Unified's board could vote on a Notice of Intent to Revoke, CHAMPS' executive director and chief financial officer resigned over their handling of the matter, according to the school's retelling of events. Unified board document from last March: "The revocation proceedings were suspended following GAMES’ agreement to make significant organizational changes, including reconstituting its governing board, and restructuring of its administrative and school personnel (including hiring new school site leadership)Ī similar scenario played out again in May 2014 after an employee at Charter High School of the Arts - Multimedia and Performing (CHAMPS) "made significant unauthorized charges on a school credit card."Ī week before L.A. In January 2014, district officials threatened to hit Garr Academy of Mathematics and Entrepreneurial Studies ("GAMES") with a "Notice of Intent to Revoke" its charter - the aforementioned second of three steps necessary to withdraw a charter school's operating authority.īut that never happened, according to an L.A. Unified's revocation proceedings with harsher disciplinary action against employees. Unified officials.įollowing the district school board's initial step toward revoking the school's charter, El Camino's board said Fehte agreed to take a pay cut and announced plans to sever ties with its chief business officer.īut charter schools facing similar scrutiny in the past had only ended L.A.
Five of those charters are still open today.Īs in those prior cases, whether Fehte continued as the school's executive director had been a sticking point between El Camino leaders and L.A. Unified's Charter School Division had recommended issuing "Notices of Intent to Revoke" to six schools since 2013. While the board has denied applications to renew existing charters or open new ones in the last five years, the district's decision to open charter revocation proceedings against the Woodland Hills school was a rare step in itself: before El Camino, staff in L.A. "While I am personally disappointed," his statement continued, "with the unnecessary way that the media chose to unjustly sensationalize ECR operational inefficiencies, I welcome this opportunity to move our school forward and focus attention back to the students we serve, and enable our teaching staff to do what they do best - educate students." "I will do what it takes to preserve this charter which we all worked so hard to establish," Fehte said in an emailed statement. Unified officials characterized these charges as "seemingly exorbitant, personal and … improper." El Camino's governing board says there are legitimate explanations for some of the transactions the district flagged and that new financial policies they enacted should prevent future problems. Steak dinners, hotel stays and airline travel transactions on Fehte's card - the subject of a May story in the Los Angeles Daily News - drew particularly close scrutiny. Unified officials have been raising questions about charges on several El Camino employees made on their school-issued credit cards. If they decline, the district would resume charter revocation proceedings. Members of El Camino's board must still approve the deal in the form of a Memorandum of Understanding at their regular meeting on Oct. Unified School Board members approved by a 6-1 vote, four members of El Camino's governing board will also step down before next February. Unified School Board was set to vote Tuesday whether to take the second of three steps necessary to revoke the charter of one of the district's largest and highest-profile charter schools. El Camino Real Charter High School's principal – whose use of an employee credit card became a key focus of a Los Angeles Unified School District inquiry at the school – will resign next week as part of a deal with district officials that ends a long-running drama about the school's future.Īlong with El Camino's attorney and board president, executive director David Fehte himself hammered out the deal with district officials just hours before L.A.
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