ORANGE : Trustees Face Recall by Principals’ Allies

A group of angry parents filed recall papers this week against six members of the Orange Unified School District Board of Trustees, an action stemming from the board’s controversial decision to possibly demote three popular principals.

Five parents signed recall papers, which were served to the board members.

The papers stated that the trustees had “mismanaged the public trust by failing to heed the wishes of many” who have publicly supported the principals.

School board members voted 6-1 in a Feb. 27 closed session to notify the three principals that they may be released from their current positions at the conclusion of the 1991-92 school year and be asked to return to teaching positions in June.

Hundreds of parents had packed school board meetings in recent months to protest the possible demotions back to the classroom of principals Eddie Salgado of La Veta Elementary, Ewell Gunter of Palmyra Elementary and Gerald Uffelman of Richland Continuation High School.

Targeted for recall are trustees Bill Lewis, Maureen Aschoff, Robert H. Viviano, Alan E. Irish and Lila Beavans. Board President Barry Resnick, who did not vote in favor of the possible demotions, is not named in the recall papers.

“I think it’s unjust and an abuse of the system,” Lewis said of the recall effort. “We’re not doing something of ill-repute. We’re just doing our jobs the way the voters have asked us to do them. We believe this is in the best interests of the children.

“Obviously, (the parents) have the right to do whatever they want,” Lewis added. “But what we have here is simply an argument over us doing something they didn’t want us to do. If there had been some kind of impropriety on our part, that would be different.”

The three principals have each been with the district more than 20 years. Salgado is a 25-year member of the district, Gunter was hired in 1965 and Uffleman started with the district in 1968.

The state Education Code requires the school board to notify administrators by March 1 if their status could change. The board must make a final decision by June 30.

Returning to the classroom would mean substantial pay cuts for the three principals. The top teaching salary in the district is about $47,000 a year.

Elementary school principals earn about $60,000, and senior high continuation school principals earn about $65,000, district officials said.

The six targeted school board members have until Thursday to submit a written response to the recall petition.

Once the recall petition is approved by the county, proponents will have 160 days to gather the necessary signatures for it to qualify for the ballot.

They will need collect to 12,921 signatures, or 15% of the district’s 86,141 voters.

Those numbers may increase slightly since a new count of the district’s registered voters is scheduled to be completed by early next month, county officials said.