Recall Petition Filed Against Antioch School Board Trustee

On Wednesday, the Contra Costa County Elections Office confirmed that the recall petition against Antioch Unified School District Board of Trustee Debra Vinson was filed.

Led by Nicole Cedano, she turned in 30-signatures to the county as part of the process of a recall. The Antioch Unified School District includes Antioch and portions of the City of Oakley and City of Pittsburg.

According to the County Elections Office, the Petition for Recall was filed and Ms. Vinson was notified. She now has 7-days to issue a response before signature collection can begin.

On October 26, at the School Board meeting, Cedano served Vinson with papers while addressing the school board:

Cedano speaking to the Antioch School Board

Tonight, I am here because a little over a month ago I said Board Trustee Debra Vinson should be recalled. Today, I feel the same way. Ms. Vinson is not the type of Board Member that the Antioch Unified School District should have representing children. Her attitude and the way she has conducted herself is not someone who should be setting an example for children.

Whether or not you are recalled or not I hope you can learn from this. I hope you think before you speak and not everything in this world is racially motivated. This is a very diverse community that is better than racial tensions.

Last month there was a hate crime. People of all ages, ethnic background came together to show support for the family. People of all ethnicities condemned that incident as well.

The incident in question occurred in August, its nearly November and you have failed to even issue an apology that shows you are sorry. You have shown no remorse and instead blame others for your own actions.

Tonight, I regretfully am tasked with serving you recall papers. Should we get the required amount of signatures, I would ask that you resign from your seat and save the taxpayers money on a recall election.

Cedano says that Vinson’s comments were inappropriate and racially motivated when she asked a staff member if they had taken a course in “ “Facing History and Ourselves”. Instead of just apologizing, Vinson costs the school district more than $3,000 in legal fees.

She highlights since speaking at the school board meeting, more incidents involving Vinson have come forward–although she did not elaborate further, but says they will come out during the recall.

The Antioch Unified School District confirmed it has completed an investigation into Vinson’s comments with a cost of just over $3,000. The determination was Vinson should issue an apology.

According to an email obtained via public records request, the school employ stated:

“I looked up the website for “Facing History and Ourselves” to see if it offered customer service training. The tag line reads “Every Day, reports of incidents of bigotry and hatred across the globe show us how fragile democracy can be,”

That made me feel as though Ms. Vinson was insinuating that I am a bigot.”

On Oct. 26, the CSEA Antioch Chapter 85 took to social media highlighting the lack of apology from Ms. Vinson.

The petition to recall Ms. Vinson is based on a series of incidents that highlight   her mal-treatment of District employees. One incident resulted in the District paying $3,000 in legal fees to instruct Ms. Vinson to issue an apology to a District employee. She did not apologize but alluded to a misconception of her behavior.

The Elections Office did not provide an exact number of signatures required, however, estimates are around 10,000 signatures will be required to put a recall on the ballot. The exact number of signatures required will be given next week.

Vinson is currently not up for election, her term is up in December 2018.

Disclosure: Mike Burkholder is publisher of EastCountyToday and is also a candidate running for Antioch School Board — no position is being taken in support or against this recall effort at this time.