and Bilak have not yet unveiled campaign websites.

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