San Ramon Valley Unified School District recall, California (2021)
| San Ramon Valley Unified School District recall |
|---|
 |
| Officeholders |
Rachel Hurd Susanna Ordway |
| 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 three of the five members of the San Ramon Valley Unified School District Board of Education in California did not go to a vote in 2021. Recall supporters did not submit petitions by the filing deadline.[1]
The effort began in January 2021. Members Ken Mintz, Rachel Hurd, and Susanna Ordway were named in notices of intent to recall after the board unanimously voted on December 15, 2020, to delay the implementation of in-person instruction, which had been scheduled to start on January 5, 2021. The school district started the 2020-2021 school year with online-only instruction due to the coronavirus pandemic. The December vote delayed the start of in-person instruction until Contra Costa County moved from the state's purple tier, which was the most restrictive of the state's four-tier ranking of coronavirus infection rates, to the red tier.[2][3][4]
Members Shelley Clark and Laura Bratt were not included in the recall effort because they had not held office long enough. State law requires officeholders to be in office for at least 90 days before they can be targeted for recall. Clark and Bratt were elected to the board on November 3, 2020, and took office in December 2020.[2]
Mintz, Hurd, and Ordway were re-elected to the board in 2018. All three were unopposed and automatically won four-year terms when the election was canceled. Mintz was appointed to the board in 2009, and he previously served from 1992 to 1996. Hurd was first elected to the board in 2006, and Ordway was first appointed to the board in June 2018.[2]
To read about other recall efforts related to the coronavirus and government responses to the pandemic, click here.
Recall supporters
The recall effort was started by a group of parents who did not agree with the district's decision to stay with online-only instruction. "We do not believe science supports a continued forced remote learning environment," Rachel Bailey, a district parent and organizer of the recall effort, said.[2]
"A majority of our country is back to in-person learning in some form, including parts of California and even private schools within San Ramon Valley with no major outbreaks," Bailey said. "Our children are suffering in an isolated remote environment. There has to be a more balanced approach to education during this time."[2]
In a press release, recall supporters said the board's vote to delay in-person instruction caused parents and students to be blindsided. "The phased re-opening was in compliance with health guidelines set forth by both the state and county last fall," the press release said.[2]
The notices of intent to recall included the following grounds for recall: an unwillingness to meet, discuss, and vote in alignment with community members, violating the Brown Act, not demonstrating financial governance and oversight, and failing to ensure accountability, according to the Danville San Ramon.[2]
Recall opponents
In response to the recall effort, Mintz said:
| “ | It's unfortunate that a group of parents felt it necessary to take this action because they disagreed with a decision of the school board related to how and when SRVUSD would implement our hybrid in-school option, an issue that just about every school district in the state is dealing with ... As you may imagine it has been a difficult decision process at the local level with a number of constraints and considerations including vaccination and testing and the surging pandemic issues locally as well as comments and directives from county health and the state. I personally want to get our students and staff back in school as soon as it is safe to do so.[2][5] | ” |
Hurd said she was surprised by the recall effort. She said that the board had plans to review further recommendations from the superintendent including thoughts from staff members and new guidance from the governor at board meetings in January 2021. Hurd also said, "I do stand by my decision on Dec. 15 to support the superintendent's recommendation to pause our planned Jan. 5 opening of hybrid in-person instruction."[2]
Superintendent John Malloy denied any Brown Act violations occurred.[2]
Path to the ballot
- See also: Laws governing recall in California
The recall effort sent notices of intent to recall to the three board members in January 2021.[2] Recall supporters had 120 days to collect at least 4,782 signatures to recall Mintz, at least 3,886 signatures to recall Ordway, and at least 4,380 signatures to recall Hurd. The number of signatures was equal to 20% of registered voters in the board members' representative districts.[6][7]
About the district
The San Ramon Valley Unified School District is located in Contra Costa County in central California. The county seat is Martinez. Contra Costa County was home to an estimated 1,153,526 residents in 2019, according to the United States Census Bureau.[8] The district served 32,471 students in the 2017-2018 school year.[9]
Demographics
Contra Costa County outperformed California as a whole in terms of higher education achievement between 2015 and 2019. The United States Census Bureau found that 42.4% of county residents aged 25 years and older had attained a bachelor's degree, compared to 33.9% of state residents. The median household income for Contra Costa County was $99,716, compared to $75,235 for the entire state. The percentage of people in poverty in the county was 7.9%, and it was 11.8% statewide.[8]
| Racial Demographics, 2019[8] | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Race | Contra Costa County (%) | California (%) | |
| White | 65.1 | 71.9 | |
| Black or African American | 9.5 | 6.5 | |
| American Indian and Alaska Native | 1.0 | 1.6 | |
| Asian | 18.3 | 15.5 | |
| Native Hawaiian or Other Pacific Islander | 0.6 | 0.5 | |
| Two or more races | 5.4 | 4.0 | |
| Hispanic or Latino | 26.0 | 39.4 | |
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.
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
- San Ramon Valley Unified School District, California
- San Ramon Valley Unified School District, California, elections (2020)
- San Ramon Valley Unified School District elections (2018)
- Recall campaigns in California
- Political recall efforts, 2021
- School board recalls
External links
- Search Google News for this topic
- San Ramon Valley Unified School District
- Contra Costa County Elections
Footnotes
- ↑ Abbey Smith, “Email communication with Rosa Mena, Contra Costa County Registrar of Voters," June 30, 2021
- ↑ 2.00 2.01 2.02 2.03 2.04 2.05 2.06 2.07 2.08 2.09 2.10 Danville San Ramon, "Recall effort targets three SRVUSD board members over remote learning," January 12, 2021
- ↑ Danville San Ramon, "SRVUSD cancels planned return to in-person learning in January," December 16, 2020
- ↑ San Ramon Valley Unified School District, "Board of Education," accessed January 15, 2021
- ↑ Note: This text is quoted verbatim from the original source. Any inconsistencies are attributable to the original source.
- ↑ Danville San Ramon, "County elections chief provides details about SRVUSD recall petition process," January 14, 2021
- ↑ Danville San Ramon, "Recall debate continues as petitions hit streets targeting three SRVUSD board members," March 1, 2021
- ↑ 8.0 8.1 8.2 United States Census Bureau, "Quickfacts: Contra Costa County, California; California; United States," accessed January 15, 2021
- ↑ National Center for Education Statistics, "Local Education Agency (School District) Universe Survey Data," accessed January 28, 2020
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