COMMUNITY NEWS
PVUSD: Acosta Recall Movement
A
By Jondi Gumz
committee formed to recall former school board president Georgia Acosta from the Pajaro Valley Unified School District board aims to file the official notice in a week or two, campaign manager Carol Turley said Tuesday. A Watsonville Georgia Acosta native, she lives in the district represented by Acosta and is the recall campaign manager. Seven people have been meeting for the last two months, according to Jane Barr, who served on the school board and is an advisor to the committee. The campaign issues are on the committee’s website, www.restoretrustpvusd. com/ The group alleges Acosta: • Skipped 26 board meetings • Accepted monthly stipend and health insurance ($6,000). • Emailed confidential board documents • Won’t meet with the superintendent • Won’t face the public • Retained an attorney to advise her for $16,000 • Attempted to silence the public • Has not apologized. Their conclusion: Georgia needs to go. “I live in that trustee district and right now I don’t have any representation,” said Turley, a Watsonville High School alum, like her two daughters, and a school volunteer before the COVID-19 pandemic. Termination he last straw was in January when Acosta, an ag businesswoman who was president of the school board, persuaded fellow board members to terminate Superintendent Michelle Rodriguez, who was
T
“CASA Advocate” from page 6 Is this your 1st child, and will you take another one afterward? his was my first CASA kid and, I would love to be matched with another youth. Do you have children of your own? have two kids, one at UC Santa Barbara, and one at UC Davis. I am now an empty-nester! ••• ASA’S summer training dates are from July 19 — Aug. 18 on Monday and Wednesday evenings from 5 to 8 p.m. Class size is limited to 15 people. Zoom court
T I
C
quickly reinstated by apologizing trustees, who then voted 4-2 in March to censure Acosta, a symbolic action showing their condemnation. Kim De Serpa, Maria Orozco, Jennifer Schacher and Jennifer Holm voted yes; Acosta and Oscar Soto voted no, and Daniel Dodge Jr. abstained. Barr said what led to Rodriguez’ temporary ouster was an interim financial report. According to Barr, the report for the Santa Cruz County Office of Education showed the Pajaro Valley district would be in the red three years out, an early warning sign for financial difficulties. However, additional funds were due that put the district in the black for the third year – no financial woes – and the updated interim report was approved by the county Office of Education a day or two later. Acosta “used that to get rid of the superintendent,” Barr said. “She caused chaos.” Barr and Turley said the district was billed $16,000 in fees for an attorney Acosta hired to advise her. Aptos Times left messages via email and phone for Acosta; one phone line said her voice mail was full and no longer taking messages. As of deadline Wednesday, she did not respond. How Recall Started urley, who as a Watsonville Rotary member helped bring Cruzio Internet to Pajaro Valley students living at the Buena Vista Migrant Camp, said her recall involvement started with a phone call from her friend Leslie, asking if she knew what was happening with the school board and the superintendent. Turley tuned into the board meetings hosted online via Zoom due to the pandemic.
T
observation dates are on Aug. 24 or 26 at 8:30 a.m. and the graduation date is Aug. 26. A CASA advocate increases the wellbeing of a child in foster care, addressing mental, physical, and educational needs. They work to ensure the child’s safety while in foster care and help keep them connected to their culture and cultural identity. CASA volunteers advocate keeping families connected and together when safe and possible. n CASA of Santa Cruz County www.casaofsantacruz.org 813 Freedom Blvd. Watsonville (831) 761-2956
Her reaction: Somebody ought to do something. But nobody did. So she reached out to the people who had commented at the board meeting who felt the way she did. “We put together a little group,” she said. One member skilled at web design created an eye-catching red-and-black website with a close-up photo of Acosta’s eyeglasses, detailing the group’s allegations and asking for financial pledges. 2,150 Voters ajaro Valley school board members are elected by district, and the district Acosta represents has about 8,600 voters. The first step is to write a statement of charges and gather 20 valid district voter signatures, turning this into the Santa Cruz County Elections Department. There is no deadline to do this, but once the notice of intent to recall is filed, the group will have 90 days to get valid signatures from about 2,150 voters; Turley said she’s aiming for 2,500. The elections office will have 10 days to determine if there are enough valid signatures. If there are, there will be a recall election. Barr said the recall group made its case to the Cesar Chavez Democratic Club and got a pledge of $5,000. Asked about running a campaign during a pandemic, Turley called it “a wrinkle,” adding, “I got my second vaccine.” She expects there will be campaigning outside grocery stores, such as Staff of Life Natural Foods, Safeway and Nob Hill. Asked if Acosta’s district is one of the
P
parts of the Pajaro Valley school district lacking Internet access for voter emails, but Turley said, “For the most part, everybody has charter available.” State and local ballot measure advertisements are required to contain disclosures including the phrase “Ad paid for by” followed by the committee name as well as naming top contributors, according to the state Fair Political Practices Commission. Cost recall election is costly because it’s a special election billed entirely to the voters of the district. “It will cost tens of thousands of dollars,” Barr predicted. Asked if the expense is worth it, Turley said, “We wrestled with that. I brought it up to the team several times. Can we just neutralize her? Our determination was she’s dangerous for district and bad for kids. We can’t wait three years.” Piggy-backing onto another ballot measure would cut costs, but this campaign comes too late to get on the Newsom recall ballot. Turley, who monitors school board meetings, said Acosta’s legal bill hasn’t been paid by the board and Acosta hasn’t been seen on screen during recent sessions, including one in which top students were honored. “She could do the right thing and step down,” Turley said. “We’re hopeful.” n
A
www.tpgonlinedaily.com Aptos Times / May 1st 2021 / 9
