History
Beverly Hills Unified School District
In October 1913, three months before Beverly Hills was incorporated as a city, the Beverly Hills Elementary School District was organized with one elementary school, the Canyon School, later to be moved and re-named Hawthorne School. To meet the educational needs presented by continuous growth in the ensuing 14 years, two additional elementary schools were built: Beverly Vista in 1924-25, and El Rodeo in 1927.
In 1927, faced with even more prodigious growth, the Beverly Hills Board of Education, composed of three members, purchased several lots of land for the purpose of building a fourth elementary school. With the passage of a bond measure in 1928, this purchase was completed.
Beverly Vista School
The construction of Beverly Vista School began in 1924, designed by Francis J. Cotton. It was the first of five buildings on 28 lots, on the 200 block of South Elm Drive. Between the years of 1925-1928, Gable & Wyant designed five more buildings, including the auditorium. The buildings were later renovated and the auditorium rebuilt in 1933 due to earthquake damage.
Beverly Vista school experienced significant structural damage in the 1994 Northridge earthquake. As a result, construction began on building new facilities and modernizing the existing structure. In 2002, Osborne Architects completed the first new school building. The Groundbreaking Ceremony on September 29, 2005 was the launching of a new beginning at Beverly Vista where the rebuilding of the school began and the last year of students in bungalows finally came to an end during the 2006-2007 school year.
The dedication and grand opening of new Building B was October 3, 2007.
Beverly Vista Middle School
In the 2019-2020 school year the Beverly Hills Unified School District was reconfigured, and Beverly Vista Middle School opened its doors as the dedicated middle school for BHUSD. All students and staff, grades 6-8 from from across the district joined Beverly Vista Middle School to reimagine education for middle grade students in Beverly Hills. With this transformation, middle school students in Beverly Hills would for the first time experience a learning environment designated exclusively for their developmental needs.