Huntington Beach : School Board Recall Campaign Starts Slowly

A slow start by backers of a recall movement who need to gather 7,998 signatures of people living in the Huntington Beach City School District before Nov. 26 hasn’t dampened their enthusiasm, a spokesman said.

About 1,500 people have signed petitions circulated by Save Our School, a group angered at the school board’s decision last March to close Burke Elementary School due to declining enrollment. Residents are being asked to sign a petition to force a recall election of school board members Gary Nelson and Karen O’Bric. The other three board members face reelection in November.

SOS spokesman Ed Zschoche said the preliminary count was somewhat disappointing but that he feels the effort will gain momentum as the deadline approaches. “I think we’ve run into a lot of problems with vacations, not just among the residents but also among our own people” he said. “And we’ve committed ourselves to going door-to-door rather than setting up in shopping centers and other public areas.”