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Antelope Valley Union High School District recall, California (2019)
| Antelope Valley Union High School District recall |
|---|
 |
| Officeholders |
Victoria Ruffin Amanda Parrell |
| Recall status |
| See also |
| Recall overview Political recall efforts, 2019 Recalls in California California recall laws School board recalls Recall reports |
An effort to recall three of the five members of the Antelope Valley Union High School District board of trustees in California did not go to a vote in 2019.[1] The effort began in April 2019. According to the notice of intent to recall filed with the county, board President Robert Davis, Vice President Victoria Ruffin, and Clerk Amanda Parrell were targeted for recall for excessive, unnecessary, and duplicative expenditures; troubling contracts with friends and associates; a failure to support student families; and a lack of respect toward members of the community.[2][3] To get the recall on the ballot, supporters had to submit petitions to the county by October 1, 2019.[4]
In response to the recall, Davis said that the board had a new vision for the district and that change was hard to accept. He said he believed the board was on the right track.[2] Ruffin said she believed the recall effort stemmed from district residents being uncomfortable with the board's attempts to expose problems.[5]
Ruffin and Parrell were first elected to the board on November 6, 2018, in the school district's first by-district election. Prior to that, elections were held at large. Davis was first elected to the board on November 3, 2015.[5]
Two members of the Antelope Valley board of trustees were included in a recall effort in 2013. The effort against Jill McGrady and Donita Winn was abandoned by supporters and did not go to a vote.
Recall supporters
The notice of intention to circulate recall petitions listed the following reasons for recall:
| “ | The failure to support the families of students in denying an established and successful parent program, excessive expenditures on personal web pages and electronics for board members, duplicative expenditures on services or lawyers and counseling programs, unnecessary expenditures on security paperwork services, troubling contracts to friends and associates, and a general lack of discussion, communication, and respect toward others that would not only be expected of board members, but also that is necessary to the faithful fulfillment of duties toward the members of the Antelope Valley Union High School district in executing stewardship of sacred educational funds for our students.[2][6] | ” |
“These are not the only grievances shared by many, many of the general public of the Antelope Valley, but there is a 200-word limit,” Sue Strom, a special education teacher in the district, said after she read the notice at a school board meeting on April 11, 2019.[2]
Recall opponents
Davis responded to the recall effort with the following statement to the Antelope Valley Press:
| “ | Taking the words from an earlier article the AV Press wrote when the new board members were elected back in November 2018, Change is coming to the Antelope Valley Union High School District. As you have witnessed over the last few months, change has been occurring. However, I believe change is always difficult to accept. It appears this new board has a vision to represent all students of the Antelope Valley. If we are speaking of the same general public’s view that I hear and see through my lens then I believe that this board is on the right track. In addition, I agree with the democratic system of valuing everyone’s opinion on this subject.[6] | ” |
| —Robert Davis (2019)[2] | ||
Ruffin said she believed the recall effort stemmed from district residents being uncomfortable with the board's attempts to expose problems. "When we're doing the hard work in social justice and we're doing the hard work of being equity warriors, it does mean that people get an opportunity to look at your ways and your practices," Ruffin said. "I can understand why that would be something that is scary."[5]
Path to the ballot
- See also: Laws governing recall in California
Recall supporters filed the notice of intention to circulate recall petitions with the Los Angeles County Registrar-Recorder/County Clerk on April 15, 2019.[7] The county approved the petitions for circulation on June 3, 2019. To get the recall on the ballot, supporters had to submit petitions to the county by October 1, 2019, with 20% of registered voters' signatures in each trustee area. Davis' petition required 7,964 signatures, Parrell's required 6,833 signatures, and Ruffin's required 7,388 signatures.[4] In total, 12,000 recall petition signatures were collected across the three trustee areas, 13,000 signatures short of the 25,000 needed to force a recall election.[1]
2019 recall efforts
- See also: School board recalls
Ballotpedia tracked 20 school board recall efforts against 47 board members in 2019. Three recall elections were held in 2019. The school board recall success rate was 6.4%.
The chart below details the status of 2019 recall efforts by individual school board member.
See also
- Antelope Valley Union High School District, California
- Antelope Valley Union High School District elections (2015)
- Antelope Valley Union High School District elections (2013)
- Recall campaigns in California
- Political recall efforts, 2019
- School board recalls
External links
- Search Google News for this topic
- Antelope Valley Union High School District
- Los Angeles County Registrar-Recorder/County Clerk
- AV Board Recall website
Footnotes
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 Antelope Valley Press, "AVUHSD Board recall bid falls short," October 6, 2019
- ↑ 2.0 2.1 2.2 2.3 2.4 Antelope Valley Press, "Board members face recall notices," April 13, 2019
- ↑ Antelope Valley Union High School District, "Board of Trustees," accessed April 25, 2019
- ↑ 4.0 4.1 Antelope Valley Press, "AVUHSD recall petition drive underway," June 4, 2019
- ↑ 5.0 5.1 5.2 Los Angeles Times, "At ‘buck wild’ meetings, racism and corruption allegations tear school district apart," May 30, 2019
- ↑ 6.0 6.1 Note: This text is quoted verbatim from the original source. Any inconsistencies are attributable to the original source.
- ↑ Antelope Valley Press, "AVUHSD Board recall push growing," April 20, 2019
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