Somis Parents Seeking to Recall Board Members Submit 425 Signatures

By CAITLIN ROTHER

July 31, 1992 12 AM PT

SPECIAL TO THE TIMES

Disgruntled Somis parents turned in 425 signatures to county election officials Thursday, seeking to recall three school board members who ousted the one-school district’s superintendent.

“I think the day of the politicians just doing what they want, ignoring the constituency . . . has just got to come to an end,” said parent Liz Gruttadaurio, a recall organizer. “Our mission at this point is to recall them before they do any more financial damage to that school.”

The recall committee, known as Parents for Quality Education, needs only 334 verified signatures to force a recall election of board members Debbie Carpenter, Dr. Miguel Mejia and Alda Perry, who campaigned as a team in 1989.

The three voted in May not to renew the contract of Dale Forgey, superintendent and principal for 12 years of the 325-student Somis Union Elementary School District. Recall supporters, including Forgey, criticized the three members for what they called a heavy-handed style of management.

“Obviously I feel that was inappropriate,” Forgey said. “I didn’t deserve that. I certainly support the recall movement. . . . If these three people maintain membership for any length of time, the district will be in trouble . . . financially and educationally.”

Mejia, the only one of the three board members who could be reached for comment, denied the allegations.

Mejia said board members have worked well together. “As a board, we’re excellent,” he said. “I thought all five of us were on the same track, striving to make this school excellent.”

In ousting Forgey, who has earned the respect of many in the community of 1,336 registered voters, the board left the district without a principal or an administrator for the summer to prepare for the fall semester.

The board appointed a retired Los Angeles school administrator as an unpaid interim superintendent, but he is on vacation in Europe. The district’s daily operations are in the hands of an experienced secretary. The district canceled summer school classes this year, citing budget uncertainties.

A county elections official said it is highly unlikely that the recall question will make it onto the Nov. 3 ballot. A special election could be held as late as February, she said, at a cost to the district of $2,600.

To qualify for the November ballot, the signatures must be verified by county elections officials, the Somis school board or the county must vote to call for a special election, and the Board of Supervisors must approve the Somis school board’s request by Aug. 7. The Somis school board, however, is not scheduled to meet until Aug. 19.

Although recall supporters say their drive was sparked by Forgey’s termination, they say it is being fueled by a list of past board actions and a general feeling of distrust.

“In my opinion, there’s some kind of hidden agenda that no one can figure out,” said parent Herb Hyman, who has two children who have graduated from the kindergarten-through-eighth-grade school. “They don’t want input from anybody but themselves, parents or ex-parents.”

Hyman accused the board of violating the state’s open meeting law by conducting too much business in closed session and tampering with the minutes.

Hyman was referring in part to a debate between parents and board members at the July 15 school board meeting over the accuracy of minutes from a past meeting and whether votes were taken in open or closed session. The discussion concluded when Business Manager Tammy McCracken said a portion of the minutes was inaccurate.

Mejia disputed Hyman’s charges, saying the board has not been fiscally irresponsible and changes minutes only when they are inaccurate.

“There are five board members and the closed sessions that we have are negotiations and personnel,” Mejia said. “That’s all we talk about. There’s no hidden agenda.”

In 1989, Mejia was an official candidate, while Carpenter and Perry were write-in candidates. Mejia said he believes that parents are trying to recall them because they campaigned together and vote as a bloc.

“Most of the votes are unanimous votes, so all five of us vote as a bloc,” he said.

In addition to Forgey’s termination, members of the recall group said they are angered by other issues such as the construction of a new library without enough funds to pay for it.

The board agreed to build the recently constructed library with only enough funds to cover three years of a 10-year payment plan, hoping that developers’ fees would start coming in once the recession passed, members said at a recent meeting.

Mejia said that if the recall committee believes that decision was fiscally irresponsible, then all five board members are to blame.

The board is slated to choose a new superintendent from among nearly 50 candidates by Aug. 12, Mejia said.

Forgey said he is contemplating a lawsuit for breach of contract. He believes that he still has another year remaining on the contract, while the district contends that the contract expired June 30.

Before leaving his job, Forgey said he hired himself as a sixth-grade teacher in the fall, at an annual salary between $38,000 and $45,000, in case he didn’t find another job. As superintendent, he earned $70,364.

“They don’t have a choice,” he said of his returning as a teacher. “It may not be comfortable for everybody, but I need to survive.”