Trustee to skip karate club vote
HAWTHORNE: Member of the school board also is president and founder of a group that is up for $18,750 in funds.
By Ian Hanigan, Daily Breeze
Sidestepping a potential conflict of interest, a Hawthorne school board member on Tuesday said he will recuse himself from a vote to determine whether his own organization gets thousands of dollars from the district to teach after-school karate classes at three campuses.
Hugo Rojas is not just a trustee serving his third year on the Hawthorne School District’s board of education; he’s also president and founder of the Hawthorne-based California Youth Karate Club, which is in line for as much as $18,750 in grant funds pending a board decision tonight.
But Rojas, who said he has consulted with the board’s attorney, insisted he will not vote on the matter, nor will he personally receive a penny if his club is contracted.
“I’m not supposed to vote on it and I would have stepped down regardless (of whether a vote was legal),” Rojas said. “It wouldn’t be fair for me to vote on my own organization, which is a nonprofit organization by the way.”
If the plan is approved by the four other trustees, the California Youth Karate Club would get $3,750 per month from February through June to offer after-school martial arts courses at Ramona, Williams and York elementary schools for one day each week. The money, not to exceed a total of $18,750, would come from a grant that funds after-school programs as well as drug- and violence-prevention efforts.
Rojas is listed on his organization’s Web site as a martial arts master with a fifth-degree black belt in “Chinese Kenpo Karate.” In an interview Tuesday, he said he was introduced to the sport at age 8 by his father after he began hanging out with a rough crowd at Lennox Park. Karate, he said, changed his life.
If the proposal is endorsed by his colleagues, Rojas said his karate club would target about 40 to 50 students at each Hawthorne campus, teaching them lessons about discipline and anger-management while bolstering their self-esteem.
“The whole vision was to bring low-cost programs to children who could not afford it otherwise,” he said.
State records confirm that the California Youth Karate Club is a nonprofit organization. Though nonprofit directors aren’t precluded from getting paid for their work, Rojas said he does not draw a salary from the club, which normally charges about $20 a month to children ages 4 to 17.
Furthermore, Rojas said he did not pitch the idea to the school board. Rather, he said the karate club’s treasurer, Lee Reherman – perhaps better known as “Hawk” from “American Gladiators” – delivered a PowerPoint presentation about a year ago.
Stephanie Dougherty, spokeswoman for the state’s Fair Political Practice Commission, said the Political Reform Act of 1974 bars elected public officials from voting on proposals that have a direct impact on their own pocketbooks. But, she said, officials can comply with the law by disqualifying themselves from the vote.
When asked to comment, however, at least one member of the local education community questioned the move.
“I do think it’s sort of curious that a school board member’s program would come before the school board,” said Janice Steffen, president of the Hawthorne Elementary Teachers Association.
Board President Frank DeSimone could not be reached for comment, but trustee Cristina Chiappe said she has personally studied the proposal and determined that it would not violate any legal or ethical standards. Money for the martial arts program would come directly from a grant and not the general fund, she said, and all of it would be spent on uniforms and tuition, which would pay instructor salaries.
“Right now we don’t have a lot to offer kids after school,” Chiappe said, “and this is a really good opportunity. To me, this will provide an excellent opportunity for kids who want to learn karate but can’t afford it.”
Publish Date:February 25, 2004