Despite being on a roller coaster of ups and downs, an effort to
recall three Aromas-San Juan Unified School District trustees is
still rolling forward.
Despite being on a roller coaster of ups and downs, an effort to recall three Aromas-San Juan Unified School District trustees is still rolling forward.
After narrowly beating the deadline to submit paperwork, the Community for Better Schools learned that its proof of publication may be rejected by the San Benito County Office of Elections. CBS is attempting to recall board members Andy Hsia-Coron, Rachel Ponce and Sylvia Rios Metcalf because the community does not believe it is being adequately represented.
While the journey has been rough, most CBS members are not giving up.
“People are still really motivated,” said Julie Conrad, CBS leader.
CBS had to serve a second notice of intent to recall the trustees after missing the April 28 deadline to turn in a proof of publication of the notices and two copies of the proposed petition to gather signatures. CBS re-served notices May 7.
The three trustees had seven days to file a response with the group and the elections office. Because two trustees turned in their responses to the elections office on May 9 and waited until the seventh day to turn in their response to CBS, CBS almost missed its deadline to turn in the proof of publication and petitions, Conrad said.
The proponents of a recall have seven days to submit both after the trustees’ responses are turned into the elections office, not when the proponents receive them, according to state election code.
CBS published the notice in the Register-Pajaronian in Watsonville. Election code states that the publication must be published at the proponents’ expense at least once in a newspaper of general circulation. Since the ASJUSD crosses county lines, it wasn’t clear which paper is best to meet the “general circulation” requirement, Conrad said.
The elections office had referred the matter to the San Benito County Counsel. At press time, county counsel agreed to accept the proof of publication if the Register-Pajaronian provides a letter stating that it circulates into San Benito County, Conrad said.
Last week, Assistant County Counsel Darren Bogie said he was looking into whether the Register-Pajaronian qualifies as a newspaper of general circulation. If not, CBS can appeal the decision through a lawsuit, but that would take time, Conrad said. If rejected by the county counsel, CBS would rather start again for a third time, Conrad said.
“We don’t want to fight that. We want to fight the recall,” Conrad said. “It would be easier to start over again.”
The term “general circulation” is adjudicated to a paper by a county’s superior court. The Free Lance, Pinnacle and Register-Pajaronian have that distinction. The issue is that there was another paper of general circulation that served more people in the ASJUSD’s jurisdiction, said Karen Forcum, county counsel.
“It’s a judgment call. Is the (Register-) Pajaronian enough?” she said.
While Conrad heard from the county elections office that the proof of publication would be accepted as long as it was also printed in the Free Lance, Bogie would not comment on the matter.
“There were additional issues,” he said. “Any comment would be premature.”
Bogie was set to discuss the technicality with CBS’s lawyer Michelle McCain.
The county elections office did send CBS corrections to its proposed petitions last week. When the proposed petitions are turned in to the elections office, it has 10 days to determine if the proposed form and wording meet the necessary requirements, according to election code. The proponents make the corrections then resubmit it to the elections office within 10 days. This continues until the elections office finds that no alterations are required.
CBS’s petition needs to include the notice of intention and needs to have the type size increased to at least 8-point font, said Kim Hawk, elections coordinator.
If the proof of publication is accepted and after the petition is deemed to meet the requirements, the next step is to gather signatures. Proponents then have 60 days to garner the signatures of 25 percent of the registered voters in the school district – 1,114 total (2,937 in San Benito County, 1,473 in Monterey County and 45 in Santa Cruz County, according to the San Benito County Elections Office.).
Recently, the group has experienced backlash from some community members who oppose the recall, Conrad said. Fliers are being circulated about the cost to the district of a recall election attempting to sway away community support, she said.
Rumors are also circulating that CBS members want to oust San Juan School’s Principal Joe Hudson and the district’s bilingual education program, which Conrad disputes.
“Why would we want to get rid of someone who’s so effective in their positions?” she said. “People are questioning where we’re coming from. They want to keep us from gaining San Juan support.
