Recall Aimed at 3 on Tustin School Board : Contract Extension for Superintendent Assailed by Union

Angered by the Tustin Unified School District board’s decision to extend the contract of Supt. Maurice Ross for two years, some residents and teachers have launched a recall effort against the three members who voted for the extension.

The recall papers were served Monday night on board members Joyce Hanson, Barbara Benson and Chris Layton as they prepared to vote on a two-year extension for Ross.

“This was expected,” Hanson said Tuesday. “If one doesn’t capitulate to what the teachers union wants, this is what results. I’d been called over the weekend and told there’d be a recall if I voted to extend Dr. Ross’ contract.”

Hanson said she hesitated to use the word “threat” to describe the recall effort, “but that’s the only word for it.”

Extension Unnecessary

Sandy Banis, president of the union, the Tustin Educators Assn., said the vote to extend Ross’ contract was unnecessary since Ross’ existing contract doesn’t expire until June, 1987.

“This was rubbing the teachers’ noses in the ground,” Banis said, adding: “The recall has been started by parents who sympathize with us, but teachers will be supporting it 100%.”

Ross’ opponents said they will blame him during the recall campaign for declining California Assessment Program scores in the Tustin school district. The scores measure student achievement in various subjects.

The recall effort becomes another controversy in the tension-plagued Tustin school system. Union teachers went on strike in the district for six days last fall, protesting the lack of a pay raise and new contract for the teachers. However, teachers said a secondary issue was their strong dislike for the superintendent.

Defended by Board

Ross, who has been Tustin superintendent since 1977, was blamed by teachers for the district’s decision not to offer them a cost-of-living pay raise in 1985. However, board members defended Ross, saying he was only carrying out their wishes and that the district was strapped for funds because of declining student enrollment.

During the strike last October, about 60% of the teachers--roughly the same percentage that then belonged to the union--walked off the job. In addition to demands for a pay raise, the striking teachers carried signs that said: “Ross Must Go.”

The incumbent board, however, reemphasized its support of Ross, and the teachers vowed to defeat two of the members who supported him in their reelection bids last November.

They were successful, as incumbents Dorothy T. Ralston and Dr. Edward H. Boseker lost their seats to challengers Gloria Tuchman, a teacher in the adjacent Santa Ana Unified School District, and Jane Bauer, an attorney.

Aims at Autumn Vote

Tuchman voted Monday not to extend Ross’ contract, while Bauer abstained, saying more time was needed before getting into the issue. Bill Ribblett, executive director of the Tustin Educators Assn., said Tuesday that the union hopes to gather the required number of signatures on recall petitions so the election can be held this fall.

If the move is successful--and if a majority of those voting in the special election agree--the three board members would be ousted before their terms end in November, 1987.

Al Olson, Orange County registrar of voters said Tuesday that about 8,000 voter signatures would be required for the Tustin effort to force a recall. He said that state law allows recall supporters four months to gather the signatures.