Voters in Alameda County have successfully recalled two Sunol Glen Unified School District board members that sparked controversy by passing a resolution to only display “flags required by law.”
The move by former board president Ryan Jergensen and former trustee Linda Hurley came close to three months after a Pride flag was flown on school property. The measure, in effect, would only allow the California and U.S. flags to be flown.
The ban originally passed in a 2-1 vote last September after the entire meeting audience was thrown out.
Hurley, released a statement following that initial vote, writing, “My vote to fly only the American and state flags was not meant to disparage the LGBTQIA community but to legally protect our small school from legal action for breaking the Supreme Court Decision, Shurtleff vs. the city of Boston, October 2021.”
The Supreme Court case Hurley cited found that the city of Boston was in violation of the First Amendment because it allowed some groups to display their flags above city hall but refused to fly a Christian group’s flag.
Following that meeting a recall campaign in the town of about 900 residents kicked off.
Educators even took a stance when teachers of CFT Local 1494 at Sunol Glen School adopted a vote of no confidence against Jergensen and Hurley in November, publicly supporting the recall.
Over 530 residents cast their ballots in the special election on July 2 with over 50% of votes in favor of recalling Jergensen and Hurley. Votes were certified and posted on July 17.
The Sunol Glen election became a historical outlier.
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Between 2009 and 2022 there was an annual average of 34 recall efforts against 80 school board members nationwide, according to Ballotpedia. Those attempts, brought up by allegations of bad behavior to misappropriation of funds, only resulted in 10% of school board members being removed from their office.
Going forward, the Alameda County Board of Education’s President Janevette Cole must appoint two members to serve as acting board members until new members are elected or officially appointed.
