Sunol Teachers Union, Employees Union Support Trustee Recall

SUNOL, CA — Unions and organizations representing the majority of current and former employees of the Sunol Glen Unified School District expressed their support for the recall of SGUSD School Board President Ryan Jergensen and Trustee Linda Hurley.

The Sunol Federation of Teachers, the Classified School Employees Association Chapter 862, and a collection of people representing a “supermajority of former School Board trustees, teachers, educators, volunteers, and other community members from Sunol Glen Unified School District” have all issued statements supporting the recall.

Jergensen and Hurley were served papers last week after the Alameda County Registrar of Voters accepted and filed Notices of Intention to Circulate Recall Petitions, according to a news release from United for Sunol Glen. The group must now obtain signatures from 30% of registered voters to put the question on a ballot, which must then be approved by a majority of registered voters.

The recall follows months of controversy surrounding both new board meeting policies and a resolution limiting the flags that can be flown on the campus of the district’s one school. Both trustees have said they intend to fight the recall. Jergensen said in a statement that he intends to “fight their recall effort vigorously.” Hurley confirmed to Patch that she had been served.

“It is with shock, regret and great sadness that the Sunol Federation of Teachers, CFT Local 1494 puts forth a unified vote of NO CONFIDENCE in current board members Linda Hurley and Ryan Jergensen,” the union said in a statement adopted Oct. 13. “The actions of Linda Hurley and Ryan Jergensen have created an extremely challenging work environment. Their brief tenure has brought distrust, uncertainty and fear to both The Sunol Glen School and the surrounding community. Board members Linda Hurley and Ryan Jergensen appear unwilling to modify their actions or provide the leadership or compassion necessary for the Sunol Glen School to thrive.”

Both board members were elected in November 2022, and have since advocated for a number of controversial policies. In May, Hurley introduced two items for discussion on the agenda: one to out transgender students to their parents, and another to censor books with controversial takes on gender and sexuality. Both items were removed from the agenda that meeting, according to a Pleasanton Weekly report.

Many community members have also taken issue with Jergensen’s policy of limiting public comment to 20 total minutes, including time between speakers. Before Jergensen’s tenure, comments were limited to 20 minutes per topic, and the clock was paused between speakers, according to The Weekly.

In a resolution of no confidence from Oct. 11, the Classified School Employees Association Chapter 862 said that the actions of Hurley and Jergensen have created “an extremely challenging work environment” that have had a “corrosive effect on staff morale and have fostered a climate of fear, anxiety, and uncertainty.”

A group that says it represents a “supermajority” of former trustees, teachers, educators, volunteers and other community members supporting the recall accused the trustees of “violat[ing] their oaths of office to the California and United States Constitutions by violating the free speech of the staff and students, as well as circumventing state law and Education Code; skirt[ing] the intent and violat[ing] the Brown Act in furthering their agenda.”