Principal Glenn Lipman severed ties last year between Adolfo Camarillo High School and its athletic booster club amid allegations that the 28-year-old nonprofit was mired in debt, had mishandled money and was only contributing a fraction of what it had in year’s past.

Former booster club president Dave Benson said the decision to disband the volunteer group was motivated largely by the desire of Lipman and athletic director Mike Smith to control how the booster club’s money was spent.

“Rather than allow the booster club the autonomy to raise funds and put it into projects like it had been done in the past, they wanted to control those funds that were raised and use them for things that they really needed,” said Benson, a father of six.

Benson said he also recognized state budget cuts and the recession had put a strain on the athletic program’s budget but that Lipman’s decision to disband the booster club was shortsighted.

“Rather than looking at it long term and rather than working something out together, I think they just said we need to take over this and make sure that we’re getting every nickel out of it we can,” Benson said.

Lipman did not return phone calls from the Camarillo Acorn before press time.

Smith said the decision for the high school’s athletic department to take over fundraising was not only because of “philosophical differences” over how the money was spent but because the debt had become so high.

“They had debts way beyond what they were able to produce,” said Smith, who would not confirm how much debt the booster club carried.

Benson said the booster club carried a $30,000 debt, while other sources said the number was much higher.

“Most boosters clubs are able to make nice contributions to their athletic programs. We were in a situation (where) that wasn’t happening for us,” Smith said.

Benson, a CPA, said the booster club had taken on the debt with a plan to make payments over the following school year.

“The obligations we had were all built into our cash flow plan for the coming year,” he said. “We didn’t have creditors clamoring at us or anything or trying to take us to collections or anything like that. We’re on schedule to pay all of that with all of the revenue from the different projects we were working with.”

According to Benson, the high school severed ties with the booster club in April, shortly after he, Smith and Lipman met to discuss the club’s bookkeeping.

The separation was immediate and the booster club was not allowed to meet on campus or represent the school as a fundraising entity.

Benson said because the booster club was a nonprofit—it still technically retains its status as a 501c3—the school had no authority to disband its board of directors, request its books or control how its money was spent.

To ensure the athletic department received the money it needed, Benson said the booster club had worked with the athletic director to decide how to distribute funds among the school’s various sports.

Training facility

Benson said the booster club decided last year to give students a chance to train at Elite Performance Factory, a Westlake Village based sports training facility.

Benson said the booster club made training sessions at the state-of-the-art conditioning facility available to Camarillo students whose parents volunteered with the booster club.

It was a decision that didn’t go as planned.

Benson said the booster club spent between $40,000 and $45,000 to send 100 athletes from the high school’s various sports to Elite Performance owned by Billy Miller, a tight end for the New Orleans Saints and former Westlake High School standout.

Benson said the booster club still owes Miller about $26,000. It’s a debt, he said, that he cannot pay because Lipman and Smith have taken control of the booster club’s revenue sources.

Miller said he started the students on a workout program specifically designed for high school athletes that normally costs $30 an hour.

Miller said he offers a reduced team rate so area high schools can afford the program.

The football team trained with Elite Performance three to five days a week for most of last summer.

Miller would not comment on how much the booster club owes him for the training sessions but said he was working with Smith to allow the high school and Elite Performance to “maintain a relationship.”

Benson said the money was well spent. He noted that only one member of the football team sustained a season-ending injury this year, compared to 17 the year before.

Miller said that because he enjoyed seeing the football team succeed he hadn’t pressed the school for the money owed him.

“I have no hard feelings toward Camarillo High School,” Miller said. “I have no hard feelings toward the athletic director, the principal or the students. (The team) became something extremely fun for me to watch. I sacrificed financially because I believed in what we were doing to help those kids.”

The country club

Smith also said the booster club owed money to Spanish Hills Country Club, the venue for its inaugural casino night fundraiser.

Benson said the casino night fundraiser was planned to raise as much $20,000—money that would help cover the costs of the training facility.

The booster club did not make the projected amount.

In fact, Benson said, it lost about $1,500.

“In the end, the parents didn’t come out and help at the level that was required to make the money to support the training,” he said.

Michael Orosco, the country club’s general manager, did not return calls from the Camarillo Acorn before deadline.

By the numbers

Founded in the early 1980s, the Adolfo Camarillo High School Athletic Booster Club hosts a number of annual fundraisers to help pay for the school’s 22 sports.

Fundraising efforts include an annual golf tournament, snack bar and ticket sales at home games, an eScrip program—through which the club receives a portion of the cost of purchases by parents at selected retailers—and a casino night. The booster club also raises money by selling billboards and signs at the school’s sports venues.

The booster club numbers about 130 parent volunteers and has typically given between $15,000 and $20,000 a year to the athletic program.

This year, Benson said, the booster club gave the athletics program $60,000—half of which was money used to install stadium seating at the football field.

The seating—called Scorpion Club Seats—is meant to raise money for the high school through the sale of season tickets to the football team’s home games.

Season ticket sales for the football games, now handled directly through the athletics department, are expected to raise about $20,000.

Smith said the booster club only gave $6,000 to the athletic department last year.

The booster club still owes a reported $30,000 to the country club and the training facility.

Smith said the school is negotiating with the local businesses to which the booster club owes money.

“We’ve been in better positions before, that’s for sure,” Smith said. “We will be fine. We’re moving forward.”