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Renita Armstrong and Sue ElHessen recall, Bellflower Unified School District, California (2022)

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Bellflower Unified School District recall
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Officeholders
Renita Armstrong
Sue ElHessen
Recall status
Did not go to a vote
Signature requirement
Approximately 9,400 signatures
See also
Recall overview
Political recall efforts, 2022
Recalls in California
California recall laws
School board recalls
Recall reports

An effort to recall two of the five members of the Bellflower Unified School District school board in California did not go to a vote in 2022. Renita Armstrong and Sue ElHessen were named in the notices of intent to recall.[1][2]

Recall supporters

Recall supporters included in the following reasons for recall in the notices of intent:[1]

She is negligent and ineffective. She is FAILING our kids!
● FAILED to do her job, which is to prioritize our students’ education and represent the community;
● FAILED to manage district funds, follow transparency laws, and respond to the community;
● FAILED to hold the Superintendent accountable for addressing inadequate school staffing, which has created unsafe learning conditions;
● FAILED Special Education students by not providing mandated services;
● FAILED to address declining enrollment, decreasing student achievement, aging facilities and equipment, and poor working conditions for employees;
● FAILED to provide good oversight, leading to loss of fiscal independence and an investigation by the California State Auditor;
● FAILED to support petitions from parents and residents to hire a new, qualified Superintendent;
● FAILED to provide effective oversight of pandemic-related funds, learning-recovery measures, technology needs and communication;
● FAILED to be transparent by not providing public records according to law and not following Brown Act laws;
● FAILED to be ethical by paying an attorney more than $800,000 per year, 13 times more than other districts our size; and
● FAILED schools that are critical to the present and future communities of Bellflower, Lakewood, and Cerritos.[3]

Recall opponents

Ballotpedia did not identify a public response to the recall effort.

Path to the ballot

See also: Laws governing recall in California

The notices of intent to recall were served to the two board members at a school board meeting on March 11, 2022. To get the recalls on the ballot, supporters would have had to collect approximately 9,400 signatures.[1]

2022 recall efforts

See also: School board recalls

Ballotpedia tracked 54 school board recall efforts against 123 board members in 2022. Recall elections against school board members were held on January 11, 2022, January 18, 2022, January 24, 2022, February 15, 2022, March 29, 2022, April 4, 2022, and November 8, 2022. The school board recall success rate was 7.3%.

The chart below details the status of 2022 recall efforts by individual school board member.

See also

External links

Footnotes

  1. 1.0 1.1 1.2 Facebook, "BUSD Families Better Together Page post from March 11, 2022," accessed October 2, 2023
  2. Bellflower Unified School District, "Meet Our Board," accessed October 2, 2023
  3. Note: This text is quoted verbatim from the original source. Any inconsistencies are attributable to the original source.