SOMIS : School Board to Meet on Recall Issue

The board of the Somis Union Elementary School District has scheduled a special meeting today to vote on whether to approve a recall election of three of its members, none of whom are expected to attend.

Board members Miguel Mejia and Alda Perry are out of town and Debby Carpenter has refused to participate in the meeting, officials said.

Without a quorum, the board will be unable to vote on the recall election issue, said Acting President Bob Fulkerson, who scheduled today’s meeting.

Fulkerson said he called the meeting because he thought that the county had finished verifying the signatures on the petition turned in by the recall group Parents For Quality Education.

But Fulkerson said that as of Thursday night, he still had not heard whether county elections officials had certified enough signatures to warrant a recall election. Today is the deadline for the board to vote on whether to put the issue on the Nov. 3 ballot.

However, county election officials have said that if they can verify at least 334 of the 425 signatures collected on the recall petition, the county can automatically place the issue on the ballot, regardless of what the school board decides.

The three board members have been targeted for recall because they voted in May to oust Supt. Dale Forgey, who has been with the district for 12 years.

Carpenter, calling today’s meeting a “power play” by Fulkerson, said she will not attend the meeting because she believes that Mejia and Perry should be there as well. “I would prefer not to do anything that will affect the other two board members when they’re not in town,” Carpenter said.

Fulkerson said he felt it was his duty as board president to call the special meeting, which he said will be held whether or not the three board members attend.

The cost of placing the issue on the Nov. 3 ballot is only $350, compared to the $2,600 cost of a special election, which would be held in February at the earliest. The district must pay the cost of either election.