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Los Gatos-Saratoga Union High School District recall, California (2021)
| Los Gatos-Saratoga Union High School District recall |
|---|
 |
| Officeholders |
Cynthia Chang David Guidry Peter L. Hertan |
| Recall status |
| See also |
| Recall overview Political recall efforts, 2021 Recalls in California California recall laws School board recalls Recall reports |
An effort to recall four of the five members of the Los Gatos-Saratoga Union High School District board of trustees did not go to a vote in 2021. Recall supporters did not submit recall petition signatures by the filing deadlines.[1]
The recall effort began in April 2021. Theresa Bond, Cynthia Chang, David Guidry, and Peter L. Hertan were named in the notices of intent to recall.[2][3] To get the recall on the ballot, recall supporters would have had to submit 7,408 signatures per board member between September 13, 2021, and September 15, 2021.[4]
Recall supporters said the district was too slow to reopen schools to in-person instruction after the number of COVID-19 cases began to ebb in the county. In response to the recall, Bond said, “The board’s focus is on emergency actions to prevent the spread of the deadly virus, and this has guided our phased plan to reopen campuses."[2]
Bond's term on the board expired in December 2024, while the terms of Chang, Guidry, and Hertan expired in December 2022. Chang first joined the board in 1998, Guidry and Hertan first joined in 2018, and Bond first joined in 2020.[3]
To read about other recall efforts related to the coronavirus and government responses to the pandemic, click here.
Recall supporters
The notices of intent to recall spoke of a specific January 2021 board meeting. The notices said, “They met for hours, giving staff spotlight awards and talking about paving a parking lot. And when the restrictions on schools were lifted by the county, and scientific authorities urged schools to open, and when our local middle schools were opened, our high schools remained closed.”[2]
The notices also said board members ignored community members. “They blamed their failure on the teachers’ union and the county. But their failure was their own.”[2]
Recall opponents
Bond disputed the notices of intent to recall, saying that the school district's response to the COVID-19 pandemic was discussed at every board meeting. “The board’s focus is on emergency actions to prevent the spread of the deadly virus, and this has guided our phased plan to reopen campuses,” Bond said. “As people get vaccinated and numbers decline, our schools will once again be the vibrant learning centers our children deserve.”[2]
In response to the recall effort, Chang said, “As we’ve faced unprecedented challenges of Covid-19, the district had to change its delivery method of instruction to assure the health and safety of students and staff. In making these decisions, we had to follow the ever-changing guidelines and restrictions regarding school reopening.”[2]
Path to the ballot
- See also: Laws governing recall in California
Before the recall petitions could be circulated, they had to be approved by the Santa Clara County Registrar of Voters. The county approved the petitions against Guidry and Bond on May 14, 2021, the petition against Chang on May 17, 2021, and the petition against Hertan on May 18, 2021. To get the recalls on the ballot, ecall supporters would have had to collect 7,408 signatures for each member in 120 days. The petitions against Guidry and Bond were due on September 13, 2021, the petition against Chang was due on September 14, 2021, and the petition against Hertan was due on September 15, 2021.[2][4]
Ballotpedia covered 35 coronavirus-related recall efforts against 94 officials in 2022, accounting for 13% of recalls that year. This is a decrease from both 2020 and 2021. COVID-related recalls accounted for 37% of all recall efforts in both 2020 and 2021. In 2020, there were 87 COVID-related recalls against 89 officials, and in 2021, there were 131 against 214 officials.
The chart below compares coronavirus-related recalls to recalls for all other reasons in 2020, 2021, and 2022.
2021 recall efforts
- See also: School board recalls
Ballotpedia tracked 92 school board recall efforts against 237 board members in 2021. Recall elections against 17 board members were held in 2021. The school board recall success rate was 0.42%.
The chart below details the status of 2021 recall efforts by individual school board member.
See also
- Los Gatos-Saratoga Union High School District, California
- Recall campaigns in California
- Political recall efforts, 2021
- School board recalls
External links
- Search Google News for this topic
- Los Gatos-Saratoga Union High School District
- Santa Clara County Registrar of Voters
Footnotes
- ↑ Abbey Smith, “Email communication with Bren Lehr, MMC, Elections Division Coordinator, Candidate Services Division Manager, County of Santa Clara Registrar of Voters," September 16, 2021
- ↑ 2.0 2.1 2.2 2.3 2.4 2.5 2.6 Daily Post, "Parents in four South Bay school districts want to recall school board members over school closings," May 8, 2021
- ↑ 3.0 3.1 Los Gatos-Saratoga Union High School District, "Meet the Board," accessed May 28, 2021
- ↑ 4.0 4.1 Abbey Smith, “Email communication with the Santa Clara County Registrar of Voters," June 29, 2021
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