tps://d3n8a8pro7vhmx.cloudfront.net/carlpetersen/pages/2908/attachments/original/1600003734/191107_Lillian_Lee_Response_to_Ntc_of_Concern.pdf?1600003734">It should be noted that this is an operational/staffing matter, in which the Board would normally not involve itself."
- Scott Silverstein, Board Chair
Prior to 2011, El Camino Real High School (ECRCH) was a public school operating under the umbrella of the Los Angeles Unified School District (LAUSD). While other schools struggled in the massive district, El Camino thrived and was considered to be a "stellar" school. In 1998 it was named by Los Angeles Magazine as one of the ten best schools in the district in an article noting that 72% of the school's seniors went on to college, "well above the district average of 52%." The California Department of Education named El Camino a California Distinguished School in 2009. The school had also "won the Academic Decathlon competition multiple times."
Despite all of this success, El Camino used a law created to allow parents to privatize "underperforming" schools. The school did so to take advantage of state policies that "paid independent [charter] high schools an average of $7,369 per pupil, while unified districts [public school] received $6,417 per pupil." Additionally, the move allowed El Camino to recapture Title I funds that the LAUSD was redirecting to schools with a higher percentage of students eligible for free and reduced-price lunch. The movement of these funds to El Camino cut the funding available to struggling district schools in poorer parts of the city that were expected to not only educate students but deal with the effects of crippling poverty.
Converting to a charter school also gave El Camino "a lot more freedom in how they spend state money". This influx of funding also came as the district's pro-charter school board made sure that oversight from the LAUSD was limited. The results were disastrous.
A Daily News investigation published in May found that El Camino's Executive Director David Fehte had made numerous lavish charges to his school-issued American Express card, including $15,500 at Monty's Prime Steaks & Seafood in 2014 and 2015, and several personal expenses, such as first-class airfare and luxury hotel rooms. Fehte's charges also included more than $6,700 for a four-day trip to the Michigan headquarters of Herman Miller, the designer furniture manufacturer, for himself and two other school employees when there was a showroom 25 miles from the school. Fehte has denied doing anything wrong.
Free from LAUSD controls, the school's principal, David Fehte, was able to divert school resources to uses that benefited him personally. This included an $885.96 payment on the school credit card to pay a bill addressed to "Mr. David Patrick Fehte/San Antonio Spurs." This paid for airfare so that Fehte could perform scouting activities as he moonlighted for the NBA team.
The LAUSD Charter School Division eventually caught on to the misuse of public funds and issued a notice to cure. However, this toothless gesture did not result in any action by the district until a whistleblower from the school tipped off the Los Angeles Daily News. The resulting coverage finally led to the district threatening to revoke the school's charter. This action was avoided with a last-minute deal that forced Fehte from his position. To soften his landing, Fehte received a $215,000 golden parachute taken from funds that were supposed to be used to educate our children.
In issuing the Notice of Violation that nearly closed down the school, the LAUSD noted that "countless expenses were incurred without adherence to any uniform procedure, and without verification of the necessary details." As a result, there was "an inability to determine how public funds are being used." The district expressed concern that "fatal flaws in judgment ... call into serious question the organization's ability to successfully implement the charter in accordance with applicable law and district requirements." The district also cited El Camino's governing board for "improperly conducting public meetings".
Four years later, there are El Camino stakeholders who are alleging that it "looks like the Board is trying to hide something"again." Did the governing board learn anything from its near-miss with revocation? Can the public feel assured that their taxes are being spent appropriately by the school? A Notice of Concern issued by the LAUSD on October 10, 2019, and the response by the school's governing board suggest otherwise.
The Notice of Concern is divided into three parts, two of which are directly related to El Camino's Chief Information Officer (CIO). The first details $228,960 in payments to two related companies in India for "software development-related service." According to concerns raised by the school's Chief Business Officer and former Accounting and Finance Manager, these "services and expenses were not pre-approved". Nor were purchase orders "generated prior to payment requests by ECRCH's CIO." These were part of "multiple violations [that] were caused by ECRCH's CIO" and this non-conformance with the established fiscal policy was "ongoing."
The second concern revolved around $301,430 in payments to Novian and Covantia, LLC for "software development and Integration Gateway, business technology, non-instructional consultants, computer/equipment". These companies were "owned by ECRCH's CIO and/or a family member of ECRCH's CIO, which could constitute a conflict of interest for the school."
The final concern was a potential violation of El Camino's nepotism policy by school staff and was based on an Assistant Principal possibly being related to an Office Assistant whom according to the whistleblower directly reported to him. According to the notice, this "relationship was not disclosed during the hiring process of the Office Assistant."
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