New Superintendent takes helm at Bellflower Unified

“What they were looking for, matched my skillset.”

That’s what Dr. Ben Drati, new superintendent for the Bellflower Unified School District said, when asked what he thought after hearing discussions about the job opening among his peers.

Dr. Drati was hired by the BUSD Board of Directors late last year, leaving behind a sixyear career as Superintendent for the Santa Monica/Malibu Unified School District. Sharing that he needed a new challenge, Dr. Drati said that he was hearing that BUSD was looking to reshape its education community.

“In reading the job description, of what BUSD was looking for, it really spoke to me,” said Dr. Drati. “In short, the district believed it could be doing better in terms of academic engagement and student achievement. Bellflower Unified School District has a lot of potential, and I believe we can make big gains here. I am a unifier and I know how to make the system work for the students”

Dr. Drati, an alumnus of Los

Angeles High School, arrived in the U.S. as a refugee of war from Uganda when he was 9 years old with his family. He lives in the Inglewood area but is looking forward to getting to know the families and students he’s been hired to serve in BUSD. In his research, Dr. Drati said he is aware of the concerns and issues that surround the school district and is working on addressing them. He said that he is also aware of the state audit report and the mistrust that exists due to the audit.

He also is aware of the effects of Covid and how much the Pandemic affected school districts and academic achievement across the county.

“We have come to a point in this post-Pandemic era, where it is crucial that families and the district work together, side by side, not against each other,” Dr. Drati said. “We can get through this, and move our district forward to where it needs to be, if we work together. Together, we can do better for our students.”

For starters, Dr. Drati said that he wants to open the dis- trict to families, and make it more transparent.

“It’s hard to understand, but Covid took us all by surprise, we all got hit the same way,” said Dr. Drati, referring to school districts in L.A. County and across the state. “The stimulus funding for schools then came at us like the ‘Fast and the Furious,’ and we had to close schools, and figure out how to keep teaching our kids virtually, we were all dissatisfied with everything but we had to keep pushing forward for the sake of our kids. Needless to say there were a lot of costs incurred, but the stimulus funds kept coming, which is a good thing, but all of that, created large reserves for districts.” Not only did Covid uncover all of the inequities among the student population across the state, but it also uncovered how much our system pre-Covid was failing our students both inside of our schools and outside of our schools in life.

“That’s when all of us found ourselves pivoting,” Dr. Drati said, referring to the education community across the state. “Covid set a lot of districts back, but the blame for our decline in academic achievement goes way beyond Covid.”

As new Superintendent of

BUSD, Dr. Drati is going to get BUSD back on course. “This is our opportunity to do better by our students,” he said. “Covid showed us that education in school needs to be more than just science and math for our students. This is an opportunity to transform how we teach. This is our opportunity to better prepare our students for a world that is ever-changing and challenging at the same time. We can and should to better to prepare our students, not just for careers, but for life.”

Bellflower Unified School District serves about 9,000 students from the City of Bellflower and from the City of Lakewood.

In the last couple months, he has toured all 15 schools in BUSD and has been meeting all of the teachers and school personnel. While he loves meeting families, he loves meeting students most of all.

“I’m looking forward to creating a system that is going to enhance the educational system in this school district,” he said. “We have to look forward (Cont'd. on Pg. 17)