Sunol Glen School Board President Ryan Jergensen and Trustee Linda Hurley received formal notices of intent to recall last week, marking the first step in the process of ousting the majority from the board in the weeks that followed by a small town school district making headlines for its new flag policy.
Saying the move was cumulative and long overdue, Matthew Sylvester — one of the parents involved in the recall advocacy group United for Sunol Glen — told the Weekly that supporters filed their petition with the registrar’s office of Alameda County voters, and once After receiving the response from election officials, they will begin collecting signatures to qualify the ballot recall.
“Frankly, it’s a shame that we’re in this position. We’d all like to go back to normal adult parenting, experience this stuff. Unfortunately, we’re in this situation now where we feel like we have to remind ourselves, ” said Sylvester. “This is bad governance so we need to focus on that and send the message that this will not be tolerated.”
Jergensen and Hurley, who won their current seats in the November 2022 election, told the Weekly they would stand up to recall supporters and have every intention of continuing to serve.
“I will not let the bullies win, and I intend to vigorously fight their recall efforts,” Jergensen said in a statement.
“I was elected to serve this community and protect this school and I will continue to do so,” Hurley told the Weekly.
If the recall effort is successful, it could lead to a dramatic change for the Sunol Glen Unified School District: Two administrators would be removed from a three-member board that oversees the small district with a the only school serving students from kindergarten through eighth grade. .
Jergensen is serving a full four-year term which he won in the November 2022 election after serving on the board of directors for almost a year on a temporary basis. Hurley won a two-year seat on the board, until the 2024 election, by winning a close race for the short-term position in November 2022.
Sylvester, a 10-year Sunol resident who has a preschool, said the idea of recalling the two board members has been circulating in the community. for a certain time after Hurley introduced a May 9 agenda item to discuss two controversial state Assembly bills; one to report transgender students to their parents and the other based on censoring books about gender and sexuality that some might consider controversial.
Sylvester said he and other parents thought these anti-LGBTQ topics and discussions had no place in their small community, but nothing really came out after that because both of those points were removed from the discussion. agenda at this May meeting.
But on September 12, Hurley and Jergensen both voted for adopt a resolution this limits the district and its Sunol Glen school to displaying only the United States and California flags.
The decision, on which they doubled down in Octoberfollowed a public debate largely centered on the acceptance of the LGBTQ+ pride flag, which was raised on the school flagpole in June – although the resolution does not mention the LGBTQ+ flag by name and the majority of the board denied that they were targeting this one or any other. other group.
While Jergensen and Hurley stood firm on their view that U.S. and state flags are inclusive and that the resolution was not directly aimed at banning the Pride flag, many residents like Sylvester continued to say that the new flag policy has brought a division this has no place in Sunol.
The community found itself in a series of regional, state and even national news stories after the resolution passed 2-1 with Trustee Peter “Ted” Romo dissenting.
“There have been no major problems (at the school),” Sylvester said. “It’s a well-respected school, parents bring their kids here from all over…There haven’t been any major problems.”
“Suddenly, with the actions of two of these school board members, we see culture wars breaking out at our school,” he added. “We’re seeing our school board meetings go from six to 10 attendees to 150 people from all over without kids in school. So from my perspective, I’ve seen Ryan and Linda not listen to their constituents, to their staff, to the superintendent.
After receiving the recall notice, Jergensen said in a statement to the Weekly — sent via communications firm CM Public Affairs — that he also saw political division in the community, but instead placed blame on those who were behind the recall effort, a majority of whom he believes aren’t even from Sunol.
“Our little town has been through a lot in its 152-year history, but we have always persevered because we have always stood united as Sunolians,” Jergensen said, adding that he and his family have been threatened and harassed in recent months. but that bullying and intimidation will not reach him.
“Therefore, it is disappointing to see a very small number of activists — many from outside our community — continue to attempt to divide us in order to politicize our small school. Our students and staff deserve better than that,” Jergensen said.
But Guin Van Dyke, a former Sunol school board trustee and 28-year resident, said the recall effort isn’t just about the flag resolution or any other personal policies of Hurley and Jergensen. She said both members have “lost their way of governing ethically and responsibly in the name of Sunol Glen and this has become their avenue to advance their personal agendas.”
“The continued suppression of the views of the community, Sunol Glen School parents, and Sunol Glen School teachers and staff is appalling,” she said in a letter to the Newsletter. Inform Sunol information from November 16.
An example cited by Van Dyke is one that Sylvester also mentioned: Jergensen not allowing public comment sessions to exceed the 20 minutes typically allotted for comments.
“School board members allowed everyone who submitted comment cards to speak,” Van Dyke said. “Even once a 20-minute per-topic limitation was instituted, those 20 minutes consisted of real public comments. Today, the board chair keeps the 20-minute timer between speakers in the aim of reducing the time and limiting interventions. the time of the comment.”
Another point raised by recall supporters was the order in which Jergensen called the public speakers. Sylvester said that at the September 12 meeting he arrived early and was supposed to be the second speaker because his speaker card was number two and he was the second to submit the speaker card.
Instead, he never got the chance to speak. He also saw during that meeting how Jergensen ignored comments from Romo and Superintendent Molleen Barnes about stopping the timer between speakers so that time would pass more quickly.
“I’ve talked to a lot of former school board members and teachers who say that when something controversial comes up, it’s perfectly permissible to add an extra 20 minutes of comment time, or to take into account public comments if you haven’t been able to speak, so everyone can speak. Especially in a small town like Sunol,” Sylvester said.
According to the United for Sunol Glen website, which describes itself as “a dedicated group of parents and community members who launched a grassroots effort to repair, protect and heal our school district,” there are many other reasons why they launch the project. reminder.
The reasons range from disrespecting school staff and the community, to “opposing the district’s stated values and vision by adopting policy with complete indifference to the impact it has on the mental health and well-being of vulnerable students”.
But there is still a long way to go.
According to the 2023 State and Local Official Recall Procedures Guide prepared by the California Secretary of State’s Office, United for Sunol Glen must obtain the signatures of 30% of those registered to vote in Sunol. After that, supporters could then submit those signatures so that an official ballot could be drafted and sent to Sunoleans to vote yes or no on the recall.
And while there are several challenges to this, such as the fact that Sunol Glen is a commuter school and many parents who might support the recall effort might not have a say in the vote, Sylvester has high hopes.
He argued that contrary to what Jergensen says, there are many people in Sunol who disagree with him and that he doesn’t know it because he is so focused on his own agenda.
“The vast majority of people working on the recall are Sunoleans who have joined with some commuter families who are also working on this,” Sylvester said. “The majority of Sunol, the majority of the school staff, the superintendent all disagree with his policies. I believe he is trying to make us angry and I believe he has caused division.”
