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Chris Bobertz, Sunol Glen Unified School District’s recently appointed provisional board trustee, has cleared his final obstacle to take his seat after the Alameda County Office of Education rejected a petition submitted earlier this month trying to force a special election for his position.
The office did not certify the petition, which was filed on Sept. 6, because it did not meet certain state requirements, according to an ACOE spokesperson. And because Bobertz was formally appointed to the provisional seat on Aug. 20, the window to file another similar petition is over due to policy that says a petition to call for such an election must be submitted within 30 calendar days of the appointment.
“Per our Counsel’s review of the applicable education code, we’ve been advised that Sept. 19 was the deadline to submit a new petition,” Neetu Balram, director of communications and public affairs for the county office, told the Weekly. “That was based on Aug. 20 being the date when the provisional appointment occurred.”
Sunol Glen School administrative assistant Miki Whitfield previously told the Weekly that Sunol residents would have up to 30 days from Sept. 10 — which is the school board meeting where Bobertz was officially sworn in as a provisional trustee. But county officials said this week that the California Education Code starts the clock as soon as an individual is appointed, not when they are sworn in to the board.
Bobertz’s ascension comes after a majority of Sunol voters recalled school board trustees Ryan Jergensen and Linda Hurley in July. Following their removal, ACOE Board President Cheryl Cook-Kallio appointed herself and Alameda County Area 4 Trustee Aisha Knowles as temporary trustees to serve alongside now-Board President Peter (Ted) Romo on the three-member board.
Cook-Kallio took over Hurley’s seat, which is up for reelection this November, and Knowles took over Jergensen’s term, which was scheduled to end in 2026. Instead of waiting until 2026, the new-look Sunol board decided to interview a handful of residents to provisionally replace Knowles’ seat.
After interviewing five candidates during its Aug. 20 meeting, the board voted to appoint Bobertz. He was then officially sworn in on Sept. 10.
However, under state law and district bylaws, Sunol voters who didn’t agree with the school board’s Aug. 20 decision to pick Bobertz had the opportunity to force a special election for the seat by submitting a petition to the county.
According to the petition, which was made public in a post by the United for Sunol Glen recall campaign on Monday, 39 Sunol residents signed their names to trigger the special election which, according to the petition itself, would have cost the district between $15,000 and $17,000.
James Lowder, a Sunol resident who was very vocal against the recall efforts, was the lead petitioner of the effort and was the main person named in the petition. He had thrown his name in as a candidate for the provisional seat but did not show up for his interview during the Aug. 20 board meeting.
According to the recall campaign’s post, its representatives received reports from multiple residents who said they signed Lowder’s petition but claimed that the “nature of the petition was misrepresented to them when their signature was collected and that if they had known it was intended to remove a good trustee like Chris from the school board they never would have signed it.”
“These Sunolians have expressed that they feel betrayed, angry and embarrassed that they signed the petition and have asked for guidance to have their names withdrawn,” the United for Sunol Glen post stated.
As for why the petition itself did not get certified, Balram said the document did not meet the part of the education code that stipulates the requirements for such a petition — specifically, she said it did not contain “the election official’s estimate of the cost of conducting the special election and those estimated costs expressed on a per-pupil or per-student basis.”
“No reason or grounds for attempting to recall trustee Bobertz from his seat were included on the petition; he had not yet been sworn in at the time of the filing of the petition so he had no opportunity to have his competency as a trustee evaluated by the petitioners or signatories,” the United for Sunol Glen post stated.
After hearing the news of the petition not being certified, Sunol Glen Superintendent-Principal Shay Galletti told the Weekly it will allow her and her team to shift focus on the school.
“Moving forward, this will allow the board and me to focus our energy and attention on serving all students, families and supporting staff,” Galletti said.
Bobertz said he knew about the petition being filed to remove him from his provisional seat, but it wasn’t until recently that he heard about it being rejected and the deadline to submit another petition having passed.
He said while he was prepared to campaign for a seat if there had been such an election, he’s glad to know he doesn’t have to worry about this issue anymore and can focus on other matters.
“Of course, I hoped there would not be one, and I’m glad that the school community can collectively sigh a bit of relief as we look forward to the annual Sunol Glen Walk-a-Thon fundraiser and the 100-year anniversary of Sunol Glen!” Bobertz said.
