Centinela Valley Union High School District recall, California (2015)
| Centinela Valley Union High School District Board recall |
|---|
 |
| Officeholders |
Rocio Pizano Maritza Molina |
| Recall status |
| See also |
| Recall overview Political recall efforts, 2015 Recalls in California California recall laws School board recalls Recall reports |
An effort to recall Hugo Rojas, Rocio Pizano and Maritza Molina from their positions on the Centinela Valley Union High School District board in California was officially underway as of January 2015. Only the effort against Rojas gathered sufficient signatures to move forward to a signature verification stage, where it was disqualified due to a lack of valid signatures.[1][2][3]
The effort began in February 2014 after it was revealed that the school board had approved a compensation package of over $750,000 for then-Superintendent Jose Fernandez in 2013. In April 2015, Fernandez filed a lawsuit alleging he was wrongfully terminated by the district.[4]
Kevin Schaaf and Phuong Nguyen were the primary leaders of the recall effort. Recall supporters initially considered seeking the recall of a fourth board member, Gloria Ramos, but reconsidered as Ramos was up for regular election on November 3, 2015. The next regular election for Molina, Pizano and Rojas was scheduled for November 2017.[5] [1][6]
Recall supporters
Arguments for recall
Supporters of recalling the majority of the school board were upset about Superintendent Jose Fernandez's compensation package. Fernandez earned total compensation of over $750,000 in 2013 compared to $350,000 for Jon Deasy, the superintendent of the Los Angeles Unified School District. Critics of Fernandez and the board believe that the compensation was excessive for a district with 6,500 students at four high schools.[1][5]
Schaaf and Nguyen, a married couple, considered the board to be the responsible party for allowing Fernandez's high compensation. Schaaf said of the situation,
| “ | I was initially outraged at Mr. Fernandez, but I then realized he was only part of the problem. The people who have the responsibility are the board members. They are the boss in the situation. They need to be the ones who are saying, "No, that’s not a reasonable amount of money to pay you."[7] | ” |
| —Kevin Schaaf (2014)[6] | ||
In February 2015, the local teacher's union announced its support for the recall effort. The decision to back the recall was speculated as the cause of stagnation in the contract negotiations between the board and the union. The two negotiated over six months, and an agreement was reached in early March 2015. It was ratified by the teachers union, and the school board was supposed to vote on the matter at its meeting on March 9, 2015. On the Friday before the meeting, the issue was pulled from the agenda.[8] Some accused the board of removing the issue from the agenda as retribution for the union's support of the recall effort. Board President Hugo Rojas, however, stated that the issue was delayed because he needed to be briefed on the contracts. The contract deal was ultimately approved by the board later in March. However, the teacher's union reiterated their support for the recall effort. Union President Jack Foreman stated, "We’re glad they finally did the right thing and ratified it, but this didn’t change anybody’s mind."[9]
New superintendent controversy
On March 10, 2015, the school board choose Oxnard Union High School District Assistant Superintendent Gregory O’Brien to take Fernandez's place as district superintendent. His contract represented a significant decrease from the compensation Fernandez received. In addition to an annual salary of $205,000 with automatic 9 percent annual increases, the contract ties most of his other benefits to those of the district's other administrators. His contract is for a 224-day work year with 24 vacation days and 12 days of sick time.[10]
O'Brien's appointment received unanimous approval from the board but strong dissent from the local teacher's union. The union had advocated for the appointment of Assistant Superintendent Allan Mucerino to whom they attributed the district's successes since the removal of Fernandez. Jack Foreman, president of the union, said of the school board, "Had they come to our schools, they would have known that (Mucerino) had overwhelming support, not just from teachers, but from students. That just doesn’t happen."[10]
Some members of the board stated that they were not made aware of the strong support for Mucerino, saying that Hazard, Young, Attea and Associates, the firm hired to conduct the search, did not mention it. Board member Maritza Molina stated, "I would have really liked to have had all this information two months ago,” to which teachers in attendance shouted, "You did." Foreman responded to Molina's claim saying, "Then this search firm didn’t do their job. I am just so disgusted with how the superintendent search was done." It was reported that one board member, Gloria Ramos, had received emails supporting Mucerino, but no other board members reported receiving those emails.[11]
Secretary for the union Tamisha Brame reiterated the group's call for board members to resign, saying:
| “ | Our district has suffered enough. We cannot stand anymore misappropriation of funds, anymore poor management, anymore lack of responsibility — blaming Jose Fernandez, blaming the search firm. What are you doing to earn the trust of the community? If you don’t have answers, I urge you to step down now.[7] | ” |
| —Tamisha Brame (2015)[11] | ||
Path to the ballot
- See also: Laws governing recall in California
Recall supporters had to first submit a Notice of Intent with the Los Angeles County Clerk that included ballot language. The clerk then provided a seven-day window for recall targets to submit responses that appear on the ballot if an election is scheduled. Petitioners must submit signatures equal to 15 percent of registered voters in the district as determined by the clerk's office.[12][6]
While signature gathering was undertaken for petitions against Rojas, Pizano and Molina, only the Rojas petition garnered a sufficient amount to be submitted for signature verification. Supporters reported submitting over 10,000 signatures to the Los Angeles County Registrar-Recorder’s Office on June 29, 2015. According to the Daily Breeze, fewer than 6,000 people voted in the district's 2011 election and the 2013 election was canceled as all of the incumbents running for re-election were unopposed. Only 5,080 of the signatures against Rojas were found valid by the office, falling short of the necessary 8,874 to place the recall on the ballot.[3] The other two recall targets' petitions did not gather sufficient signatures to be submitted for review, drawing those recall attempts to a close, as well.[2]
Recent news
The link below is to the most recent stories in a Google news search for the terms Centinela Valley Union High school board recall. These results are automatically generated from Google. Ballotpedia does not curate or endorse these articles.
See also
- Centinela Valley Union High School District, California
- Recall campaigns in California
- Political recall efforts, 2015
- School board recalls
External links
Additional reading
- The Daily Breeze, "Effort to recall Centinela Valley board President Hugo Rojas fails," August 7, 2015
- The Daily Breeze, "Centinela Valley activists confident recall of school board President Hugo Rojas will make ballot," June 30, 2015
- Daily Breeze, "Centinela Valley school board recall backers scramble for signatures," June 26, 2015
- Los Angeles Times, "Former South Bay schools chief fired after pay scandal sues district," April 16, 2015
- Daily Breeze, "Recall Centinela Valley school board members: Guest commentary," April 10, 2015
- Daily Breeze, "Centinela Valley school board picks Oxnard Union High School’s Gregory O’Brien to replace Jose Fernandez," March 9, 2015
- CBS Los Angeles, "Parents Demand Recall Of Beleaguered Centinela School District Board," March 2, 2015
- Daily Breeze, "Activists finally launch campaign to recall Centinela Valley board members," January 25, 2015
- Daily Breeze, "The year in the Centinela Valley school district pay scandal," December 30, 2014
- Daily Breeze, "Centinela Valley school board target of recall campaign," August 14, 2014
Footnotes
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 Daily Breeze, "Activists finally launch campaign to recall Centinela Valley board members," January 25, 2015
- ↑ 2.0 2.1 The Daily Breeze, "Centinela Valley activists confident recall of school board President Hugo Rojas will make ballot," June 30, 2015
- ↑ 3.0 3.1 The Daily Breeze, "Effort to recall Centinela Valley board President Hugo Rojas fails," August 7, 2015
- ↑ Los Angeles Times, "Former South Bay schools chief fired after pay scandal sues district," April 16, 2015
- ↑ 5.0 5.1 CBS Los Angeles, "Lawndale Superintendent’s $663K Salary Sparks Call For School Board’s Recall, Criminal Investigation," February 26, 2014
- ↑ 6.0 6.1 6.2 Daily Breeze, "Centinela Valley school board target of recall campaign," August 14, 2014
- ↑ 7.0 7.1 Note: This text is quoted verbatim from the original source. Any inconsistencies are attributable to the original source.
- ↑ The Daily Breeze, "Centinela Valley school board picks Oxnard Union High School’s Gregory O’Brien to replace Jose Fernandez," March 9, 2015
- ↑ The Daily Breeze, "Centinela Valley teachers, staff get 5 percent pay raise," March 27, 2015
- ↑ 10.0 10.1 The Daily Breeze, "Centinela Valley school board picks Oxnard Union High School’s Gregory O’Brien to replace Jose Fernandez," March 9, 2015
- ↑ 11.0 11.1 The Daily Breeze, "Centinela Valley teachers voice outrage at superintendent selection," March 11, 2015
- ↑ Los Angeles County Clerk, "Guide to Recall," July 2010
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