Laguna Recall Bid Moves Closer to Vote : Enough Signatures Gathered to Try to Unseat Three Trustees

A citizens’ group seeking the ouster of three Laguna Beach Unified School District trustees has gathered more than enough signatures to force a recall election, a spokeswoman for the Orange County registrar of voters said Tuesday.

School Supt. Dennis Smith said the board will vote May 26 to set a special election between Aug. 22 and Sept. 28.

The citizens group--which calls itself Citizens United for Responsible Education (CURE)--gathered 3,739 valid signatures against school board president Charlene Ragatz; 3,695 against board member Janet Vickers, and 3,648 against board member Carl Schwarz, county elections official Suzanne Slupfky said.

Petitions signed by 3,515 of the registered voters--20% of the electorate--are needed to force a recall election under state law.

CURE chairman Matt Gorry called the registrar’s certification “fantastic!” He said: “The people have spoken. Now the gears turn. . . . There is overwhelming sentiment for replacing these officers.”

The three board members have been under fire since last fall when they voted to allow former high school football coach Cedrick Hardman to continue coaching after his arrest in September on charges of felony possession of cocaine and resisting arrest. At the time, he was on probation for possession of less than an ounce of marijuana. A judge ordered him to enroll in a drug rehabilitation program, saying the drug charge would be dropped if he completed the program.

A fourth board member--Susan Mas, who also voted to let Hardman continue coaching--was initially targeted for recall, but interest in removing her diminished after she said that she regretted her vote. Several days before the recall petitions were to be filed, CURE organizers announced that they lacked about 500 of the signatures needed to recall Mas and decided against including her.

Smith said he learned Tuesday that petitions against the others had been validated by the registrar.

The state requires that recall elections be held within certain time limits, thus ruling out the Nov. 3 general election date.

Though Hardman, a former All-Pro player for the San Francisco 49ers, has resigned his coaching position, the dispute about his actions and the board’s decision to let him continue coaching still divides Laguna Beach.

Targeted board members have criticized the recall as a waste of time and a waste of $20,000 in school district funds. Schwarz, Ragatz and Vickers have also said they are proud to have backed Hardman, calling their decision wise and humane.

CURE’s Gorry said the community was outraged that the board members “circumvented the education code” by allowing Hardman to return to coaching before he had completed any drug rehabilitation program.