Sunol voters recall school board members who pushed to ban gay Pride flags

Voters have officially ousted two Sunol Glen Unified School District board members, culminating a recall effort sparked by their push to ban Pride flags from being flown on local campuses last year.

Results certified by Alameda County Friday show the recall was narrowly decided, with 52% of voters supporting the ouster of board president Ryan Jergensen and trustee Linda Hurley. The election saw a 64% turnout, with 533 of the district’s 828 registered voters casting their ballot.

In September, Jergesen and Hurley — making up a majority of the three-member board — put forth a rule change that would have allowed Sunol Glen School to display only “flags required by law,” which are the state of California and U.S. flags. Though the resolution didn’t specifically mention Pride flags, the resolution came just months after school officials flew the flag on school property.

The recall campaign quickly gained steam, with parents accusing Jergesen and Hurley of bigotry and censorship — not only for the flag ban, but also over Jergesen’s demand that Alameda County sheriff’s deputies remove the public from the meeting room ahead of the board’s vote on the resolution.

In a statement, leaders of the recall effort, United for Sunol Glen, said that the vote puts “an end to the chaos the board majority brought to the community and set the district on a path that refocuses on the wellbeing of Sunol Glen School and its students.”

“Our victory is tempered with the knowledge that the past year has sown a lot of division and now we have to figure out how to move forward as a community.” said Sunol Glen parent and substitute teacher Erin Choin in a statement.

With Jergesen and Hurley off the board, that leaves only board member Peter “Ted” Romo, who opposed the flag resolution. Romo and Jergensen were elected to four-year terms in 2022, while Hurley was elected to a two-year term that same year.

The Alameda County Board of Education is expected to temporarily appoint at least one of the potentially empty seats.

Staff reporter Katie Lauer contributed reporting to this story.