San Mateo County · Sequoia Union High School District
Decisions made in private. A superintendent nobody questions. Legal bills we all pay. It’s time for change, and a recall is the only way to get it.
Stay up to date with the recall process.
01 · Accountability
The board has one employee: Superintendent Crystal Leach. It has yet to vote against anything she proposes.
With a school closure on the table, not one trustee dissented or got her to show other alternatives.
Students sued over antisemitism the district failed to address. Two years later, the board settled, and an independent agency now has to oversee district responses to antisemitism complaints.
02 · Budget
The district spent $50 million in voter-approved bonds to build a campus. Six years later, the board emptied it.
Last spring alone, the district paid $400K and $325K to settle lawsuits. Claims from a counselor, a coach, and other former staff are still in litigation.
After talking about a budget deficit all year, the board raised the superintendent’s base salary from $352,000 to $367,000 in June.
03 · Transparency
Board-approved AS/Honors courses were dropped at school sites with no vote, no guidance, and no public debate.
The superintendent ignored committee recommendations in hiring an interim principal at East Palo Alto Academy. The board let it stand.
Hundreds of students, parents, teachers, and community members wrote to the board about TIDE Academy, and they received generic responses.
The recall targets the three trustees who are not up for re-election until 2028. The other two are on the November 2026 ballot, so voters in those areas will get their say soon.
To trigger a recall election, the county must receive signatures from 20% of the registered voters in a trustee’s area.
Where you live decides which petition you can sign. Find your area on the map.
Trustee Area B
6,678
signatures needed
Trustee Area C
7,557
signatures needed
Trustee Area E
4,271
signatures needed
Signatures from 20% of the registered voters in each trustee’s area, gathered within 120 days of the notice to recall being published. Every signature must come from a voter registered in that specific area, which is why checking your address to know your area is critical.
No. We are going after a governing majority and the way it makes decisions. If the other two seats were not up for re-election, the recall would apply to them. They face voters in November instead.
TIDE’s closure is what brought many of us together, and it is one clear example of how this board operates. It is not the case for recall. The case is the pattern: no real supervision of the superintendent, processes hidden from the public, and wasteful spending on legal fees because district leaders can't do the right thing unless compelled by a judge. That affects every campus and every family in this district.
Join the list and we’ll tell you exactly when and where you can sign. We’ll also show you how to help gather signatures.