|
Getting your Trinity Audio player ready...
|
The Sunol Glen Unified School District Board of Trustees officially set July 2 as the date for the special recall election of trustees Ryan Jergensen and Linda Hurley, a decision that went against requests from community members who asked the board to hold the election sooner.
While the date is now set, Jergensen said that regardless of what happens in July, the small town is clearly divided and needs to work on coming back together as a community after the election.
“Whether Ryan and Linda are recalled or not, we still have a community divided and we need to work together to try to bring things together. That is my goal and I will try to continue to advocate and work towards that now and in the future,” Jergensen said during the March 12 board meeting. “Ryan and Linda aren’t suddenly going to move and go away. The other speakers who came up here aren’t going to suddenly move and go away … so let’s please try to come together as a community.”
Jergensen and Hurley led the school board’s 2-1 vote to schedule the recall election for July 2, which would likely be after the trustees complete their search for a new superintendent before the start of the 2024-25 academic year.
United for Sunol Glen’s efforts to get the two trustees removed from office has been in the works for months, as the pro-recall campaign worked on filing paperwork with the county and gathering enough signatures from residents to get the recall election certified.
After the county officially certified both recall petitions late last month, the clock began ticking as the next steps were for the board to determine a date for the election to take place, as is required according to the Registrar of Voters’ Office’s “Procedures for Recalling State and Local Officials” document.
Jergensen said that he and Hurley were recently asked to be a part of a lawsuit against the registrar’s office to “get clarity on the notice of intent for the recall.”
“There is an effort to make sure this is done in the right way and not done in any way that is going against the election code,” Jergensen said.
According to the petition for writ of mandate, which was filed on Jan. 8 and later obtained by the Weekly, the two trustees had sent objections and comments regarding the notices of intent to recall to the county. The lawsuit states that petitions and the notices of intent to circulate the petitions were defective and did not comply with county election law.
However, Trustee Peter “Ted” Romo said that this lawsuit was only being used as a way to block the recall efforts and stop the democratic process of the election.
Romo, along with several others who spoke during the public comment portion of the item during the March 12 board meeting, wanted the recall election to occur as soon as possible so that the community could move on from the whole ordeal — that’s why he voted against the July 2 date. They asked for the election to be on June 11, which would have been the earliest date allowed per recall election policies.
“As a Sunol resident and parent of enrolled children at Sunol Glen, I think I speak for most that I’m tired of seeing the signs around town and we’re all ready to move on as quickly as possible,” Chris Bobertz said. “No matter how the vote goes, I think it needs to be done so we can move on.”
James Lowder, a Sunol resident who has been outspoken against the recall, said that while he believes the number of residents who signed the recall petitions do not outweigh the number of residents who didn’t sign them and who will vote against the recall, he still wants the whole thing to be done.
“I’ll be the first to say that if the vote goes against the way that I prefer … I intend to do my best as a resident and community member of Sunol to be a participant in the healing of the community,” Lowder said.
Chris Wheeler, a teacher at the school and president of the Sunol teachers union, also said that he couldn’t wait for the election and applauded the recall campaign’s efforts to place the recall on a ballot following half a year of contentious board meetings that he said were caused by poor leadership from Jergensen and Hurley.
“We have the obligation to show each other that we can be conservative without being irrational; we can be spiritual without being intolerant; we can be transparent without being disingenuous; we can be fiscally responsible and actually move forward with flood repairs and construction projects,” Wheeler said. “The people have spoken, the community will be heard … It’s time for this charade to end. Take a moment to remember why we’re here and let’s get back to school.”
While many others also asked the board to set the election date for June, Jergensen wanted it to take place at the latest date possible — which would have been July 16.
“I would like … to have it as late as possible to get information out,” Jergensen said.
Hurley, however, had requested that the board select July 2 as a way to compromise so that the district could finish up the process of finding candidates to replace outgoing Superintendent-Principal Molleen Barnes.
The board had previously discussed and chose one out of two superintendent search firms that the county office of education will be paying for its services to select and vet candidates for the district to consider hiring as the new superintendent. Both firms said that the entire search process would take about two to three months.
“The process of getting a superintendent-principal … ends on July 1,” Hurley said. “(Having the election on July 2) would allow us to finish the process of hiring a superintendent-principal.”
Prior to her proposal of July 2, Hurley also shared thoughts about the recall election in general and how she feels like she has been the target of harassment since the first day she got to the board.
“It seemed some people would look for any possible way to attack me and orchestrate at least half a dozen persons to insult and verbally abuse me with name calling and twisting my words and by misrepresenting facts and my intentions,” Hurley said.
She also brought up the now widely known Sept. 12 board meeting where she and Jergensen voted on a contentious flag resolution that restricts the school to only flying the state and national flag on school grounds while effectively banning flags like the LGBTQ+ Pride flag, which was what many residents did not agree with and what led to many other tense meetings afterward.
Hurley said that the resolution was not directed as an attack on the LGBTQ+ community, that it was to help protect the school from potential lawsuits and that any allegations that she and Jergensen have created a hostile environment at the school are false.
Other speakers, who were against the recall election entirely, also added to that sentiment and said that the pro-recall group are the ones who have been dividing the community.
“What’s happening here is no different than what’s happening around the county, around the state and around the nation,” John Guerrero said during public comments. “There’s a small group of people coming in and they’re disrupting. They will lie, they will cheat, they will do anything possible to break you apart.”
Debbie Ferrari, who has been very much against the recall for months, said that the allegations about Barnes leaving the school because of the abuse from Hurley and Jergensen are untrue.
“From day one, Ted and his team have shown nothing but disdain toward Linda. They were waiting for any opportunity to destroy her and get her off the board,” Ferrari said. “Ryan has more kids in the school than almost anyone who lives in Sunol … yet here we are with many who don’t have kids in the school, some who have them on transfer and others who have no heart or soul who have hammered, lied about him, tried to hurt him in every way possible.”
Despite a number of people coming to the two trustees’ defense, the election date is set and now it will be up to the voters in Sunol to make the decision. According to some on the recall campaign, the two trustees still have time to make the decision of resigning before even getting to an election.
“I can just point out that a very honorable thing to do is for both of you to just resign and end it even sooner,” Erin Choin, a Sunol parent and resident, said. “I have sat in those living rooms and I have talked to people and … I’ve dissected the voter roll. I know there’s people that are dead on that voter roll.”
“So when you look at the voter roll and when you look at where the support really lies and when you look at the list of people that I have spoken to over the last 40 days, I have the confidence of the teachers in the school, I have the confidence of the Sunol voters,” Choin said in regard to her confidence of people who will vote to recall the two trustees.
