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SIGNATURES CERTFIED BY COUNTY REGISTRAR OF VOTERS
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE Contact: DIANE SINGER 714-675-2327
ORANGE -‐‑ October 29, 2015 – The Orange County Superintendent of Schools Wednesday notified the Orange Unified School District that a petition to force a special election to fill the Area One Trustee seat was legally sufficient and the provisional appointment of Gregory Salas was terminated.
County Superintendent Al Mijares also ordered that a Tuesday, March 1, special election be called to fill the now vacant seat.
The successful petition drive, led by former OUSD Area One Trustee Diane Singer, collected more than two times the required 1,587 valid registered voter signatures in less than 30 days – 1.5% of OUSD registration.
“This was truly a grassroots team effort,” Singer said. “The scores of moms, dads and teachers who stepped up to circulate this petition deserve all of the credit. And I know that we will continue this momentum through the March 2016 election.”
Singer, who resigned her seat last July because she and her husband moved into a new home outside Trustee Area One, charged that back room deals made by OUSD Board Vice President Tim Surridge ensured that Salas, his hand-picked unqualified political crony, would get the seat she once held proudly.
“Now we can recruit and unify around the single best candidate to fill the Trustee Area One seat,” Singer added. “Then, in November 2016, we must complete the job by driving out troubled OUSD School Board President John Ortega (Trustee Area 2), Board Member Alexia Deligianni–Brydges (Trustee Area 3) and Board Member Mark Wayland (Trustee Area 6).
The Salas ouster is just the first step in taking back the OUSD from these failed, self-‐‑ serving leaders, according to Singer.
“We can’t be afraid to vote for a much-needed school bond because we fear that OUSD Board Members will mismanage the funds and hand out multi-million contracts to their campaign donors,” she explained. “We can’t let phony politicians spouting meaningless political platitudes destroy our kids’ chances of getting a first-rate education. We can’t continue to let that happen here.”
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