Page 3 Foothills Sentry MAY 2025 Conservation. Another great American pastime. Learn more at at www.eocwd.com "RSCCD" continued from page 1 "Lorenzo" continued from page 1 "Tiptoe" continued from page 1 Presented by the Community Foundation of Orange Thursday, June 5 6:00 – 9:30 PM 2025 GALA Please join us for the annual Honoring our Orange City Fire ghters Please RSVP by May 20 Erica Mae and her new romance book, the Stars of Scotland - the first in her Scottish Stars series Local Author! Book available now at Barnes and Noble or a cute shop in Anaheim - Heartbound Book Shop. Michael Ramirez, son of Lorenzo Ramirez speaks to the audience, flanked by his brother Tony and Niece Layla Grajeda. ences as a segregated student and stressed that a school should be named after him, so what he has done “can never be erased.” Layla Grajeda, a niece of Ramirez and an El Modena High student, noted that she appreciates that the school library honors “someone I can relate to.” Need to know Orange Councilwoman Ana Gutierrez, a staunch supporter of a future Lorenzo Ramirez elementary school, made her case by recounting how she grew up in El Modena, but knew nothing about the neighbor who changed public education in California. “I’ve lived in El Modena my whole life, grew up with the Ramirez cousins, played with them, went to school with them. I had no idea of their uncle’s impact,” she said. “I didn’t learn about the Mendez case until 2002. I didn’t learn about the 'et als' (Ramirez, Guzman, Estrada, Palomino) until five years ago. I was surprised to learn El Modena was part of it. "There has to be something in El Modena that tells residents what happened here, she asserted, "to tell the story of a brave man. Naming a school after him is a good way to do that, and Jordan is the most appropriate one." “We need to highlight Mr. Ramirez and make it permanent in the El Modena Barrio, she concluded. The conversation, Erickson summarized, is just starting. Orange Elks donate to community partners The Orange Elks Lodge recently donated funds to HomeAid Orange County for La Veta Village and to the Ronald McDonald House. La Veta Village is a unique and affordable housing community for families and seniors experiencing homelessness. The lodge donated $2,500 to help provide small homes to the unhoused and low-income seniors. The Ronald McDonald House received $2,600 to provide housing and support for families when their child needs long-term medical care in a local hospital. From left, Elk Terrie Schatz, HomeAid board member Dave Prolo, Elk Janine Storm, HomeAid Executive Director Gina Cunningham and Elk Marilyn Dinger. From left, Ronald McDonald House Executive Director Noel Burcelis, with Orange Elks Marilyn Dinger and Terrie Schatz alerted Trustee Phil Yarbrough. Yarbrough, a board member since 1996, chair of the district’s fiscal/audit committee and president of a mortgage corporation that he founded, was furious. Why was that money not disclosed? Who was hiding it? How long has this been going on? What laws have been broken? He demanded the money be returned. He hired a forensic audit firm (separate from the annual auditors) to look into it. The firm was able to trace the fund back to 1997, noting the balance ranged from $1 to $7.1 million. ASCIP reported the fund as a lump sum on its financial statements, but did not specify how much, including interest, belonged to RSCCD or any other district. Audit did not augur well The audit, completed in March, identified numerous violations of California state law and the state education code. The violations included funds not being reported as district assets, nor provided to external auditors; inaccurate accounting methodology; failure to disclose fund balances; improper investments or use of excess funds; and the impairment of public confidence. The audit also noted that Chancellor Martin Martinez and his staff were aware of the risk management fund and received annual statements, but did not share them with the board or the independent auditor. Further, the chancellor misled the board about who held the funds or how they were allocated in the budget. The chancellor had claimed during an October board meeting that the funds were audited every year and the board should have known about it. The district’s independent auditor later advised that he didn’t know anything about the ASCIP fund until he read about it in the L.A. Times. The short version of the forensic audit’s findings, Yarbrough says, is that “it is illegal for a school district to have any financial holdings not reported to the public. Every penny must be accounted for in the budget. In this case, ASCIP was holding district funds that neither the board, the auditor nor the taxpayers knew anything about.” He notes that there are two elements in this deception: employee discipline and potential criminality. “All the board can do is deal with the involved staff members. We don’t know who, if anyone, benefitted from the unreported fund. We can’t launch a criminal investigation, but Barry and I have referred the matter to the state Attorney General. That office is looking into it.” Although RSCCD got its $7.1 million back, it is not clear whether the other impacted districts did. “This has statewide implications," Resnick says. “RSCCD is just one part of it." To Yarbrough, however, RSCCD is what matters. “I’ve devoted 30 years to this district because I care about it,” he says. “I’m chair of the fiscal committee, and I was kept in the dark. I’m doing everything I can to right the wrong and to assure taxpayers that this will never happen again.” responsibility regarding the cleanup of the property, and that “any materials that shouldn’t be there would not put the city at risk.” Interim City Attorney Wayne Winthers explained that the city is not the property owner and that Orange is not responsible for anything at this point. “If the city is not doing anything under this agreement,” Barrios asked, “why are we signing this?” “To give the parties a comfortable feeling that they can work towards this goal,” Winthers replied. Barrios voted "no" on the Letter of Intent. The six other councilmembers voted "yes."
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