Attempted Recall of Two Orange Unified School District Board Members Advances
The effort to remove two board members of the Orange Unified School District took a step forward on Oct. 20 as The Orange County Registrar of Voters certified that there were enough signatures to trigger recall votes.
Board President Rick Ledesma and Trustee Madison Miner are the board members in question. They have been involved in several spending scandals in recent months.
Ledesma, Miner, and several other board members are accused by the leaders of the recall campaign of mismanagement and misspending of more than $1 million by removing former Superintendent, Gunn Marie Hansen, and her assistant superintendent.
Many also claim the actions of the board led many staff members to leave the district, as it has pursued many controversial policies.
The board members say they have done nothing wrong, with Ledesma telling The Orange County Register, “We think we have drifted away from academics and educating students. We have been focusing too much on the social politics of education.”
The board now must decide at their Nov. 16 meeting when to schedule the recall elections. The vote is required to be called 88 days after the petitions are certified and no more than 125 days after certification.
If the board cannot come to an agreement on when the election should be held, then the decision is forfeited to the Orange County Registrar.
