Romeo Carey, Beverly Hills High School’s media director, was placed on paid administrative leave in early December 2024. In response, parents, students and former students spoke for almost one-and-a-half hours on his behalf at the Beverly Hills Unified School District (BHUSD) Board of Trustees meeting on Jan. 28.
Many described their positive experiences with Carey, who runs Beverly Hills High School’s KBEV Channel 6. Several speakers became emotional.
“Mr. Carey is irreplaceable,” said one student who identified themselves as a BHHS senior. “KBEV would never be the same without him. He’s the heart and soul of the program … he has given so much of himself to this program and students, and his contributions cannot be overstated.”
In an email to the Courier regarding his suspension, Carey said he received a letter from the district dated Dec. 1, 2024, informing him that he was being put on leave. The letter offered no cause for the suspension, he said.
However, Carey had recently refused to comply with the district’s request that he keep a student video segment off the air.
“At the heart of this issue is the district’s retaliation against me for refusing to censor a journalism video produced by my students,” Carey wrote. “The district retaliated against me for standing up to unethical demands and protecting my students’ First Amendment rights.”
The student segment in question, which remains published on KBEV’s YouTube channel, features six students discussing an alleged incident involving Mark Mead, the district’s executive director of school safety. The students claim that during a Nov. 5 rally celebrating Donald Trump’s presidential win, Mead used unnecessary physical force on a student.
“Everybody was enjoying themselves, and then Mark Mead came into like, the middle of the circle, and, like, tried to break everyone up,” said one student in the video. “He grabbed this kid … I saw him grab him, like, for a second, and then just like, try to push him away.”
A representative for BHUSD said that they could not comment on the reason or reasons for Carey’s suspension because it is a personnel matter. With regards to the outpouring of support for Carey at the board meeting, Krissy Austin, the district’s executive assistant to the superintendent, acknowledged the unusual amount of public interest in the situation.
“We want to reaffirm that Beverly Hills Unified School District is committed to maintaining a safe and supportive environment where students and parents can engage responsibly in the democratic process,” said Austin in an email. “We fully support thoughtful and respectful participation in public comment at Board of Education meetings and remain committed to fostering a school community where all students, parents, and staff feel heard and valued.”
The content of the video segment in question was touched on briefly at the Jan. 28 meeting, however the focus remained on Carey and his lasting impact on BHHS students and the media program. Several current students noted that since Carey’s suspension, they have been left with nothing to do during their regularly scheduled class time.
“During the last week of school last semester, my teacher, Mr. Carey, did not show up, and we were left in the hallway without a substitute,” said one student. “Eventually, we were informed to go sit in the library doing completely nothing but staring at our phones.”
Others pointed out what they described as “bias” in the treatment of Carey as compared to the treatment of other BHHS and BHUSD employees. BHUSD is currently facing a number of administrative claims and lawsuits that include, among other things, claims of sexual harassment on the part of the athletic director and of a systemic refusal to combat racism.
“In the past few months, many allegations have been levied against BHUSD,” said one speaker. “The administrators at the center of these allegations … are still actively working for the district while Mr. Romeo Carey, who was so well-loved by his community that in under 72 hours, over 600 people have signed a petition to bring him back, has been placed on administrative leave for over a month. Am I the only one who notices a bias there?”
The Jan. 28 meeting also included statements from members of the public requesting that BHUSD accept more students from Palisades Charter High School, many of whom have been put into online schooling in the wake of the Palisades Fire. The fire destroyed much of the school.
One Palisades High parent expressed her anger over allegedly being told that her children would have a spot at BHHS, then being told the opposite.
“The students of Pali High have suffered a great trauma in recent weeks,” she said. “They have watched their school burn, they have watched their community burn, and many have seen their own homes burn … I would have rather you slammed the door in my face on day one than lead me to believe and have hope that you would take them. They have already had so much taken away from them and you guys are now adding to the pain.”
Later, BHUSD Superintendent Dr. Michael Bregy addressed the issue as part of his report to the board. Noting that helping victims of the fires has been “a high priority,” he emphasized that district officials “will continue to do everything that we can to help.”
“That’s going to be an ongoing relationship that we have,” he said. “And not just Palisades, but other school districts as well. There have been several schools that have reached out to us and have asked for some assistance in one way or another and we are there for them, just like we would hope that they would be there for us.”