Lamont Elementary School District recall, California (2023-2024)

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Lamont Elementary School District recall
Officeholders
Ernesto Garay Gilberto Lopez Jr. Pablo Trevino Evelyn Velasquez
Recall status
Did not go to a vote
Signature requirement
1,165 signatures by May 20, 2024
See also
Recall overview Political recall efforts, 2024 Recalls in California California recall laws School board recalls Recall reports

An effort to recall four of the five members of the Lamont Elementary School District board of trustees in California did not go to a vote in 2024. The county did not verify enough signatures to put the recalls on the ballot. Ernesto Garay, Gilberto Lopez Jr., Pablo Trevino, and Evelyn Velasquez were named in the recall petitions.

An earlier recall effort against the same four members also did not go to a vote. Recall supporters filed petition signatures with the Kern County Elections Division on December 4, 2023. The county did not verify enough signatures to put the recalls on the ballot.

Lopez was first elected to the board on November 6, 2018, and was re-elected to a four-year term on November 8, 2022. Trevino was first elected to the board in the same 2022 election. Garay and Velasquez both won re-election to four-year terms on the board on November 3, 2020.

Recall supporters

Second effort

Juan Sandoval, a resident of Fresno, organized both recall efforts. He said his goal was to create change for the district's leadership, school maintenance, parent rights, and special education program. "We didn't want to let them down," Sandoval said. "When you talk to about 1,350 parents and they tell you their stories, it's worse than what you think it is when you go to the meetings and you experience the mistreatment of the board to the parents."

First effort

Recall supporters said they were disappointed by the board's lack of leadership. They also said the school's restrooms for students were not sanitary and that the school district had failed to hire a speech pathologist.

Sandoval said the board had violated the Brown Act and that the district had removed 25 to 30 employees.

Recall opponents

Second effort

Trevino said the recall could impact the school district financially. "It's going to affect our children right now with the deficit cuts per California," Trevino said. "When it comes to education, we're going to need every penny for our children, for computers, for events, for anything that we need and for something like this, just for their agenda—it's just appalling I believe."

Superintendent Lori Gonzalez said, “The claims made by the recall petitioners (for the second time) are completely baseless and stem from nothing more than a personal vendetta spearheaded by a disgruntled community member, Mr. Juan Sandoval.”

First effort

In response to the accusation that the school district had removed 25 to 30 employees, Superintendent Lori Gonzalez said, "The personnel statement made by Mr. Sandoval regarding the 25-30 employees is completely false. You can read the board minutes for the past 2 years under my leadership that will demonstrate that there have NOT been 25-30 people 'removed.'"

The Kern County Superintendent of Schools sent a letter to school districts in the county addressing the need for speech pathologists. The county contracted with a vendor for tele-therapy, including access to speech pathologists, for districts in the county.

Path to the ballot

See also: Laws governing recall in California

No specific grounds are required for recall in California. The recall process starts with a notice of intention to recall. The notice must be served to the officer whose recall is being sought as well as published in a newspaper of general circulation. The notice must then be filed with the relevant election office. Once the notice has been deemed sufficient by the election office, a petition must also be filed and approved by the election office. Once the petition is approved, it can be circulated. To get a recall on the ballot, supporters must collect signatures from registered voters in the jurisdiction. The number of signatures required is between 10% and 30% of registered voters in the jurisdiction, depending on the size of the jurisdiction. Jurisdictions with 1,000 registered voters or fewer require 30%, and jurisdictions with 100,000 or more registered voters require 10%. Charter cities can also set their own signature threshold. The amount of time allowed for the circulation of recall petitions also varies by the number of registered voters in a jurisdiction, between 40 and 160 days. Jurisdictions with fewer than 1,000 registered voters allow 40 days, and jurisdictions with more than 50,000 registered voters allow 160 days.

The second recall petitions against Garay, Lopez, Trevino, and Velasquez required 1,165 signatures and had to be submitted by May 20, 2024. Recall supporters said they filed approximately 1,220 signatures with the Kern County Elections Division. The county had 30 days to verify the signatures. The county did not verify enough signatures to put the recalls on the ballot.

The first petitions required 1,150 signatures and had to be turned in by December 4, 2023.

2024 recall efforts

See also: School board recalls

Ballotpedia tracked 40 school board recall efforts against 83 board members in 2024. Recall elections in 2024 removed 14 members from office, including three who resigned before the election, and retained seven members in office. The school board recall success rate was 13.4%.

The chart below details the status of 2024 recall efforts by individual school board member.

See also

• Ballotpedia's Recall Report
• Lamont Elementary School District, California
• Lamont Elementary School District, California, elections (2022)
• Lamont Elementary School District, California, elections (2020)
• Lamont Elementary School District elections (2018)
• Recall campaigns in California
• Political recall efforts, 2024
• Political recall efforts, 2023
• School board recalls
• States that allow school board recalls

External links

• Search Google News for this topic
• Lamont Elementary School District
• Kern County Elections