No, outsiders are not leading the recall effort. The recall committee has 11 committee members: 6 Sunolians, 2 commuters with kids in Sunol Glen School, 1 former teacher, and 2 professional treasurers who are volunteering their niche expertise. Half of the local Sunolians on the committee have kids in the school. Recall committee members have been active in the school district and community as volunteers, advocates, and ambassadors. Most are well known for their work with the Sunol Business Guild, Sunol Advisory Committee, Sunol Repertory Theater, and numerous other civic groups and volunteer activities. They are the backbone of Sunol and represent our diverse community. One of our committee members received the distinguished Alameda County Teacher of the Year award and has taught multiple generations of Sunolians for 35 years. Your neighbors, your friends, and fellow school parents make up this recall committee. We represent a United Sunol. To see more details of the recall committee, please click here.
The Alameda County Registrar of Voters has confirmed that per their current published election costs and given the number of registered voters in Sunol the estimated cost of conducting the recall election is $15,618 - $17,262.
Sunol Glen and the town of Sunol are already paying a very high cost for keeping Jergensen & Hurley in office both financially (legal fees are up 364% at over $50k under Jergensen’s leadership) and with a deep loss of community morale. Sunol Glen School teachers have stated on the record that Jergensen’s and Hurley’s “brief tenure has brought distrust, uncertainty and fear to both The Sunol Glen School and the surrounding community.”
The recall committee wishes that we didn't need a recall at all. Unfortunately, after the September 12, 2023 board meeting, we realized we had no option but to seek a recall. The egregious behavior of the board has caused extreme stress for our school employees and teachers. There is grave concern about the teacher's and staff's professional welfare, given the harassment and hostile work environment created by Trustees Jergensen and Hurley. Two unions that represent staff and teachers are carefully watching this toxic environment. These unions, the Sunol Federation of Teachers CFT Local 1494 and California School Employees Association CSEA Sunol Glen Unified Chapter 862, issued no-confidence statements supporting the recall. Unions don’t pressure their members to make a statement, it is the other way around. The teachers and staff put pressure on their unions to protect them and provide support for the recall. After careful consultation with community stakeholders and staff at the Sunol Glen, we launched a recall effort.
Since we started this journey to recall, numerous Sunolians have reached out to support us. We have our official recall committee; however, our community stakeholders comprise a diverse set of Sunolians. Our community stakeholders include members from all over Sunol. We have farmers, lawyers, doctors, Silicon Valley executives, engineers, teachers, retirees, and students supporting us. Our stakeholders live across all 84 square miles of Sunol, including Kilkare Road, Foothill Road, Little Valley, Sheridan, Main Street, and Bond Street. Our oldest Sunolian community stakeholder is 85 years old, and we have families who have lived in Sunol for multiple generations. We are proud of our tight-knit Sunol community, which values truth, integrity, and good governance. Collectively, we want to return to when board meetings were lawful, respectful, and personal agendas were not a part of the school district operations. Healthy debate at board meetings has always been encouraged in the past. Recent attempts by Trustees Jergensen and Hurley to shut down fellow Sunolians, teachers, and staff voices are not what Sunol represents. Sunol deserves better.
The recall committee is lucky to have a professional Treasurer come forward to volunteer their professional experience pro bono. The committee must follow the stringent financial requirements of the recall. The recall needs professionals with the capacity and knowledge to handle the recall bookkeeping properly. While we had wished to find a Sunolian, we couldn't find someone with the proper bandwidth and expertise for the treasurer role. With just over 800 registered voters in Sunol, the odds of finding a volunteer with the professional skills and bandwidth to handle the stringent financial requirements of a recall were unlikely. We needed someone well-versed in FPCC (Fair Political Practices Commission) rules and regulations who could manage the donations and track expenditures. We were fortunate to have a professional treasurer volunteer services pro bono. The treasurer is listed in our FPPC and Committee Filing and is responsible for our bookkeeping. We are community members running a recall as we balance full-time jobs, family and childcare duties, and other volunteer activities. We have a link to raise funds to cover expenses associated with the recall. If you want to donate, please click here.
We successfully filed Notices of Intention to recall Trustees Jergensen & Hurley with the Registrar of Voters in November.
The Alameda County Registrar of Voters approved the petitions to recall Sunol Glen Unified School District Trustees Ryan Jergensen and Linda Hurley on January 8th. Signature collection was completed and substantially more than the 246 signatures required to get the recalls on the ballot were submitted to the Registrar of Voters on February 20th to empower Sunolians with a vote. More Sunol voters signed to recall Trustees Jergensen & Hurley than voted either of them into office.
On February 28 the registrar certified both recall petitions as sufficient and directed the school board to order an election within 14 days. Once the school board issues the order, a special election will be scheduled and Sunol voters can cast their ballots to recall Trustees Jergensen and Hurley to get back to a board that offers professionalism, support to the staff and teachers, and transparency and honesty in their board service.
In the Spring of 2023, a small group of Sunol Glen parents became concerned about the board's direction. They were alarmed by Trustee Hurley's speaking, while representing herself as a Sunol Glen board member, at a San Ramon Valley Unified School District board meeting, where she discussed book banning as if it were the policy at Sunol Glen. In the Summer of 2023, a group of long-time Sunol residents attending board meetings grew concerned by the board's actions to silence staff members, ignore State laws, and establish school board policies to further personal agendas. Other local Sunolians were surprised that extremist groups from outside of Sunol, some associated with Moms For Liberty, were coming to Sunol Glen and stood in conflict with a community and school that "stands against hate." It wasn’t until the board meeting on September 12 that these different groups of people merged into one unified group. Why? That single board meeting represented everything that had gone wrong at Sunol Glen Unified School District. There was general disgust and horror at how the board treated staff and the community and fabricated lies about their behavior and motives. There was a realization that the current board cared more
about their agendas than the welfare of the school, its teachers, staff, and students. Sunol Glen is a small, tight-knit community, and after an informal meeting of these various Sunol groups, the official recall committee was formed. There are nine of us. We are from all walks of life, but all of us are deeply committed to the welfare of the school and ending the misconduct, lies, and ineptitude that Trustees Jergensen and Hurley have come to embody.
Simply put California Federation of Teachers or more specifically CFT Local 1494 is collectively the teachers at Sunol Glen School. Sunol Glen teachers have gone on the record to state that they have “NO CONFIDENCE” in and to call for the recall of Trustees Jergensen & Hurley. To support the recall CFT has generously contributed non-monetary, in-kind donations of graphic design and print services.