3 on School Board Targeted in Recall Drive : Budget: PTA president wants to oust members who opposed administrative salary reductions as a way to save some student programs.

A PTA president served letters of recall Tuesday on three Glendale School Board members who opposed a reduction in the salaries of district staff and administrators to lessen cuts in student programs next year.

Carol Mollett, president of the PTA at Mountain Avenue Elementary School, said that she will lead a petition drive in the Glendale Unified School District to oust board members Charles Whitesell, Blanche Greenwood and June Sweetnam.

Mollett’s letters rebuked the three board members for “refusing to listen to other options as proposed by students, parents and administrators.”

The three board members said nothing when Mollett handed them the letters at the end of Tuesday’s board meeting, but later, two reacted in disbelief.

“I’m devastated,” Sweetnam said. “I’ve spent 15 years in this service. I feel I was fiscally responsible.”

Mollett filed a notice with the Los Angeles County registrar Wednesday, setting in motion the process for a recall election. Whitesell, Greenwood and Sweetnam have a week to file rebuttals.

The petitioners then have 160 days to collect the signatures of 15% of the district’s nearly 72,500 registered voters, said Marcia Ventura, spokeswoman for the registrar’s office. If they are successful, an election date would have to be set in a period of 88 to 120 days from certification of the signatures.

Mollett said that she hopes to complete the petition drive in two months. She said that she has a core group of 10 disgruntled students and parents who are ready to drum up support for the petition, but school or community groups have yet to formally endorse the recall effort.

“I have a vested interest in the school district,” Mollett said. “I’m here to say that voters will make a difference.”

Hundreds of parents, teachers and students attended board meetings in recent weeks to oppose a list of budget cuts recommended by Supt. Robert Sanchis to balance the district’s $6.3 million shortfall.

Board members Sharon Beauchamp and Jane Whitaker unveiled alternative proposals that would reduce the salaries of top district officials and other personnel from 2% to 10% to help salvage student services such as a $371,631 At-Risk program for troubled youths. During a meeting on May 5, Whitesell, Greenwood and Sweetnam rejected those proposals.

“I believe that salary cuts are fatally defective, flawed and fiscally unacceptable,” Whitesell said.

In their continuing budget-cutting efforts, board members also voted 3-2 Tuesday to eliminate 47 classified positions and trim the work hours of 20 others starting in July. Beauchamp and Whitaker opposed the recommendation.

In addition, the list of budget cuts that the board is likely to vote on by June 30 would reduce the number of counselors, psychologists, custodians and librarians in district schools.

“There is a lot involved here that is very painful and we haven’t seen the end of this yet,” said Sanchis. “Between now and June, we could be facing the possibility of losing more money. Another 2% to 5% of the district’s budget could be cut.”