Golden Valley Unified School District recall, California (2015)
| Golden Valley Unified School District Board of Trustees recall |
|---|
 |
| Officeholders |
John Moseley Carla Neal |
| Recall status |
| Recall election date |
| September 1, 2015 |
| See also |
| Recall overview Political recall efforts, 2015 Recalls in California California recall laws School board recalls Recall reports |
An effort to recall Kathleen Crumpton, John Moseley, and Carla Neal from their respective Area 2, 4, and 1 seats on the Golden Valley Unified School District board of trustees in California was approved by voters on September 1, 2015.[1][2] Crumpton, Moseley, and Neal became the targets of a recall effort after they voted to accept a separation agreement for Superintendent Andrew Alvarado at a board meeting on February 3, 2015. Their fellow board members, Mike Kelley and Steven Lewis, voted against the measure. The recall effort was organized by the group Parents, Teachers and Taxpayers to Recall Crumpton, Moseley and Neal 2015.[3][4]
Moseley and Neal were first elected to the board in 2014, and Crumpton won re-election at the same time. The three members were not scheduled to see another regular election until 2018. Mona Diaz, Maria Knobloch, and Brian Freeman were voted into the Area 1, 2 and 4 seats, respectively, to replace them.[3][2]
Recall vote
Neal, Crumpton and Moseley were all recalled by voters on September 1, 2015. They were each voted out by at least 75 percent of ballots cast. Neal and Crumpton were replaced by candidates who ran unopposed. Mona Diaz won the Area 1 seat, and Maria Knobloch won the Area 2 seat. Two candidates—Brian Freeman and Dale Overbay, Sr.—ran to replace Moseley. Freemon won the seat by receiving nearly 75 percent of votes cast.[2]
Carla Neal recall
| Carla Neal, Area 1 Board Member, Golden Valley Unified School District | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Result | Votes | Percentage | ||
 Recall | 389 | 88.81% | ||
| Retain | 49 | 11.19% | ||
| Election results via: Madera County Elections Office, "Special Recall Election: September 1, 2015, Election Results," September 1, 2015 | ||||
| Successor candidate, Area 1 Board Member, Golden Valley Unified School District | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Result | Votes | Percentage | ||
| Mona Diaz | 395 | 99% | ||
 Write-in votes | 4 | 1% | ||
| Election results via: Madera County Elections Office, "Special Recall Election: September 1, 2015, Election Results," September 1, 2015 | ||||
Kathleen Crumpton recall
|
| ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
John Moseley recall
|
| ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Recall supporters
On February 3, 2015, Crumpton, Moseley, and Neal voted to accept a separation agreement from Andrew Alvarado as the district's superintendent. Fellow board members Kelley and Lewis vocally opposed the move, as did hundreds of parents and teachers who attended the board meeting. In order to end his contract early, the district was required to pay Alvarado a buyout of $135,699. The exact reasons for Alvarado's removal were not made clear, though Moseley said it was Alvarado's choice to "separate from the district on his own volition."[3][4]
In the wake of Alvarado's removal, the group "Parents, Teachers and Taxpayers to Recall Crumpton, Moseley and Neal 2015" formed and headed the recall effort. Michele Stephens, one of the group's members and a district parent, explained the group's effort, saying, "We fell asleep during the (November) election but the community has woken up." She also complained that while hundreds of parents attended the school board meeting where Alvarado was removed, most did not get an opportunity to speak. She stated that the board "didn’t listen to what the community had to say. That just set people into an outrage.”[3]
The board voted to extend public comments for closed session items, which included the superintendent's contract, during the meeting on February 3, 2015. A second motion to further extend public comments failed to pass, with Crumpton, Moseley, and Neal opposing.[4]
Recall opponents
Neal and Moseley set up the website Getting the Truth Out to fight the recall effort against them. They said the effort was unwarranted and based on false information. They sent out a flyer explaining why citizens should not sign the recall petition in May 2017. They said the school district had lost its Distinguished Schools status under Alvarado's leadership and that the buyout contract required in his separation agreement had been approved by the board before Neal and Moseley had been elected. The flyer said that Crumption had voted against the contract. The flyer included 11 reasons to not sign the recall petition. You can see all of those reasons in the image of the flyer to the right.[5]
Path to the ballot
- See also: Laws governing recall in California
In April 2015, the Madera County Clerk's office certified that Parents, Teachers and Taxpayers to Recall Crumpton, Moseley and Neal 2015 had submitted sufficient signatures to hold recall elections for each of the three recall targets. The election was required to be held within 88 to 125 days of the signature certification.[3] The board set the election date for September 1, 2015.
Recent news
The link below is to the most recent stories in a Google news search for the terms "Golden Valley Unified School District" recall. These results are automatically generated from Google. Ballotpedia does not curate or endorse these articles.
See also
- Golden Valley Unified School District, California
- Recall campaigns in California
- Political recall efforts, 2015
- School board recalls
External links
- Golden Valley Unified School District
- Madera County Elections Department
- No on the Recall Campaign website
Additional reading
- YourCentralValley.com, "GVUSD: Five Teachers Quit, Board Members Closer to Recall," April 22, 2015
- The Fresno Bee, "Three Golden Valley school trustees to face recall election," April 15, 2015
- YourCentralValley.com, "Recall Effort Begins Against 3 Golden Valley Unified School District Board Members," March 3, 2015
- The Fresno Bee, "Turnover in school superintendents has heads spinning across Fresno, Madera counties," February 5, 2015
- Madera Tribune, "Golden Valley divided," June 6, 2013
Footnotes
- ↑ YourCentralValley.com, "GVUSD: Five Teachers Quit, Board Members Closer to Recall," April 22, 2015
- ↑ 2.0 2.1 2.2 Madera County Elections Office, "Special Recall Election: September 1, 2015, Election Results," September 1, 2015
- ↑ 3.0 3.1 3.2 3.3 3.4 The Fresno Bee, "Three Golden Valley school trustees to face recall election," April 15, 2015
- ↑ 4.0 4.1 4.2 Golden Valley Unified School District, "Board of Education Meeting: February 03, 2015," accessed March 28, 2017
- ↑ Getting the Truth Out, "Recall Rebuttal," May 17, 2015
| |||||||||||||
 |
State of California Sacramento (capital) |
|---|---|
| Elections |
What's on my ballot? | Elections in 2024 | How to vote | How to run for office | Ballot measures |
| Government |
Who represents me? | U.S. President | U.S. Congress | Federal courts | State executives | State legislature | State and local courts | Counties | Cities | School districts | Public policy |
