Dan Castillo recall, Stockton Unified School District, California (2010)

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Dan Castillo was recalled from the Stockton Unified School District in a recall election on the June 8, 2010 ballot.

• Votes to recall Castillo: 1,567 (61.81%) a
• Votes to keep Castillo: 968 (38.19%)

Castillo was the President of the 7-person Stockton Unified School District's Board of Trustees until December 8, 2009.

The group that successfully sought to recall Castillo submitted 2,452 signatures to San Joaquin County election officials in early November.

One factor mentioned by recall supporters as to why they supported the recall is that Castillo supported Superintendent Tony Amato, who was eventually terminated.

Castillo was not the only member of the Stockton Unified board facing recall; 2,411 signatures to force a recall election of Jose Morales were filed on November 19. The Morales recall signatures, however, were found to be insufficient so no recall election will take place with regard to Morales.

Election officials in San Joaquin County administered the recall vote.

Replacement candidates

David Griffen and Steve Smith ran for the seat that will become vacant if Castillo is recalled.

Griffen is a longshoreman and union activist. Smith is a sales manager.

Expensive curriculum mistake

In May 2010, a financial monitoring team from the California Department of Education released a 31-page report that will require Stockton Unified School District to repay $1.1 million in federal funds because it used "Success For All", a disallowed K-8 literacy program. The "Success for All" (SFA) program was purchased by SUSD at the insistence of terminated Superintendent Tony Amato with the unanimous consent of the board, including recall target Castillo.

SUSD, which is under outside academic oversight because of its poor test scores, paid $4.7 million to purchase SFA. However, because SUSD is on academic probation, it is not permitted to use curriculum that is not approved by the state. The SFA was only used in the district for 5 months.

Sal Ramirez residency

Sal Ramirez is one of 7 members of the board of the Stockton Unified School District. On May 18, Ramirez was removed from all board subcommittees based on questions about whether he lives in the district. The vote to remove Ramirez from the subcommittees was 4-3. Suspicions that Ramirez does not reside in the district were sparked by a months-long investigation conducted by the Record.Net, the area's daily newspaper. According to the Record.Net:

"The Record concluded last week at the end of a lengthy investigation that Ramirez, who represents southeast Stockton, lives 60 miles away in Davis, a violation of laws requiring local elected officials to live in the communities they serve."

Ramirez says he does live in Stockton, but stays regularly with a friend in Davis, working as a substitute teacher in nearby Woodland.

Recall target Dan Castillo is said by the Record.Net to be "by far Ramirez's harshest critic." During the contentious May 18 board meeting in which Ramirez was removed from all board subcommittees, Ramirez "taunted Castillo" because of the June 8 recall election. To this, Castillo responded: "You do not live in this district. You do not live in this district."

Path to the ballot

Recall supporters collected 2,471 signatures on petitions in support of the recall. 2,038 signatures were required.

See also

• Jose Morales recall, Stockton Unified School District, California (2010)
• Political recall efforts, 2010
• San Joaquin County, California ballot measures
• Recall campaigns in California
• School board recalls

External links

• Website of the Stockton Unified School District
• Text of recall question