Gold Oak Union Elementary School District recall, California (2024)

• Recall efforts
  • Recall efforts by state
  • Recall efforts by office
  • Recall efforts by year
  • Upcoming recall elections
• Local recalls
  • City council recalls
  • Mayoral recalls
  • County commission recalls
  • County official recalls
  • School board recalls
  • Sheriff recalls
  • Special district recalls
• State and federal recalls
  • State executive recalls
  • State legislator recalls
  • U.S. Congress recalls
• Laws governing recall
  • States that have pre-petition signature requirements for recalls
  • States that require grounds for recalls
• Analysis
  • What are recalls?
  • Recall terms
  • 2024 year-end analysis
  • 2024 mid-year analysis
  • 2023 year-end analysis
  • 2023 mid-year analysis
  • 2022 year-end analysis
  • 2022 mid-year analysis
  • 2021 year-end analysis
  • 2021 mid-year analysis
  • 2020 year-end analysis
  • 2020 mid-year analysis
  • 2019 year-end analysis
  • 2019 mid-year analysis
  • 2018 year-end analysis
  • 2018 mid-year analysis
  • 2017 year-end analysis
  • 2017 mid-year analysis
  • 2016 year-end analysis
  • 2016 mid-year analysis

Gold Oak Union Elementary School District recall
Officeholders
Roy Boyd Christina Karle Jerald Soracco
Recall status
Did not go to a vote
Signature requirement
13,075 signatures per board member
See also
Recall overview Political recall efforts, 2024 Recalls in California California recall laws School board recalls Recall reports

An effort to recall three of the five members of the Gold Oak Union Elementary School District board of trustees in California did not go to a vote in 2024. Roy Boyd, Christina Karle, and Jerald Soracco were named in the notices of intent to recall. Recall supporters did not file signatures by the December 2024 deadlines.

Recall supporters

Recall supporters expressed concerns with the district's teacher turnover rate, changes to the district's library policy, and a decline in enrollment.

"I have three daughters at Gold Oak Elementary," Aaron Lockhart, a member of the recall group, said. "I didn't see a lot of issues until last year; the tone really changed around campus. There were problems getting the science curriculum approved at the middle school, a high turnover rate with teachers and I saw the board hasn't really been helping get the ball down the field. There was a shift in focus to race and gender issues, things that weren't previously ever a problem or anything like that. We just want to clean the slate and start over with a new board."

Recall opponents

"The false allegations against this board have been intentionally misleading and are politically motivated," Boyd said in reaction to the recall effort. "This recall will waste district funds costing approximately $35,000 to hold a special election."

"Sexually explicit books were found in the GOUSD K-8 library," Karle said. "We unanimously voted to update our library policy to exclude criminal obscenity. The policy is compliant with federal and state law and the guidance of California State Superintendent Thurmond and Gov. Newsom. Book fairs are encouraged and implemented by the GOUSD staff."

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.

To get the recalls on the ballot, supporters had to collect 13,075 signatures per board member. The signatures against Soracco had to be turned in by December 16, 2024, and the signatures against Boyd and Karle had to be turned in by December 22, 2024.

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.