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Joyce Dalessandro recall, San Dieguito Union High School District, California (2018)
| San Dieguito Union High School District recall |
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| Officeholders |
| Recall status |
| See also |
| Recall overview Political recall efforts, 2018 Recalls in California California recall laws School board recalls Recall reports |
An effort to recall Joyce Dalessandro from her position as the Trustee Area 4 representative on the San Dieguito Union High School District board of trustees in California did not go to a vote in 2018. The effort began in April 2018. Recall supporters said Dalessandro had neglected to prioritize student safety and had failed to advocate for special education students and reduced class sizes. Dalessandro said she did not agree with the allegations against her and said she believed she had advocated for those issues.[1]
Dalessandro was one of five members on the district's board of trustees. She began serving on the board in 1996.[1][2] In 2016, she was re-elected to a four-year term in an at-large election in which she took 31.22 percent of the vote.[3]
Recall supporters
The recall effort was started by Wendy Gumb, a Torrey Pines High School parent. Gumb said she was joined in the effort by other parents from Torrey Pines High School and Canyon Crest Academy. “We’ve decided to take action because we think it’s important that we have transparent and good leadership in our district and we feel the only way to do that is to remove the failed leadership from our school board,” Gumb said.[1]
In a list presented to Dalessandro at a school board meeting on April 19, 2018, Gumb and the other recall supporters said that she had failed as a school board member due to "neglect in making student safety and well-being the district's top priority; failure to advocate against illegal pupil fees; failure to advocate for the needs of special education students, including providing basic curriculum and adequate facilities; and failure to advocate for reduced class size," according to the Del Mar Times.[1]
Gumb said she supported Dalessandro in her bid for re-election in 2016, but when she started attending board meetings after that election, Gumb said she did not like what she saw. “As my questions went unanswered, and I watched Dalessandro’s demeanor and the way she interacted with common people like me who are taxpayers, the more I lost confidence in her ability to lead,” said Gumb.[4]
Gumb said she believed she would be able to collect enough signatures to get the recall on the ballot, but she said she was not concerned if it did not happen. “Even if the recall effort is not successful, at least voters will have more information to consider in the next election,” said Gumb.[4]
Recall opponents
Dalessandro said she did not agree with the allegations against her. She also said she believed that she had fought for a number of the items listed as reasons to recall her.[1]
“I have put in a long stretch of very dedicated and hard work and to see my reputation destroyed at this point in my career is horrifying to me,” Dalessandro said. “The things I have done for this district are too many to name. It just bowls me over…but she has the right.”[1]
In her official response to the recall effort, Dalessandro wrote:
| “ | My length of service has given me perspective and depth in understanding public education. Despite this attack I am no less committed to this community than when first elected—the only difference is that time has afforded me the experience to navigate the many twists and turns of budgets, programs, regulations, funding formulas and limitations that public education presents. Please recognize this recall attempt for what it is: wasting taxpayer dollars and distracting from the education of students we serve.[5] | ” |
| —Joyce Dalessandro (2018)[6] | ||
Tim Stacer, a teacher and parent in the district as well as president of the San Diego Faculty Association, spoke in support of Dalessandro at a school board meeting on May 10, 2018. “She has repeatedly championed small class sizes by calling out four consecutive superintendents,” Stacer said. “The premier environment that our children have the opportunity to grow in does not come together without school board members that have the courage and the strength to withstand the onslaught of ill-informed naysayers who want the public to believe the sky is falling.”[6]
Path to the ballot
- See also: Laws governing recall in California
The recall process started when Gumb announced her intention to circulate recall petitions against Dalessandro at a school board meeting on April 19, 2018. Recall supporters had 120 days to gather signatures equal in number to 20 percent of the registered voters in Trustee Area 4.[1][7][8]
If enough signatures had been submitted and verified, the school district would have been given two weeks to set a recall election date within 125 days of the signatures being verified.[1]
About the district
The San Dieguito Union High School District is located in San Diego County in Southern California. The county seat is San Diego. San Diego County was home to 3,337,685 residents in 2017, according to the United States Census Bureau.[9] The district served 12,726 students in the 2015-2016 school year.[10]
Demographics
San Diego County outperformed California as a whole in terms of higher education achievement between 2012 and 2016. The United States Census Bureau found that 36.5 percent of county residents aged 25 years and older had attained a bachelor's degree, compared to 32 percent of state residents. The median household income for San Diego County during that same time period was $66,529, compared to $63,783 for the entire state. The percentage of people in poverty in the county was 12.4 percent, while it was 14.3 percent statewide.[9]
| Racial Demographics, 2017[9] | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Race | San Diego County (%) | California (%) | |
| White | 75.9 | 72.7 | |
| Black or African American | 5.5 | 6.5 | |
| American Indian and Alaska Native | 1.3 | 1.7 | |
| Asian | 12.2 | 14.8 | |
| Native Hawaiian or Other Pacific Islander | 0.6 | 0.5 | |
| Two or more races | 4.4 | 3.8 | |
| Hispanic or Latino | 33.5 | 38.9 | |
Note: Percentages for race and ethnicity may add up to more than 100 percent because respondents may report more than one race and the Hispanic/Latino ethnicity may be selected in conjunction with any race. Read more about race and ethnicity in the census here.
2018 recall efforts
- See also: School board recalls
A total of 33 school board recall efforts nationwide were covered by Ballotpedia in 2018. They included 74 board members. Twelve recall elections were held in 2018. The school board recall success rate was 28.4%.
Of the 12 efforts that made it to the ballot in 2018, eight were approved and the 20 targeted members were removed from office. Another two recall elections were defeated, and the targeted members kept their seats. One effort saw a mix of results: three members retained their seats, while the fourth was removed from his. Another recall election was held after the board member resigned. Her replacement was elected through the recall. The chart below details the status of 2018 recall efforts by individual school board member.
See also
- San Dieguito Union High School District, California
- San Dieguito Union High School District elections (2018)
- San Dieguito Union High School District elections (2016)
- San Dieguito Union High School District elections (2014)
- Recall campaigns in California
- Political recall efforts, 2018
- School board recalls
External links
- Search Google News for this topic
- San Dieguito Union High School District
- San Diego County Registrar of Voters
Footnotes
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 1.3 1.4 1.5 1.6 1.7 Del Mar Times, "Parents leading recall effort for SDUHSD board member," April 23, 2018
- ↑ San Dieguito Union High School District, "School Board: 2018 Board of Trustees," accessed May 3, 2018
- ↑ San Diego County Registrar of Voters, "Presidential General Election - Tuesday, November 8, 2016," accessed December 9, 2016
- ↑ 4.0 4.1 The Coast News Group, "School board bombarded by recall effort, deficit spending and lack of transparency," May 18, 2018
- ↑ Note: This text is quoted verbatim from the original source. Any inconsistencies are attributable to the original source.
- ↑ 6.0 6.1 Del Mar Times, "Opposition forms to SDUHSD recall effort," May 15, 2018
- ↑ San Diego County Office of Education, "Local School Districts Move to By-Trustee-Area Elections," accessed May 3, 2018
- ↑ The Coast News Group, "Leadership changes afoot at San Dieguito," August 24, 2018
- ↑ 9.0 9.1 9.2 United States Census Bureau, "QuickFacts: San Diego County, California; California," accessed May 3, 2018
- ↑ National Center for Education Statistics, "Local Education Agency (School District) Universe Survey Data," accessed January 29, 2018
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