Ms. Rogers led Board member and guests in the Pledge of Allegiance to the United States of America (USA). 

1. Karen Jones

Connection to El Camino:

35-year teacher at El Camino, with 40 years of teaching experience overall.

National Board Certified Teacher.

Retired for 16 years but remains deeply involved in the school community.

Proudest accomplishment:

Named Teacher of the Year 15 times.

Believes this reflects how much her students valued her support and involvement.

Family connection:

Two children attended El Camino.

One served as the school’s first African American student body president in 1995.

The other became the second African American student body president in 1996.

Husband’s connection:

Her husband was a tennis coach at El Camino.

He won the championship five times.

Why she is speaking to the board:

Wants the board to understand how much she loves El Camino.

Describes the school as a deeply meaningful community for her and her family.

Is concerned about what is happening with the school’s coaches.

2. Brian Somoza

Connection to El Camino:

El Camino alumnus and former athlete.

His child currently attends the school.

Main concern:

Believes school morale is at its lowest point ever.

Feels the school’s reputation is suffering because of ongoing issues.

Concern about media coverage:

Says the situation looks bad for the community regardless of how it is presented.

Is upset that the school has been allowed to reach this point.

Questions about the investigation:

Wants to know where the investigation stands.

Says there has been no transparency about the investigation.

Questions about the CBO:

Raises concerns about possible miscommunication or overlap involving the CBO and the Delgado family.

Says he does not know whether there was fraud and is not making that claim.

Wants clarification on:

Who did the CBO report to?

Who signed the CBO’s contract?

Financial concerns:

Questions why the school is paying certain administrators.

Wants answers about how those payments and responsibilities are being handled.

3. Aaron Sanders

Connection to El Camino:

Parent and community member.

Lives next to the school.

Advocates for students and athletes.

Parent representative position:

Wants to know when the parent representative position will be publicly announced.

Also asks about the two other positions that have not yet been made public.

Board communication concerns:

Expresses disappointment with how the board communicates with parents and the community.

Says emails often go unanswered or unaddressed.

Parents and students sometimes struggle to find someone who can provide answers.

Community members frequently ask him how to navigate the system.

Says it is shameful that students have also been ignored.

Aquatic program and trust fund:

Raises concerns about the elimination of the aquatic program, which had been at the school for at least 25 years.

Says the program’s elimination was very sad for students.

Wants an update on a purchase order involving the remaining aquatic trust fund balance.

Says the business department had previously clarified how the funds could be spent.

Is now being told that additional approvals are needed.

Wants to know why the approvals have not been completed.

Scholarship concerns:

Says many athletes are preparing to go to college soon.

Shares the example of an athlete who contacted him about two weeks before school ended.

The athlete had questions about the status of scholarship essays that had already been approved.

Says the student’s counselors and athletic department administrators were not acknowledging the questions.

He intervened because he wanted to help the student get answers.

Notes that a scholarship had been awarded the previous year, but students were not given clear information about the process.

4. Naomi McCoy

Connection to El Camino Real High School:

Former college counselor and English department staff member.

Led student clubs, including the Pet Club.

Served as an Academic Decathlon assistant coach for many years.

Helped write the school’s charter with other teachers, including Miss Jones and Miss Webster.

Concerns about the school:

Says El Camino was once a distinguished high school.

Is surprised by the amount of chaos and issues happening now.

Believes many things expected when the charter was written are not happening.

Teacher representative election concerns:

Questions inconsistencies in the voting process for the two teacher representatives.

Says she submitted her name because she cares about El Camino and helped write the charter.

Feels her concerns have been met with repeated non-answers.

Requests for accountability:

Says a report about the election concerns has been brought to:

UTLA

Charter School Division

Interim Executive Director Emily Larew

Wants to know what action Emily Larew has taken.

Emphasizes that the concerns do not prove anyone manipulated the election.

Says the concerns are serious enough that they should not be dismissed without review.

Requested action:

Calls for the board to immediately preserve the complete electronic records related to the election.

Ends by making clear that she has serious concerns about the election process and school governance.

5. Lindsey Shano

Connection to El Camino Real High School:

Counselor at El Camino for 16 years.

Also an alumna, and her children attend the school.

Heavily involved in student activities and school events.

Describes El Camino as “home” to her.

Main concern:

Expresses deep sadness and heartbreak over what is happening at the school.

Speaks on behalf of the counseling team.

Request to retain Juan Alba:

Respectfully asks the board to retain Juan Alba as an ECR administrator.

Says he has been the counseling team’s leader for over eight years.

Describes him as a leader who serves with integrity, compassion, and a strong work ethic.

Impact of the administrator vacancy:

Says the counseling team has been without an administrator for almost four weeks.

This is happening during one of the most crucial times of the school year.

The situation has caused significant stress and feelings of being overwhelmed.

More than 1,000 students visit the counseling office during the first two weeks of the school year.

Why Juan Alba is important:

Has supported the counseling team both as a department and individually.

His leadership has helped the counseling team achieve national recognition through the American School Counselor Association.

Believes losing him would be a loss for the counseling team and the entire ECR community.

6. Jill Raleigh December

Connection to El Camino Real High School:

Parent of twins in the baseball athletic program.

Speaks about the impact of the coaching situation on student-athletes.

Main concern:

Believes the issue may be deeper than just the coaches.

Wants to understand how the situation reached this point.

Safety and certification requirements:

Acknowledges that coaches must have proper CPR, first aid, and safety certifications.

Says parents are not asking the school to ignore these requirements.

Questions why certifications were not reviewed, verified, and resolved during the summer before students returned.

Impact of coach removals:

Says coaches were suddenly removed after the school year and seasons had already begun.

Believes students are paying the price.

Notes that extracurricular activities are very important to many students, especially seniors.

Impact on student-athletes:

Students need practices, games, film, statistics, recommendations, and consistency.

Some seniors are actively communicating with colleges and trying to get recruited.

Says weekly disruptions are causing tremendous stress and uncertainty.

Believes students should be focused on school, their teams, and their futures.

Communication concerns:

Says parents have asked legitimate questions but received vague or incomplete answers.

Understands that confidential personnel matters may not be discussed.

Believes confidentiality should not prevent the board from sharing:

A timeline

An explanation of the process

What is being done to restore stability

Requested solution:

If the issue is certification, she wants the school to explain what needs to be verified.

Hopes the coaches can safely return as soon as possible.

Believes the situation has become unnecessarily prolonged.

7. Ashley Kraft

Says a petition is being circulated to support the athletes and coaches.

Wants the concerns to be formally documented.

Support for the coaches:

Says 700 people are supporting the coaches.

Believes the coaches did their job and submitted the required cards.

Concerns about the athletic director:

Questions why the athletic director is still being paid.

Questions why he is still on campus.

Questions why he is allowed to coach two other teams.

Certification concerns:

Says the athletic director reportedly had no CPR certification.

Also raises concerns about concussion certification, based on her understanding of the softball program.

Mr. Brad Wright

Says the meeting must move forward because of time.

Indicates that someone has not yet signed a required document.

Encourages everyone to sign before or during the meeting on the 27th.

Reason for signing:

Says the signing is needed to stay within the active process.

Appears to be related to getting people properly admitted or included in the meeting.

Meeting proceedings:

Says the board cannot respond to additional comments at that time.

Moves the meeting forward to the next agenda item.

Refers to the board’s consent agenda.

Presenter: Mrs. Janneyra Verduzco

• The signature sheet has not yet been circulated for signatures.
• The board’s approval is needed before adding the interim executive director as an authorized signer.

Why the new signer is needed:

• There is currently no CBO or executive director available to approve transfers from LACOE.

Is the money needed immediately?

• No. The organization is financially okay for now.
• The organization plans and forecasts three to six months ahead and wants to ensure someone is available to approve transfers when needed.
• The request is part of forward planning to avoid delays in future transfers.

Presenter: Mrs. Janneyra Verduzco

Purpose of the item:

Add Interim Executive Director Emilie Larew and Administrative Director Minita Clark as authorized signers on City National bank accounts.

Accounts included:

T-Bill

Payroll

Checking

General

Fundraising

Associated Student Body (ASB)

Reason for the request:

Ensure proper signing authority is in place across all operating accounts.

Why it is important:

A second approver is needed immediately to sign checks over $10,000.

Timing:

This needs to be completed today, unlike the previous item, which was for planning ahead over the next three months.

The new signers are needed now to avoid delays in approving large checks.

Presenter: Mrs. Janneyra Verduzco

Purpose of the item:

Update the authorized signers for the U.S. Bank OPEB and General Investment Accounts.

OPEB means:

Other Post-Employment Benefits.

Proposed changes:

Remove: Fernando Delgado

Add: Interim Executive Director Emilie Larew

Reason for the change:

The account can only have two executive directors as authorized signers.

Forms:

Mrs. Janneyra Verduzco has the forms ready for signing.

Timeline:

The process may take approximately 30 days to complete.

Approval is needed to update the account signers and allow the interim executive director to be added.

Presenter: Mrs. Janneyra Verduzco

Purpose of the item:

Add Interim Executive Director Emilie Larew as an authorized user on the Beacon Pointe and Midland Investments accounts.

Reason for the request:

Update the investment account access to include the interim executive director.

Timeline:

The process is expected to take approximately 30 days.

Approval is needed to add the interim executive director as an authorized user on both investment accounts.

Presenter: Mrs. Janneyra Verduzco

Purpose of the item:

Add Interim Executive Director Emilie Larew as an authorized user on the U.S. Bank CAL-Card credit card account.

Current authorized users:

Fernando Delgado and David Hussey.

Who can have a CAL-Card:

Only an Executive Director or Chief Business Official (CBO) can be an authorized user.

Why the change is needed:

Add the interim executive director to ensure the appropriate executive-level credit card access is in place.

Approval:

Approval is needed to add Emilie Larew as an authorized user on the U.S. Bank CAL-Card.

The board entered the closed session at 10:43 AM on the 24th of August, 2026.

Nothing to report out 

The board reconvene to open session at 12:02 PM on the 24th of August, 2026.