3 School Board Members Recalled : Somis: At the same time, voters approve replacement candidates for the one-school elementary district.

By nearly a 2-1 margin, Somis voters decided Tuesday to recall three school board members who voted earlier this year to terminate the contract of then-Supt. Dale Forgey.

A clear majority of the 547 people who cast ballots in the one-school Somis Union Elementary School District voted to oust board members Debbie Carpenter, Miguel Mejia and Alda Perry, according to unofficial results provided late Tuesday by the Ventura County Department of Elections.

Nearly the same number of voters approved of the replacement candidates, Sue Klausner, Mark Smith and Jim Bushong.

None of the three ousted board members could be reached Tuesday night for comment.

The three replacement candidates, however, were celebrating their victory. Their election is expected to become official Tuesday if it is certified by the Board of Supervisors.

Perry, Mejia and Carpenter had fired Forgey from his $70,000-a-year job in May, ending his 12-year stint as superintendent of the 325-student district.

His firing followed a variety of unpopular moves by the three now-ousted members.

These included alleged violations of the state’s open-meeting laws, closure of the school’s child-care program and construction of a new school library with only enough funds to cover three years of a 10-year payment plan.

“I don’t know if vindicated is the right word,” said Forgey, who now runs an appliance-repair service. “I’m glad they’re out of there.”

Forgey said the three “did some things that were really inappropriate, and it affected a lot of people, not just me. Had they not been recalled, for them to continue after tonight with all this furor, it would have gotten worse.”

Recall leader Elizabeth Gruttadaurio said, “We’re very pleased. Recalling incumbents is not an easy task, even in this small a district. We’re very satisfied.”

Newly elected board member Mark Smith said he, Klausner and Bushong want to improve communication between the community and the school.

Bushong agreed, saying the goal will be “basically to try to heal the community and get it back together . . . “

“There’s such a negative attitude coming out of the past board,” he said. “So much of the volunteer work and community support is not there because of the attitude. Hopefully, we can turn it all around and get this thing back like it used to be.”

Voters called for the ouster of Perry by a count of 353 to 192, for Mejia by a count of 348 to 196, and for Carpenter by a count of 339 to 202.

Voters cast 333 votes for Smith, an avocado and citrus rancher; 322 for Klausner, a homemaker and horse breeder, and 332 for Bushong, an equipment manager for Southland Sod Farms.