CARMEL VALLEY, Calif. — Two high school students at Canyon Crest Academy in Carmel Valley say they've uncovered misuse of donated funds by the Canyon Crest Academy Foundation.
Canyon Crest Academy and the Foundation are fighting back and said the students' claims are not only false but dangerous.
Kevin Wang and Litong Tian are seniors at Canyon Crest Academy. This summer, they decided to investigate just how much of the donations, that were supposed to support the robotics team and other clubs at the school, went elsewhere.
"We knew, from before we started, that the foundation was bad. They took a lot. But we didn't know just how bad it was until we started digging,” Wang explained. “What I saw was pretty disturbing. They were taking a lot of money away from our team. I always just knew this but I never really acted on it."
Tian explained how much money was taken compared to other schools.
"As much as 40% of a club's revenue could go to the foundation which is substantially higher than other schools in the district where that number is consistently under 10%," Tian said.
"The Foundation takes a 25% fee out of any donation made to school-sponsored clubs. So that includes robotics, debate, mock trials - stuff like that. On top of that at the end of every year, the foundation takes an arbitrary amount of money from the club's accounts to fund their own operations," he said.
The students’ investigation included pouring over the school's financial records, tax documents and even interviewing students and teachers. The students released the findings of their report in a Google document and shared it online.
That report spread like wildfire across the school to other students and parents.
Wang says he was even called into CCA principal, Brett Killeen's office.
"He did say I defamed the school and the report is false. He was essentially trying to intimidate me into trying to take the report down, retract our statements and control the damage caused by our report," Wang offered.
CBS 8 reached out to Principal Killeen for comment and as of this story’s publishing, we haven't heard back.
Sandra Sincek, president of The Canyon Crest Academy Foundation declined our request for an interview but pointed CBS8 to their weblink refuting the students' report, saying in part, "These claims are not only untrue they're incredibly irresponsible and harmful to the CCA community."
The CCAF, Integrity, Governance and Transparency webpage also says "it is acceptable and standard practice to allocate any salaries of employees across the various activities or programs of the organization."
Wang and Tian offered reforms to the CCAF to help rebuild the trust that was broken.
"They're saying our report is going to lead to decreased revenue for the school,” Wang explained. "It's wrong to blame us for exposing the right thing where instead, if they want to rebuild trust in the community, they should implement some of the reforms we've asked for in our document."
Former foundation president responds
Joanne Couvrette, the former president of CCAF, is being represented by Will Small, a local attorney. Small submitted a statement to CBS 8 on behalf of Couvrette that reads:
"To Whom It May Concern: Our law firm represents Joanne Couvrette regarding false and misleading statements made about her by two students at the Canyon Crest Academy.
The following is a statement we are making on behalf of our client: Joanne Couvrette served the Canyon Crest Academy Foundation (“CCAF”), and in turn Canyon Crest Academy (“CCA”) and its students, for more than a decade. CCAF is a non-profit organization dedicated to realizing CCA’s educational programs and priorities through financial, volunteer and community support. Under her leadership, CCAF grew from a volunteer-run organization with relatively modest fundraising capabilities to one of the most successful educational foundations in San Diego County. CCAF’s success under Couvrette is evidenced in many ways: by honors and awards; significant improvements at CCA; opportunities that enriched, and continue to enrich, the educational experience of the school’s students; and significantly improved revenue growth. More specifically, under Couvrette’s leadership, CCAF grew from $721,000 in revenue to more than $2.4 million in Couvrette’s final, record-breaking year.
CCAF reached the significant milestone of $1 million in revenue in her third year and $2 million in her seventh year. Couvrette first joined CCAF as a part-time employee when she was still the parent of a CCA student. That connection has always given her a vested interest in the success of the students at CCA, because without the students, there is no CCA.
Yet Couvrette’s reputation has been irreparably harmed after two CCA students anonymously published an erroneous and misleading “report” online that called into question the financial activities of CCAF and Couvrette. The “report,” through its various iterations, has made several clear misstatements of fact. Some of the most significant ones are:
CCAF charges a 25% “fee” for every donation - FALSE
As has been explained by CCAF since the publication of the erroneous “report,” in or around 2006 – approximately 6 years before Couvrette began her tenure – CCAF adopted a policy allowing the designation of donations directly to a program of the donor’s choice within one of the three designated-donation themes – Athletics, Envision, or STEM. These “restricted” donations can be used only for the designated program. For each designated, or restricted, donation, 75% is allotted to the specific team, club, or program, and the remaining 25% goes into a general fund for that theme. As the students’ report makes clear, this division of donations is clearly disclosed to donors on CCAF website’s donation portal, and this has been the practice at CCAF for nearly two decades. It is absolutely not a “fee” charged by CCAF, which implies that 25% of every donation goes directly and solely toward operation and management expenses of CCAF. To be clear, some money from each general fund goes to the operational costs of CCAF – otherwise it would not be able to function. But general funds also go to support the associated themes. For instance 75% of a donation to the volleyball team might go to uniforms for the volleyball team, whereas 25% of that donation would go to the athletic department general fund and perhaps be used to purchase ice machines or weight training equipment that could be used by athletic teams other than volleyball. We encourage you to closely review CCAF’s explanation of this, which can be found on their website: https://www.canyoncrestfoundation.org/about-ccaf/canyon-crest-academy-foundation[1]integrity-governance-and-transparency/ In short, the term “fee” is grossly incorrect and the student’s statement that “the reality is that a significant portion is simply pocketed by the foundation” is also factually inaccurate.
CCAF’s “Other Program Expenses” Are “Vague and Unaccountable” - FALSE
CCAF’s outside accountant/auditor has routinely grouped together certain line items and other expenses as “Other Program Expenses.” CCAF has also explained this on its website, and given examples of some of the substantial expenditures on facilities improvements, equipment, and program support that directly benefit students. But we think it is imperative to highlight the following: • Every “other program expense” is absolutely accounted for by CCAF and can be found in a general ledger. CCAF has invited anyone in the community to come to it with questions about these expenses. • Financial statements are sent out every month by CCAF, and these ultimately are provided to multiple stakeholders, including the CCAF Board of Directors (which is traditionally made up of CCA parents), CCA’s principal, Directors and Vice Presidents of Athletics, Envision and STEM, and appropriate personnel within each theme (such as coaches of teams within each program).
Couvrette has “misappropriated” donations to CCAF - FALSE
Couvrette has not misappropriated any funding of CCAF. She has rightfully earned her salary and other specified compensation every year, which is accounted for and disclosed on CCAF’s financial statements. She has not taken secret kickbacks or embezzled funds as the students’ erroneous “report” suggests.
CCAF fired Couvrette “due to the years of misconduct at the CCA foundation while it was under her control.” - FALSE
Couvrette’s departure from CCAF was announced in June of this year, with the foundation thanking her for her years of service. The departure had absolutely nothing to do with any of the alleged misconduct that is erroneously set forth in the Ravens for Transparency website or financial misconduct of any kind. Other Issues and Mischaracterizations: There are a number of other misleading and incorrect statements in the students’ “report”. For instance, the report highlights that Couvrette’s salary was not disclosed on CCAF’s 990 IRS filing for some of the years that she worked at the foundation. CCAF disclosed information related to the salaries of its employees based on the recommendations of its outside accountants/auditors each year. CCAF provided those tax professionals with all relevant information and relied on their recommendations and guidance in submitting their tax filings. Couvrette never instructed anyone to intentionally omit her salary from an IRS filing. Moreover, the total amount spent on salaries is disclosed in the 990 filings and CCAF’s financial statements (which CCAF makes available online at https://www.canyoncrestfoundation.org/about-ccaf/) and on the 990 forms filed with the IRS. Because CCAF has only had one full-time employee, Couvrette, and a handful of other employees, it is not difficult to estimate roughly how much Couvrette made each year. In addition, CCAF does not charge an “arbitrary” “end of year fee” to any clubs or organizations. Rather, management expense are allocated pro rata based on revenue generated by each program. The “report” also falsely claims that CCAF “conceals the true amount of money taken each year” in documentation provided to clubs by “concealment of fees.” The students claimed as an example that the P&L statement for the Robotics club concealed the “25% STEM Fund Fee” by omitting it from its financial statements. This is false. As discussed previously, because 25% of every donation is directed to the general fund of the applicable program, those funds would not be reported on the Robotics club’s P&L as revenue; instead, they are reported as revenue on the STEM General Fund’s P&L. A Reputation Ruined Couvrette spent 12 years supporting CCA students and championing them in fundraising efforts of the CCAF. She still supports them. And she welcomes any legitimate questions or critiques of CCAF. But there is a right way and a wrong way to go about that, and making false statements that accuse a person of fraudulent and criminal activity without evidence is wrong. The clear purpose of the “report” that these students published was to accuse Couvrette of misappropriation and financial wrongdoing, and those very serious accusations were published online without proof and without giving our client a chance to respond to the students’ concerns or clarify any confusion. The false statements made by the students and the tone of the “report” were and are reckless and damaging, especially given the amplification of those statements by a recent article in the San Diego Union Tribune, which appeared to confirm several of the false statements.
Couvrette welcomes an audit by a new outside CPA or financial professional, though she regrets that this will be a cost for the foundation to bear. She is confident an outside audit will confirm the falsity of the allegations against her and CCAF. But it likely will not be enough to repair the significant damage to her reputation or the harm it has caused her personally. Our office is currently evaluating all potential remedies for these harms."