Board Member Amanda Stern walked out of the Beverly Hills Unified School District board meeting on Aug. 18 after publicly accusing Board President Judy Manouchehri of refusing to bring a proposed lawsuit settlement to a vote and calling her behavior "abusive."

The confrontation, during board member comments near the end of the meeting, marks a public escalation in a months-long legal battle over who should hold the board's vice presidency.

"I've asked Ms. Manouchehri to bring a settlement to vote, which is something that boards will often do, one or two members will ask, and it should be done," Stern said, according to the Beverly Press.

Stern alleged that during closed session, Manouchehri called her a "puppet master" and asked her to leave. She invoked the Brown Act, arguing she was permitted to express an opinion about the propriety or legality of actions taken behind closed doors.

The proposed settlement would have ended the litigation without any payment to the plaintiff, district parent and attorney Daniel Lifschitz, in exchange for Stern serving as vice president for the remaining four months of 2026. No closed-session action on the matter was reported when the board returned to open session, and it remains unclear whether a vote was taken.

Stern left the meeting early, telling Manouchehri she would not sit next to her for more than five hours. She said she would return for the board's Sept. 8 meeting.

Manouchehri did not respond to a request for comment. Board Vice President Sigalie Sabag read a prepared statement urging the board to focus on students rather than leadership titles, saying no one would remember who held which office in any given year.

Judge orders depositions by Sept. 18

The day after the meeting, Los Angeles Superior Court Judge Tiana J. Murillo escalated the legal pressure. At an Aug. 19 discovery conference, Murillo ordered Manouchehri, Sabag, Board Member Russell Stuart and a district representative to file sworn declarations detailing their document searches. The order states that a conclusion that "no documents exist" must follow an actual search, not an assumption.

Murillo also ruled the board members cannot invoke deliberative process privilege to avoid answering deposition questions, though she limited discovery to issues surrounding the district's assertion that a Brown Act "serial meeting" tainted the December 2025 officer election. All remaining depositions must be completed by Sept. 18.

Manouchehri's deposition began Aug. 4 and continued Aug. 13. Court records show district attorneys also intend to depose Lifschitz's wife, Kim Lifschitz, who is running for a BHUSD board seat in the Nov. 3 election, and Beverly Hills Weekly columnist Peter Ostroff.

Background

Lifschitz filed the lawsuit in January, alleging the board violated district bylaws when it appointed Sabag as vice president in December 2025 rather than following its longstanding officer rotation, which would have elevated Stern. The board amended its bylaws and held a second election in January, again selecting Sabag.

The board failed to approve a settlement at its July 28 closed session, according to the Beverly Hills Courier. That earlier proposal would have installed Stern as vice president through December and required the district to reimburse Lifschitz's litigation costs. On Aug. 19, the district made another proposal requiring Lifschitz to dismiss the case without receiving the relief he sought. He rejected it.

BHUSD and the three individual board members recently retained separate legal counsel after previously sharing representation through Best Best & Krieger.

The next board meeting is Tuesday, Sept. 8.