Consultant presents BHUSD facilities master plan; board flags $521M estimate and asks for revisions

Canon Design presented a district‑wide Facilities Master Plan to the Beverly Hills Unified School District board on Tuesday that summarizes building conditions, an inventory of campus needs and suggested multi‑year priorities.

Hazem Rabadi, managing principal at Canon Design, said the master plan collects condition assessments across campuses and assigns priority scores and cost estimates for remediation and educational enhancements. "Facilities Master Plans are not about necessarily looking at site plans for each campus... They're really an assessment of the facilities that you currently have where they might be lacking in terms of area, where they might be lacking in terms of conditions," Rabadi said.

The consultant’s executive summary included a total suggested investment figure of roughly $521 million covering building improvements and educational enhancements over the plan horizon. Rabadi said that number represents an inventory of needs across time — some items are short term, some are longer term — and is not an immediate bond ask. "It doesn't mean you need to come up with $521,000,000 tomorrow... it's looking at 1 equipment might need to be replaced 5 years from now, 10 years from now," he said.

Trustees expressed appreciation for the level of detail but urged caution about publishing the headline cost without additional context. Trustee Manacheri said the figure could alarm the public and recommended staff and the consultant refine the presentation, clarify which items are critical and which are advisory, and remove or revise apparent typos (staff later confirmed a published enrollment figure should read 3,200, not less than 2,300). Several trustees suggested tabling any action and asked Canon Design to return with clarified cost breakdowns and prioritization before the district uses the master plan to seek state funds.

The consultant also summarized stakeholder survey results and condition assessments by campus. Rabadi said maintenance issues, fire‑alarm upgrades, accessibility, hazardous materials and plumbing surfaced as recurring needs across campuses.

Ending: The board did not adopt bond or work priorities at the meeting; trustees asked Canon Design and staff to revise the master plan presentation — including clearer cost categorization and framing — and return with a documentation package suitable for public release and for use in the district’s Prop 2 funding application process.