Voters in the small Alameda County city of Sunol have recalled two school board members who sparked broad outrage with their decision to ban flying the Pride flag on school grounds. It marks the fourth successful push this year to oust elected California school officials who promoted anti-LGBTQ policies.
After the final results of the July 2 recall were posted July 17, Sunol Glen Unified School District board president Ryan Jergensen was recalled by 52.07% of the 532 people who cast ballots in the recall election. Fellow board member Linda Hurley was recalled by 51.50% of the voters.
Alameda County Registrar of Voters Tim Dupuis told the Bay Area Reporter there are no more ballots left to count. The results, with 277 voters backing the removal of Jergensen and 274 supporting Hurley's ouster, are to be officially finalized Friday.
"I will be certifying the election tomorrow," Dupuis wrote in a July 18 emailed reply.
The proponents of the Sunol recall effort issued a statement late Friday night hailing the results as wins that make clear the town "stands united for Sunol Glen School, its students, teachers, staff and administration."
Recall organizer Erin Choin, a Sunol Glen parent and substitute teacher, stated, "I am thankful that enough voters in Sunol recognized that a change in leadership on our school board was needed. Our victory is tempered with the knowledge that the past year has sown a lot of division and now we have to figure out how to move forward as a community."
Also among them was former school board member Neil Davies, a gay man who has called the town home for more than 50 years. He did not immediately respond to the B.A.R.'s request for comment Thursday.
The leaders of the Sunol recall drive will be feted by Castro Valley Pride at its annual celebration taking place this Saturday, July 20, at Castro Valley High School. The special recognition is scheduled for 3:45 p.m. during the event.
"The community's resilience and determination to uphold justice have shone through, and we are proud to honor those who led this crucial recall effort," stated Austin Bruckner Carrillo, a gay man who is president of the Pride organization and running for a Hayward school board seat this fall.
It will now fall to Alameda County Board of Education President Janevette Cole to appoint two members of the countywide board to serve on the Sunol school board until the time that two new board members are either appointed or elected to it, as the Pleasanton Weekly had reported. Among the options are the county ed board's two members from the LGBTQ community, Joaquin Rivera and Angela Normand.
The ousters of Jergensen and Hurley bring the number of school board members in the Golden State recalled in 2024 to six. Orange Unified School District members Rick Ledesma and Madison Miner, Woodland Joint Unified School District trustee Emily MacDonald, and Temecula Unified School District member Joseph Komrosky, Ph.D., were all ousted from their elected positions.
Jergensen, who had been appointed to the board in 2021, and Hurley both had won election to their seats in November 2022. The two members constituted a majority on the three-person school board and had faced criticism for various decisions they have made about the running of the single-school district with students in kindergarten through eighth grade.
A final straw for recall backers was their adoption last fall of the policy to only have U.S. and California flags flown on school grounds. The board's third member, Trustee Peter "Ted" Romo, cast the lone vote against it.
The turmoil in the district led to the decision of Molleen Barnes to retire as the district's superintendent at the end of the 2023-2024 school year. A beloved administrator who had stood up on behalf of LGBTQ students, her departure further angered community members.
Gay Alameda Unified School District board member Ryan LaLonde told the B.A.R. he was not surprised by the outcome of the Sunol recall election. He credited its success to the fact community members and students in the district had led the effort.
"I believe recalls should be used for extreme reasons and I think this is an extreme reason when you have board members working against the betterment of students and their mental health and social wellbeing," said LaLonde, a father who chairs the political action committee of the East Bay Stonewall Democratic Club.
The LGBTQ political group had endorsed the Sunol recalls. It was the latest political fight in the East Bay over LGBTQ school policies and provides momentum to this year's school board races on the November 5 ballot in which a number of out and straight-allied candidates are running for seats in several districts with an eye toward ensuring the needs of LGBTQ students are addressed.
"As an out school board member in the East Bay, I am cognizant of this underbelly of organizing happening to make sure that parents rights are superseded by what is best for the student," said LaLonde, who in 2022 ran against a candidate aligned with the conservative Moms for Liberty group that has used "parental rights" as a rallying cry against pro-LGBTQ school policies. "We are seeing it with Governor Newsom's signing of the outing bill and the backlash to it. It is important that we stay vocal and strong in our positions and hold people accountable."
LaLonde was referring to Assembly Bill 1955 that Newsom signed into law July 15. It prohibits public school teachers or administrators from disclosing a student's sexual orientation or gender identity to their parents or guardians, except in very limited circumstances where they are concerned about protecting the pupil from self-harm.
The Chino Valley Unified School District, which was sued by the state's attorney general for adopting an outing policy last year, has already filed a lawsuit against the new law, which won't take effect until January 1, reported the Associated Press. The courts had put the district's outing policy on hold as the state's lawsuit against it played out, and Attorney General Rob Bonta is seeking a permanent ruling barring the district from enforcing it.
It is just one of the LGBTQ-school related issues to inflame debate over the last year and result in actions being taken by lawmakers and state education officials in Sacramento to protect the rights of LGBTQ students. Other controversies have focused on the teaching of LGBTQ curriculum in classrooms and transgender students being able to access bathrooms aligned with their gender.
For those candidates in the East Bay running this fall who espouse support for anti-LGBTQ school policies, LaLonde put them on notice that they will be challenged.
"I think our communities in Alameda County do a really good job of holding debates and holding people accountable to what their stance is," he said. "They will be seen, found and, honestly, not get too far."
UPDATED 7/22/24 with comment from recall organizers.
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