Deadline for Lucia Mar recall signatures has passed. Will an election be held?
An effort to recall three Lucia Mar Unified School District Board of Education members failed after organizers were unable to gather enough signatures.
Central Coast Families for Education Reform, a group that organized the recall effort, was attempting to unseat trustees Colleen Martin, Dee Santos and Don Stewart from the South County school district’s board.
The group’s recall effort centered on the school board’s deliberate approach to reopening schools to in-person instruction in fall 2020 as the COVID-19 pandemic forced most schools into distance learning.
Central Coast Families for Education Reform officially started gathering signatures on three petitions — one for each board member — on May 28. To successfully trigger a recall election, it would have needed to gather 8,302 signatures per petition from registered voters within the school district’s boundaries by 5 p.m. Thursday.
Central Coast Families for Education Reform gathered nearly 6,000 signatures per trustee, or, almost 18,000 total, according to the group’s president, Shannon Galvan.
As a result, no recall election will be held.
“We are disappointed but excited for the show of support we saw from the community,” Galvan said. “People are paying attention now to our district, and we’ve been able to shine a big spotlight on things.”
Galvan said the group will continue its advocacy and “work to replace as many board members as we can in the next election.”
The school board members targeted in the attempted recall issued a statement to The Tribune expressing their relief that the effort failed.
“We send our sincerest thanks to the Lucia Mar community who said ‘no’ to a divisive recall and ‘yes’ to saving our school district $350,000,” the statement read, referencing the cost of holding a special election in the school district.
“Despite the distraction of the recall effort and the protests at our homes, our priority as trustees has always focused on learning, student success and the health and safety of our students and staff,” the statement continued. “Those principles will continue to guide every decision we make as an elected board of education.”
Group rallied outside school board meetings
During the six-month period that recall proponents spent gathering signatures, Central Coast Families for Education Reform held several rallies outside the Lucia Mar Unified School District’s administration buildings.
Often, hundreds of people showed up to the rallies, which were held before the board’s regular Tuesday evening meetings, holding flags and signs promoting the recall.
Before one school board meeting on Aug. 3, about 350 people gathered outside the district offices to call for recalling the three trustees.
About 100 of those people eventually made it inside for the board meeting, which devolved into a series of shouting matches between people who supported the California Department of Public Health’s indoor mask mandate for schools and those who opposed it.
During a few of the Lucia Mar board’s meetings in September, a small group of people gathered outside Martin’s Arroyo Grande home with a sign showing support for the recall. The protesters blared loud music, shook tambourines, blew horns and yelled as late as 10 p.m. — at one point pepper spraying one of Martin’s neighbors during an altercation.
Those protesters also showed up at homes belonging to Stewart and Santos during September board meetings before police asked them to leave and not disturb the peace.
In a statement to The Tribune, Central Coast Families for Education Reform clarified that it was not associated with the small group of protesters at the trustees’ homes, despite a recall sign with the group’s logo on it displayed at each protest.
Martin’s term on the board ends in 2022, while Stewart’s and Santos’ terms end in 2024.
This story was originally published November 5, 2021 at 3:34 PM.
