Pacific Hills School Retiring Headmaster Rich Makoff To Be Celebrated

May 4, 2010 - PRLog -- Pacific Hills School (PHS) announced that its founder, Rich Makoff, will retire June 1, 2010, after serving as Head of School for twenty-eight years. He will be honored at the school’s annual gala, Saturday, May 8 at the Tennis Channel Studios in Culver City. The theme, The Headmaster's Library and Museum, will honor Makoff in the style of a U.S. Presidential Library.

Under his direction, Pacific Hills has educated thousands of students; nearly 100% of the school’s students attend college, at a variety of institutions including the Ivy League, University of California, California State University, and private colleges. Pacific Hills has won acclaim as a racially and economically diverse community that provides a challenging college preparatory education and exceptional opportunity to its students, more than half of whom receive financial aid.

Under his leadership, the school has won numerous awards.  Most recently it was designated a Promise Place by America’s Promise Alliance (APA), an organization founded by former Secretary of State Colin Powell and his wife, Alma J. Powell.
Promise Places serve youth by fulfilling five Promises: Caring Adults, Safe Places, Healthy Start, Effective Education Opportunities to Help Others. PHS is the only school in the state of California, and the first organization within the Los Angeles metropolitan area, to earn this distinction.

Mr. Makoff joined Pacific Hills (formerly Bel Air Prep) in 1982. His unique leadership and vision transformed Pacific Hills from a small, for-profit school to a fully-accredited, non-profit, college-preparatory, independent school. Throughout his tenure, Mr. Makoff has focused consistently on creating a strong team of caring and highly qualified teachers, recognizing that for students, they are the heart and core of the school. Students, parents, faculty, and alumni describe Pacific Hills as “more than just a school…a family.”

Mr. Makoff, originally from Bakersfield, California, earned a degree in Finance from San Fernando Valley State College (now CSU Northridge) and a Master’s Degree in Educational Administration from CSU Los Angeles. He began teaching and coaching at Crossroads School in Santa Monica, where he was named Athletic Director/Basketball Coach.  In 1982, he led Crossroads’ boys basketball team to his 100th career win and a CIF championship and was voted “Los Angeles Times Coach of the Year” and “CIF Coach of the Year.”

“It has been a great pleasure to see Pacific Hills grow from a small, fledgling operation to a thriving independent school with nearly 1,000 graduates. I take tremendous pride in helping to create a school that not only educates, but provides a safe and nurturing environment for our young people,” says Mr. Makoff.

“Twenty eight years ago, Rich Makoff saw a need for a school that would provide outstanding educational opportunities to students from a wide variety of backgrounds,” says Helene Ross, Chair of the Pacific Hills School Board of Trustees. “He made his vision a reality and thousands of students have benefited from it. The whole Pacific Hills Community—students, parents, faculty, alumni—are grateful to him for his outstanding achievement, and we commit ourselves to maintaining his vision.”            

Mr. Makoff will be succeeded as head by Dr. Peter Temes, a nationally known educator and author.

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Pacific Hills School is a WASC and CAIS accredited 6th – 12th grade independent, co-educational, college preparatory middle and high school. Located in West Hollywood, California, Pacific Hills School educates approximately 250 students each year.