BY ADRIANA HERNANDEZ
Daily Post Staff Writer
The recall effort against Sequoia Union High School Trustee Rich Ginn has been rejected by the San Mateo County Election Office after a paperwork mix-up.
Ginn was served with a “notice of intention” by parents upset by the board’s closure of the small STEM-fo-cused magnet school TIDE Academy.
The parents believe he didn’t prioritize the community with his vote to close the small magnet school, but the paperwork didn’t match what the elections office received, Elections Officer Mark Church said.
A draft of the intent to recall Ginn was filed with the county instead of the actual statement that was served to Ginn, parent Johanna Mahal said in a statement.
“We are disappointed that the county did not communicate with us by their deadline. Our sense is that the county rejected the filing a week later because of pressure from the incumbent who would face the recall,” Mahal, leader of the recall efforts, said in a statement.
Plans to restart
Parents will be restarting the recall process for board members Ginn, Mary Beth Thompson and Maria Cruz. The petitions against Thompson and Cruz previously did not meet the 30-signa-ture requirement, according to Church.
Issues included signers not being from trustees’ districts and incomplete residence address information, like missing ZIP codes, Church said. Only registered voters who live in the area represented by the trustee can sign the petition.
The group is not seeking the recall of board members Sathvik Nori and Amy Koo because their terms end this year.
“I’ve never organized a recall before, and all of the people working on this are volunteers doing it in their spare time because they believe we need leadership change in the Sequoia Union High School District,” Mahal said.
Parents feel that Ginn, Thompson and Cruz didn’t make the best decisions in closing the school with fewer than 200 students, even though the board voted in favor of the closure due to financial constraints.
Parents are also suing
TIDE Academy parents have also fought the closure with two lawsuits against the district, one of which was dismissed by a judge because they couldn’t show how students with disabilities wouldn’t be able to get the same education at a larger school.
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