Recall effort goes down to the wire

With only days left until the attempted recall of three Hesperia Unified School District school board members comes to an end, proponents have not gathered all the signatures necessary.

To put school board members Hardy Black, Robert Kirk and Lee Rogers up for recall in a special election later this year, recall proponents need to gather 6,919 signatures on petitions for each of the three. That's more than the votes cast in 2006 for Rogers, just 45 fewer than were cast for Black and 85 percent of the votes cast for Kirk.

As of midday Thursday, recall spokeswoman Lori Nielson said proponents might not get the required signatures by Monday's 5 p.m. deadline. The group had previously set April 1 as a self-imposed deadline to have all their signatures -- along with a buffer, in case some petition signatories are not registered voters or do not live within the boundaries of the HUSD -- but looks to be up to a thousand signatures short.

"We had hoped we'd have it ready to turn in [Friday], so we're going to give a serious push on this weekend and we'll see how it goes," she said. "If we're still short a lot, there's no way we're going to do it."

The recall proponents' grievances are spelled out on the petitions that have been circulated since January, and include the allegation that the three targeted board members forced out former HUSD Superintendent Hank Richardson -- officially, he tendered his resignation -- "spent thousands on unnecessary attorney fees regarding the construction of Oak Hills High School"; acted as the "pawn" of Hesperia Teachers Association teachers union; micromanaged staff, "leading to [the] loss of dedicated administrators"; eliminated "effective sixth grade schools, in spite of proven instructional benefits"; and ignored "demand for parent input on calendar change until after public outcry."

Black, Kirk and Rogers have called the accusations misstatements of fact and are the product of former school board members seeking to regain their position. Nielson was a school board member from 1991 to 2003. Fellow recall proponent Nellie Gogley was a school board member from 1991 to 1995 and 1997 to 2006.

Kirk and Rogers declined comment until after Monday's deadline. Black could not be reached for comment.

"If we aren't successful, I'm going to focus on the positive, and all the awareness we've brought to the issues," Nielson said.

The Hesperia Star's April 8 issue will go to press before the deadline for the recall supporters to turn in their collected signatures. Check HesperiaStar.com on Tuesday for the latest news regarding the recall attempt.

Beau Yarbrough can be reached at 956-7108 or at beau@hesperiastar.com.