Recall Election Set Sept. 22 in Laguna

Sept. 22 is the date for the recall election in the Laguna Beach Unified School District.

The date was picked Tuesday night by the five-member Laguna Beach school board. It will be the first school board recall election in Orange County since the unsuccessful effort against three Fountain Valley School District board members in June of 1983.

Three of the five Laguna Beach Unified School District trustees are targeted for recall. The proposed election became a certainty on May 12, when the county’s registrar of voters certified sufficient signatures on petitions against school board members Charlene Ragatz, Carl Schwarz and Janet Vickers.

By state law, the board had 14 days after the petitions were certified to call the special election. “We were notified (Wednesday) morning that the school board set Tuesday, Sept. 22, as the date for the special election,” said Jeannette Shelton of the registrar of voters office.

The recall effort began in the fall with the drug-related arrest of former professional star Cedrick Hardman, who was Laguna Beach High School’s head football coach. The three targeted trustees voted for reinstating Hardman to his coaching duties--after a suspension--if he pursued a court-ordered drug-rehabilitation program. Harry Bithell was the only board member voting against Hardman’s reinstatement. Susan Mas, who voted for reinstatement, later publicly said she regretted it. The recall effort against her subsequently foundered, and insufficient voter signatures were obtained on her recall petition.

All registered voters in the area served by the district may take part in the special election. Candidates may file to succeed any of the board members that may be ousted. “The closing date for filing is July 16, but we haven’t set the date yet for when filing begins,” Shelton said.

Conditions for Winning

Shelton noted that a candidate can be elected only by winning a plurality of votes in the special election and also only if the incumbent board member is recalled.

Recall advocates Wednesday expressed confidence that the voters will oust the three board members. “I think we’ll be very successful,” said Nancy Kreder, spokeswoman for Citizens United for Responsible Education (CURE), the pro-recall group.

She said she didn’t think recall sentiment would abate between now and September: “The issues don’t change.”

Kreder added: “Right now, CURE doesn’t plan to endorse any of the candidates (who may challenge Ragatz, Schwarz or Vickers). We don’t even know who the candidates may be. Our goal was just to get the special election, and now we’ve been successful in doing that.”

Ragatz, Schwarz and Vickers have accused CURE of instigating “a witch hunt” in its recall movement. They also have said that the estimated $20,000 cost of the special election is a needless waste of school system money and that some CURE workers and some printed material have distorted facts and tried to inflame public sentiment against them.

Vickers has also said that some of the recall effort is fueled by racism. Hardman is black. He is a former All-Pro player for the San Francisco 49ers who offered to coach the team after moving to that city three years ago.

Was Arrested Twice

Hardman was arrested on March 29, 1985, on suspicion of possessing less than an ounce of marijuana. He was arrested again Sept. 20, 1986, on a charge of cocaine possession. After the Sept. 20 arrest, the school board suspended Hardman but later voted 4 to 1 to allow him to continue coaching voluntarily if he pursued the drug-rehabilitation program.

Hardman resigned as coach in February. He faces a court hearing June 17 on a charge of resisting arrest in the Sept. 20 incident.

The last school board recall effort in Orange County was three years ago in the Fountain Valley (Elementary) School District. School board handling of money and closing of schools were major issues in that effort against three of the five school board members.

Recall leaders got enough voter signatures for a special election June 7, 1983, but none of the three were recalled.