SOMIS : Voters Go to Polls in Recall Election

Somis voters will go to the polls today to decide the fate of three school board members who are the targets of a recall drive because of their decision earlier this year to terminate the contract of Schools Supt. Dale Forgey.

Board members Alda Perry, Miguel Mejia and Debbie Carpenter will face off against Sue Klausner, Mark Smith and Jim Bushong in the recall election. The three challengers are members of Parents for Quality Education, a citizens recall committee.

Fewer than half of the 1,500 voters in the unincorporated community north of Camarillo are expected to participate in today’s election, said Bruce Bradley, assistant registrar of voters in the county’s Elections Division. A total of 189 absentee ballots have already been cast.

Somis residents can vote today at Faith Baptist Church, 3300 West St., from 7 a.m. to 8 p.m., Bradley said.

Trouble for the three school trustees began in May when they voted not to renew Forgey’s $70,000-a-year contract with the Somis Union Elementary School District. Forgey had served 12 years as chief administrator of the 325-student district.

The action enraged some parents enough that they mounted a recall drive against the board members responsible for the superintendent’s dismissal.

Forgey’s replacement, Thelma Edmundson, began her tenure in August.

Perry, Mejia and Carpenter have said Forgey was fired because he was an “ineffective leader.” However, members of the recall committee and Forgey contend that the real reason he was let go is because he refused to let the board members interfere with the daily operations of the school.

The recall committee collected more than 400 signatures to qualify for the special election, which will cost the school district about $3,000.