The Conejo Valley Unified School District (CVUSD) launched a full audit of the Thousand Oaks High School (TOHS) Football Booster Club as part of an investigation into the group’s finances and CVUSD personnel.
At the Aug. 14, 2024, school board meeting, Victor Hayek, deputy superintendent of business services, told trustees, “A personnel matter has come up that requires us to look further into one of the booster clubs … look into their finances …”
Board members Sylvester, Powell, Gill, Gorbach and Goldberg approved the audit request. All appeared surprised and reluctant to ask questions publicly about the matter. The Conejo Guardian emailed Superintendent Mark McLaughlin for comment. No responses have been received by press time.
Because the matter involves personnel, explained Hayek, the findings will be reported to the board in a closed session at some future meeting. It is unclear whether the person involved is a coach, teacher, support staff or administrator.
Booster organizations account for $3 million in annual revenue to the district, according to a Dec. 15, 2023, letter to the board by Hayek and McLaughlin. During the 2019-2020 school year, the last football season pre-COVID, the TOHS Booster Club had a starting balance of $43,355. They raised $180,277, spent $102,914, and ended the year with $120,718 on hand. Most of the income came from family donations ($62,308) and a golf/auction fundraiser ($41,313). The largest expense was $26,401 for team and field equipment. Coach-related expenses were about $10,000.
Since 2019, its income and expenses have doubled. During the 2022-23 school year, TOHS Football raised $211,182, spent $256,579 and ended the year with $63,171 on hand. The biggest sources of income were family donations ($52,450) and sponsor signs and banners ($43,358). Coach-related expenses, including pay, training and certifications totaled $45,807.
The accompanying table shows itemized income and expenses for the TOHS Football Booster Club.
Parent Controls
Since booster club leadership can change from year to year, an organization called Fiscal Crisis and Management Assistance Team (FCMAT) warned in a workshop created for school-connected organizations that “consistently following good business practices and internal controls can be challenging. Such turnover, the collection of a lot of cash, and many other reasons are also why booster clubs and parent organizations are often thought of as good targets for financial fraud.”
The concerns aren’t unfounded. In 2008, Michael McCarley, then-treasurer of the TOHS football booster club, was arrested on suspicion of embezzling $30,000 (https://www.simivalleyacorn.com/articles/former-thousand-oaks-booster-club-treasurer-arrested-for-embezzlement/).
In 2016, former Thousand Oaks city manager Scott Mitnick was fired for using his official city email to solicit donations for the Westlake High School Baseball Boosters Club and advocate for coach and booster leadership changes where his son played baseball. He also delayed a grant to the baseball program for field renovations, a move thought to be in response to the group changing contractors (https://archive.vcstar.com/news/local/conejo-valley/former-thousand-oaks-city-manager-fired-for-dishonesty-not-entitled-to-severance-pay-3817039a-f7e7-7-387704541.html).
As recently as 2020, Jennifer Leporati of Thousand Oaks pleaded guilty to stealing more than $100,000 from Moorpark’s Flory Academy of Sciences and Technology School elementary school booster club where her child was a student. Leporati served as treasurer from 2017-2019 (https://ktla.com/news/local-news/woman-sentenced-for-stealing-more-than-100k-from-moorpark-elementary-school-booster-club/).
Each club is required to submit financial summaries for the preceding school year. Financial statements for the 2023-24 school year are expected to be filed with the district this month.
Football clubs at the three CVUSD high schools rank among the top booster groups in the district. As their respective football programs grow in prominence, attracting players and coaches, the finances have grown. The chart below shows the financial development for TOHS, Newbury Park High School (NPHS) and Westlake High School (WHS) football booster clubs from 2019-2023.
All data in this article can be viewed at www.conejoguardian.org.
Thousand Oaks booster club info is available at this website: https://tohsathletics.org/booster-handbook/
Newbury Park booster club info is available at this website: https://sites.google.com/nphsboosters.org/nphsboosters/home
Westlake makes its booster club info available at this website: https://www.westlake-football.com/booster-info including names of leaders and contact info.
