WOODLAND HILLS >> He bought a $95 bottle of fine Syrah. Paid for first-class airfare and luxury hotel rooms. And racked up a $15,500 credit card tab at Monty’s Prime Steaks & Seafood.
David Fehte, executive director-principal of El Camino Real Charter High School in Woodland Hills, used the same school-issued American Express card to charge $100,000 over two years. Some charges came while moonlighting as a college basketball talent scout for the San Antonio Spurs.
Now the El Camino high board of directors has decided to launch an independent financial probe of the popular principal’s spending. The forensic accounting comes ahead of a year-long management assistance review by a state financial turnaround agency prompted by the credit card scandal.
“I want guidance from agencies to tighten up the (school fiscal) policy,” El Camino board Chairman Jonathan Wasser said after a unanimous vote late Wednesday to pay for the probe of its principal. “I believe in due process.
“We need to have the forensic accounting look over all the information because it’s big, and I’m not an accountant, and it requires somebody trained to look over the evidence.”
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The school decision to hire an outside forensic private investigator and seek help from a state financial management consultant follows a special report last month by the Daily News that documented what appeared to be lavish expenses charged to El Camino high credit cards.
It also follows an October 2015 Los Angeles Unified School District warning known as a Notice of Cure related to Fehte’s and other El Camino officials’ use of plastic credit accounts, offering to assess and improve spending practices.
All told, the 55-year-old principal and four fellow administrators spent more than $1 million on school-issued cards in 2014 and 2015, according to a Daily News analysis. While the vast majority of the charges were for typical school supplies such as textbooks, some of Fehte’s charges did not appear to be typical school spending.
Among the charges:
— More than $6,700 for a four-day trip to a maker of classroom furniture in Michigan, where the principal and two school employees stayed in $359 hotel rooms. The manufacturer, meanwhile, had a furniture showroom 25 miles from campus.
— More than $5,700 in flowers charged by Fehte and El Camino administrators.
— Personal trips by Fehte to Greensboro, North Carolina, and Spokane, Washington. On one trip, he flew first class. On another, he charged the school nearly $800 for two nights at a hotel, including a charcuterie plate with cheese, olives and red wine.
• RELATED STORY: El Camino High principal moonlighted as NBA scout, billed travel to school
And when the school’s Academic Decathlon team flew to Hawaii for the 2014 national championships, Fehte bought himself and his assistant principal first-class tickets. The cost: $1,890 each. The rest of the school flew in coach.
Last month, the El Camino governing board voted to cancel Fehte’s credit card and those of all but one school administrator.
While some parents Wednesday called for Fehte’s resignation, others were supportive of the El Camino principal and former teacher who has devoted 22 years to the Woodland Hills campus.
“He used a school credit card to pay for personal expenses not one, but many times, among other abuses,” Marlene Widawer, an El Camino parent, told the board. “And I have news for you: this goes beyond a simple mistake, which is how Fehte characterized his actions in a letter to the staff earlier this month.
“His behavior shows a pattern of abuse — one that cannot be tolerated.”
But Sheryl Aldrich, an El Camino graduate whose two sons were also Conquistadores, was more forgiving. Like some teachers, she called for Fehte’s support.
“A few mistakes were made,” Aldrich said. “We’re all human…We have seen a few principals at El Camino over the years.
Mr. Fehte has been the best, hands down.”
For the first time in a year, the El Camino principal did not attend this week’s board meeting.
Fehte has previously acknowledged charging El Camino Real for personal travel and, after the Daily News inquired, he said he reimbursed the public school.
Asked for additional response this week, Fehte said no laws were violated and that all personal credit card spending was reimbursed.
He strongly disputed any suggestion that the $1 million in total El Camino credit card charges for school supplies were in any way personal. He said any personal charges made on a school credit card were few, if accidental, and immediately reimbursed.
Of the $1 million, he said, his spending came to 1 percent to 2 percent.
“In the past, I inadvertently charged a few personal expenses on my school credit card,” Fehte said in an email. “Once any personal charges were flagged, I have always immediately reimbursed the school in accordance with Board Policy.
“There is not a single flagged personal charge that has gone unreimbursed. If any additional charges are discovered, I will immediately reimburse the school as I have always done in the past.”
Fehte said the school will launch an Enterprise Resource Planning computer system this fall that will allow teachers and staff to initiate, review and approve requests for purchases to replace El Camino’s antiquated paper system.
El Camino Real Charter High School is run by a nonprofit group and gets about $32 million in government funds each year, which come to 94 percent of its income.
On Wednesday, its seven-member board voted unanimously to pay Oracle of Chino Hills $195 an hour to perform a forensic accounting of the school credit card charges, Wasser said. It will begin early next month and be done by early September for an estimated cost of $20,000.
The El Camino board also voted to adjust its spending procedures regarding travel and other expenses incurred by school employees. Air travel must run economy or coach, for instance, but employees can upgrade to economy-plus.
To rein in spending, the school has also requested the assistance of the state Fiscal Crisis and Management Assistance Team, which helps school districts and community colleges meet their fiancial obligations.
El Camino requested that the state fiscal management team perform a management assistance review beginning next month, followed by quarterly visits to monitor progress for a year. The cost: an estimated $28,000.
“They asked us to come in and review policies and procedures related to business operations, specifically purchasing, accounts payable and accounting related to the student store,” said Michael Fine, chief administrative officer for the state Fiscal Crisis agency. “I think some of the allegations (about Fehte) are out there because (the school) didn’t have a good process concerning spending in general.”
Fehte, however, disputed the year-long review, saying the Fiscal Crisis team would assist with the new ERP computer system, train new staff and make recommendations regarding the school’s internal controls.
Wasser, who was re-elected Wednesday to the board, said a thorough audit is needed.
“It can be a very tough agency,” Wasser said in an interview. “It’s almost like, I guess, the IRS: they will audit everything.
“And I really feel like we need not just a paid agency (like Oracle). We need a state agency.”
Note: This article was updated on June 28 to correct the spelling of Sheryl Aldrich’s name.
