Embattled East Bay School Board President Faces Recall Drive

ANTIOCH (KPIX) — Volunteers have begun collecting signatures to recall embattled Antioch school board president Ellie Householder.

Recall supporters said they’re fed up with Householder’s negative behavior.

“She’s just not being a good leader,” said parent Lindsey Amezcua. “She’s called us disgusting. She’s called us hostile.”

“I’m just upset with badly-behaved politicians,” said Robert Conner, who signed the recall on Saturday.

Over the weekend, tables were set up at public events and in front of high-traffic stores to collect signatures.

“I did vote for her,” Amezcua admitted. Now Amezcua, who has three children in an Antioch Unified School District high school, is trying to get Householder tossed out.

“Seems like she got into power and it’s kind of gone to her head and it’s corrupted her,” Amezcua said.

Ninety-seven percent of school district workers gave Householder a “no confidence” vote. Householder also tried to fire the superintendent who, last year, won the Superintendent of the Year award.

“She’s a Democrat but she’s definitely taken a page out of Donald Trump’s book of rules,” Conner said. “She’s definitely a bad actor, badly behaved. Doesn’t seem like a nice person.”

“It would look like I’m the most hated person in America,” Householder said. “Those are just the people with the loudest microphones.”

Householder said her progressive ideas frighten people.

“The folks who are behind this recall effort represent old Antioch,” Householder said. She said her critics are going after the wrong person.

“You can be the superintendent of the year and still be a bad superintendent. The test scores, especially for Black and Brown students, show that she’s not doing a good job,” Householder said.

She said the recall effort is a big waste of money since her term is up next year.

“I think that anything that benefits our kids is worth the money,” Amezcua said.

“Something needs to happen now before more damage is done,” said recall volunteer Janet Zacharatos.

Organizers have until next April to collect roughly 10,000 signatures to move the recall forward.