Orange Parents File Petitions to Recall Trustees

The group working to unseat three members of the Orange school board turned in 20,285 signatures Wednesdsay in hopes of forcing a recall election in the troubled school district.

Dismayed by the exodus of teachers from Orange schools and other controversies that have plagued the district, Melinda Moore and other parents launched the effort against board members Linda Davis, Martin Jacobson and Maureen Aschoff in August.

The county registrar of voters now has 30 working days to verify the signatures, and, if they are found to be valid, the registrar must call an election within 125 days.

“The number of signatures we have here is a mandate for board members to resign,” said David LeTourneau, a parent on the recall committee. LeTourneau, a real estate agent, said he joined the effort in part because some of his clients expressed reservations about buying houses in the Orange Unified School District.

Committee members need only 14,500 signatures--or 15% of registered voters in the district--to force an election.

Targeted board members predicted Wednesday that the recall effort would fail.

“I have no plans to resign,” Davis said, adding that she believes that not enough valid signatures would be found and that the community supports her. The district encompasses Orange, Villa Park, and parts of Anaheim, Santa Ana and Garden Grove.

“I think now the real battle begins,” Jacobson said. “We have three board members ready for a big fight. We’re not going to give up.”

The filing of the petitions is only another contentious event in a district that is becoming familiar with controversy. Last month, recall organizers filed a complaint against Davis for allegedly using district funds to distribute political material. Davis denied the charge.

In April, district schools were forced to shut down after teachers staged a strike. And the district made national news when it denied an application for a gay student support club at El Modena High School.

This recall effort is the third in 13 years in the district. The first two, in 1988 and 1992, failed because of a lack of valid signatures, according to the registrar’s office.

But this time, the effort will be successful, said one recruit to the recall campaign--ousted district spokeswoman Judith Frutig. Frutig, who lost her job Oct. 31, joined the recall effort the first week of November.

Organizers, who toted balloons and wore celebratory ribbons to deliver the petitions to the county, said they worked every day except Christmas and New Year’s, standing in front of supermarkets, mini-malls and going door to door soliciting signatures.

Often, they were joined by organizers opposed to the recall. Sometimes members of the two groups argued in parking lots and followed each other from market to market.