Multiple teacher/coaches at El Camino Real have been placed on administrative leave in the latest example of turmoil at the Woodland Hills charter school.
“All I can confirm is that there is an investigation,” El Camino Real’s interim executive director, Emilie Larew, wrote in an email. “I am unable to comment on details related to a pending investigation.”
Brad Wright, chairman of the school’s board, said he was unaware of which coaches were under investigation even though he was on campus earlier this week.
Parents confirmed that multiple coaches were escorted off campus Thursday. One of them was El Camino Real’s decorated baseball coach, Josh Lienhard, who has guided the team to five City Section championships. Lienhard was not at school on Friday and declined comment in a text message.
Coaches who are also teachers will be receiving help from United Teachers Los Angeles representatives.
Parents have been concerned about the school since the summer when executive director David Hussey and assistant principal in charge of athletics Devon Rose were ousted. Hussey, a former soccer coach, had been the executive director for 10 years.
Parents are waiting to see if the coaches will be reinstated before deciding what action they will take.
During Wright’s tenure, El Camino Real has replaced the football, boys and girls basketball coaches, the tennis coach and the athletic director. El Camino Real’s acclaimed softball program lost its coach, Jodie Borenstein, in 2024 after she resigned. Her teams won City titles in 2019, 2021 and 2022. The school has won 18 division titles.
This story originally appeared in Los Angeles Times.
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