After the effort to recall Orange Unified School District Trustees Madison Miner and Rick Ledesma proved successful, the five remaining OUSD board members will decide how to fill the two vacant seats.
Board members have three options to fill the two vacant seats: appoint two new board members by May 21 who will serve until the election in November; leave the seats vacant until November; or, if the OUSD board takes no action for 60 days, the Orange County superintendent will call for the election in November.
The board will discuss its next step at its Thursday, April 11, meeting.
If the board chooses to find two new trustees to serve until November, according to the agenda, applications for the respective positions would open on April 12 and close on April 26. Interviews with the remaining OUSD trustees would be scheduled for May 2.
Additionally, the board is set on Thursday to elect a new board clerk, vice president and president to serve for the remainder of the year.
OUSD received a notice of the March 5 primary election results on March 22, stating that Miner and Ledesma had both been ousted from their positions. The secretary of state’s office will certify the primary election results on April 12.
OUSD Recall launched the effort to remove Miner and Ledesma from their positions on the school board after a special meeting was called in January 2023 to fire Superintendent Gunn Marie Hansen and place an assistant superintendent on paid leave without explanation and over the objections of many in the school community.
There were 15,016 and 14,736 valid petition signatures submitted to recall Ledesma and Miner, respectively, and voters supported the recall by more than 53% in the primary.
The open portion of the OUSD board meeting will begin at 7 p.m. on Thursday at 1401 North Handy St., in Orange.
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