Joanie Garratt Pushes False Four-Year Claim in 'MAGA Board' Attack

Former BHUSD teacher Joanie Garratt criticized the current school board majority while canvassing for Board of Education candidates Jackie Kruger and Kimberly Lifschitz, according to doorbell-camera footage provided to the Beverly Hills Standard. Her remarks attributed four years of declining Beverly Hills High School rankings to a majority that formed in December 2024.

Her account attributes four years of declining rankings to the same board. Publicly documented installation dates show that two members of the current three-member majority took office less than two years ago.

In the captioned copy reviewed by the Standard, Garratt refers to the "current MAGA Board" and describes the school as having been ranked "75 in the nation." The captions then describe its position "four years later" under the "same board" as 174.

Russell Stuart and Sigalie Sabag were sworn in on December 17, 2024. As of October 2026, they had served approximately 21 months. Alongside Judy Manouchehri, they form the three-member majority identified in district reporting on a 3-2 vote earlier this year.

The recording does not establish that this majority governed for the four-year period Garratt describes. The installation dates establish that it did not.

A separate ranking graphic supplied to the Standard, reported to be circulating in the community, lists the same 75 and 174 figures. Its heading identifies the figures as U.S. News rankings for the Los Angeles metropolitan area, rather than national rankings.

That distinction is supported by contemporaneous reporting. In 2021, BHHS ranked 75th in the Los Angeles-Long Beach-Anaheim metropolitan area, 164th in California and 1,116th nationally. The documented 75th-place position was regional.

The graphic's own chronology also places most of the decline before the current majority formed.

It lists BHHS at 75 in 2022, 100 in 2023 and 157 in 2024, followed by 166 in 2025 and 174 in 2026. Using those figures, 82 of the total 99 places lost were already reflected in the 2024 ranking, before Stuart and Sabag took office.

That amounts to approximately 83 percent of the decline presented in the graphic. The calculation describes the graphic's figures; it does not independently authenticate every ranking.

Publication years also differ from the school years being measured. According to the Orange County Department of Education, the 2026-27 U.S. News rankings primarily draw on 2023-24 school-year data. That period ended before Stuart and Sabag joined the board. If the graphic's 2026 figure refers to that edition, its underlying results primarily predate their service.

Several points on the graphic carry an additional qualification. Asterisks identify the 2020, 2022 and 2023 rankings as estimated or reconstructed from archived references and contemporaneous reporting.

Its source line lists U.S. News, Patch and Peter Ostroff, identifying Ostroff as a source for 2025 and 2026. It does not identify specific supporting documents for those two figures.

Garratt previously brought an employment-related lawsuit against BHUSD. The retired history teacher, who continued working as a substitute, alleged in August 2026 that the district retaliated against her over personal Facebook posts criticizing Trump and a student demonstration. The district disputed her account.

She subsequently dismissed the entire state action without prejudice. The dismissal, entered September 14, did not resolve her allegations on their merits.

The footage and circulating graphic raise separate questions about the accuracy of the election-related claims: how long the current majority has served, which ranking category is being cited and when the underlying student performance occurred. The available records do not support assigning four years of responsibility to a majority formed in December 2024.