Lucia Mar Unified School District recall, California (2021)
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| 2021 Lucia Mar Unified School District recall |
| Recall status |
| Table of contents |
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Recall supporters Recall opponents Path to the ballot 2021 recall efforts |
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| External links Footnotes |
An effort to recall three of the seven members of the Lucia Mar Unified School District Board of Education in California did not go to a vote in 2021. Recall supporters did not submit petition signatures by the deadline on November 4, 2021.[1]
The recall effort began in April 2021. Trustee Area 2 representative Colleen Martin and Trustee Area 4 representatives Don Stewart and Dee Santos were named in the notices of intent to recall.[2][3] Recall supporters would have had to collect 8,302 signatures per board member from voters in the school district to get the recall on the ballot.[4]
Recall supporters said Martin, Stewart, and Santos failed district students by not returning the district to in-person instruction as soon as it was possible. The district returned students to a hybrid instruction model that included both in-person and online instruction in March 2021. The district used a fully online instruction model to start the 2020-2021 school year in response to the COVID-19 pandemic.[2]
Martin, Stewart, and Santos said the board reopened classrooms as quickly as possible while also maintaining health and safety standards for students and staff.[2]
Martin's term on the board was due to expire in 2022, and Stewart's and Santos' terms were due to expire in 2024.[3]
To read about other recall efforts related to the coronavirus and government responses to the pandemic, click here.
Recall supporters
Recall supporters said the school board members failed district students when they did not advocate for a return to in-person instruction as soon as COVID-19 guidelines allowed. They said the lack of return to in-person instruction resulted in students receiving failing grades.[2]
"We feel in particular the three board members we are recalling have been opposed and working against an agenda that's in favor of students and we feel they've been denied a quality education," Michael Mulder, Vice President of Central Coast Families for Education Reform, said.[2]
Recall opponents
In response to the recall effort, the three board members published a joint statement, saying:
| “ | Student success and the health and safety of our students and staff have guided every decision made unanimously by the seven members of the elected Board of Education. The District followed the legally required State and County guidelines. We reopened classrooms and campuses as quickly as allowable while prioritizing keeping our students, families, and staff healthy, safe and alive. We are full of gratitude for our community’s resilience, especially our students’, who patiently and gracefully navigated these unprecedented hurdles in true Team Lucia Mar fashion.[2][5] | ” |
Lucia Mar Unified Teachers Association President Cody King published a letter in support of Martin, Santos, and Stewart on May 5, 2021.[6]
Path to the ballot
- See also: Laws governing recall in California
The San Luis Obispo County Clerk-Recorder approved the notices of intent to recall as well as the recall petitions. Recall supporters had 160 days to collect 8,302 signatures per board member from voters in the school district to get the recall on the ballot.[4]
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
- Lucia Mar Unified School District, California
- Recall campaigns in California
- Political recall efforts, 2021
- School board recalls
External links
- Search Google News for this topic
- Lucia Mar Unified School District
- San Luis Obispo County Clerk-Recorder
Footnotes
- ↑ The Tribune, "Deadline for Lucia Mar recall signatures has passed. Will an election be held?" November 5, 2021
- ↑ 2.0 2.1 2.2 2.3 2.4 2.5 KSBY, "Lucia Mar Unified School District parents seek the recall of three school board members," May 4, 2021
- ↑ 3.0 3.1 Lucia Mar Unified School District, "Board of Education," accessed May 12, 2021
- ↑ 4.0 4.1 KSBY, "Parent group approved to begin circulating petitions to recall Lucia Mar school board trustees," June 1, 2021
- ↑ Note: This text is quoted verbatim from the original source. Any inconsistencies are attributable to the original source.
- ↑ New Times, "Lucia Mar teachers support board members facing recall," May 13, 2021
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