An effort to oust longtime Corona-Norco school board member Jose Lalas, whom foes are targeting because they say he supports coronavirus vaccine mandates and critical race theory, has moved to the next stage.
A recall petition against Lalas was approved in May by the Riverside County Registrar of Voters and gives recall proponents 120 days — until Sept. 2 — to collect signatures seeking to put a recall election on the ballot.
Registrar Rebecca Spencer said by email that 6,915 signatures, or 20% of voters in the Corona-Norco Unified School District’s Area 1, are needed to qualify the recall for the ballot. The area includes west Corona and the adjoining unincorporated county area.
If recall proponents use the entire period and file their petition in September, it would be too late to put the issue on the November ballot. A special election, which would cost approximately $130,000, would be needed.
Lalas was served with recall papers at a November school board meeting.
The 71-year-old trustee, an education professor at the University of Redlands, was first elected to the board in 1990. He has had seven terms, including his current one that is set to end in 2024.
Some Corona-Norco parents are upset about Lalas’ stance on coronavirus vaccine mandates and what they call his support of critical race theory. Recall supporters say they want someone who will stand up for them and their children.
“We don’t feel like we’re being heard. We just want a seat at the table,” said Corona resident Vanessa Nelson, who pulled her boys from Corona-Norco schools in 2020. She is helping organize recall petition efforts online and those distributed in the community.
“It’s a difficult number of signatures, but we’re not the type of people who give up when it comes to the kids in this community,” Nelson said. “We’re going to fight. We still have someone in that position who is for forced vaccinations, and we feel they are not holding up their oath to the Constitution for medical freedom, for the people who work and attend these schools.”
Nelson and recall backers said a board member who currently has children in the district would be “the most caring, hardest worker.” Lalas’ four children are grown.
Nelson said some parents are considering running for the school board.
Helen Yoshikawa, a former teacher in the district, wrote to board members that she supports Lalas, and that a recall would be “counterproductive” and a “detriment” to families and students who “have no one else to fight for them.”
“Lalas puts the needs and best interests of students and their families above both district and personal politics,” Yoshikawa wrote. “His willingness to listen to the needs and concerns of all parents and students, and to champion their causes in an informed and proactive way, has earned him the admiration and respect of generations of Corona-Norco families.”
In a May letter to the community, Lalas wrote that he is upholding a “duty and responsibility to protect” all, especially students, against COVID-19. He said he supports the Corona-Norco district’s policy that strongly recommends, but does not require, indoor masking. As for vaccines or possible mandates, Lalas said he and the district will continue to follow guidelines by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, state and county public health departments.
He wrote that he supports equity for students from different socioeconomic and ethnic backgrounds.
In a Thursday, May 26, interview, Lalas said critical race theory is not taught in kindergarten through high school, but is rather a “graduate-school level” concept.
“Anyone can support it, but it’s not being taught to kids in Corona-Norco,” Lalas said. “Whether people agree or know what it is, (critical race theory) is beyond the district’s boundary. It’s not being taught in schools.”
Lalas said equity is one of the district’s four strategic goals and that the recall petition is a way of “singling me out.”
“This is not my ‘political agenda,’” he said. “It’s the district’s priority. That doesn’t mean Jose’s, but all the board members and district (employees). Of course, I’ll be for equity if it’s for the good of everybody.”
