Recall Targets Defend Booster Club Payment

Two school board members facing recall in Laguna Beach told a public forum Wednesday that they are proud to be active in the athletic booster club and have no reason to apologize for the club’s trouble with the California Interscholastic Federation (CIF).

Charlene Ragatz, the board president, and member Jan Vickers said they held the session “to respond to questions that have been raised.”

They referred to a controversy over payment of $3,000 by the football branch of the booster club to former football Coach Cedrick Hardman for training athletes last summer.

Stan Thomas, athletics commissioner for the Southern Section of the CIF, has said such direct payments “are a serious violation” of CIF rules governing high school sports.

Thomas was scheduled to meet with the school board members Wednesday to discuss the CIF’s concerns, but he canceled because of the death Tuesday of his father. Ragatz and Vickers said the CIF meeting will be rescheduled, but they held their own session at school board headquarters to discuss the controversy.

Deplores Criticism

Several members of the recall group, Citizens United for Responsible Education (CURE), were in the audience. Looking at them, Ragatz noted that she has been criticized for “wearing two hats”: being on the school board and being parent representative on the football boosters. Ragatz reiterated her frequent statement that “I did not give up my right as a parent when I came on the Board of Education.” She also deplored criticism aimed at her.

“There has been a degree of public malignment within the last several weeks which is extremely distressful,” she said. “As far as (critics) implying any acts of wrongdoing, I do take it very personal. The heart is on the sleeve.”

Ragatz, Vickers, Carl Schwarz and Susan Mas are targeted for recall by CURE. That group formed last fall after then-coach Hardman was arrested on suspicion of drug possession. Hardman initially was suspended, but the four board members later voted to allow him to return as a volunteer coach during practices.

The football boosters’ payment of money to Hardman became a controversy only in recent weeks. Thomas, of the Southern Section of CIF, has said booster clubs cannot give money directly to coaches but must instead give all such funds either through the Board of Education or the Associated Student Body (student government).

Ragatz and Vickers said Wednesday that former Laguna Beach High Principal Robert Hughes in 1985 had researched the CIF rules and wrote a memo. Ragatz read that memo, which said that the CIF only prohibits booster clubs from giving money to coaches during the academic school year--September to June. The memo indicated that it was legal for booster clubs to pay coaches directly during summer months.

Relied on Memo

Ragatz said the Hughes memo is what she and other board members believed to be the essence of the CIF rule on booster clubs.

She later added that she was not criticizing Hughes. She said the CIF rule book “can have many different interpretations.”

Ragatz also said “many” other school districts in Orange County have booster clubs that pay money directly to coaches. “I’ve received many calls from other board members in Orange County, and they’ve told me they can’t understand what we’re being criticized for because they do the same thing with their coaches,” Ragatz said.

During the session, Matt Gorry, president of the recall group, criticized the way money was handled by the football boosters. Gorry said a detailed accounting is needed of where all the checks went and how much was spent.