Save Gateway Committee Ends Recall Attempt Of School Board Members Lindsi and Elias Haynes

Elias Haynes (plaid shirt, seated next to wife Lindsi) is served with a Notice of Intent to Recall on April 19, 2023. Photo by Annelise Pierce.

8.11.2023 8:45 a.m. An earlier version of this article incorrectly stated that Casey Bowden was the first to announce a candidacy for the vacant Area 2 Gateway Board seat.

A group of citizens who banded together earlier this year under the name “Save Gateway Committee” has announced they are no longer pursuing the recall of Gateway Unified School District Board members Lindsi and Elias Haynes. The recall was launched in April. Under California election law, recall supporters needed to gather just over 2,000 signatures by late August in order to trigger a recall election.

The Hayneses are a married couple who both began their elected terms on the GUSD Board in the fall of 2022. Almost immediately after gaining their seats, they voted, along with former Board President Cherrill Clifford, to fire former Gateway Superintendent Jim Harrell without cause. The choice immediately drew anger from many teachers and parents in the Gateway community, which serves about 2,000 K-12 students in Shasta County.

Their actions have also triggered a legal warning from one of California’s largest unions, the California Teachers Association, for alleged violations of the Brown Act, California’s transparency law. 

Save Gateway spokesperson Jessica French wrote in a press release that the committee is reevaluating its strategy to ensure effective governance at Gateway and is planning to redirect volunteer time and financial support toward electing a highly qualified candidate in the upcoming November elections. One reason they gave was that a recall could trigger an additional special election at an additional cost to voters. 

The Committee did not respond to questions about how many signatures they still needed of the 2,025 required by August 20 in order to trigger a recall. 

There is already one special election for Gateway scheduled to take place this fall in order to fill the vacant seat in the District’s Area 2, left by former Board President Cherrill Clifford, who resigned amidst controversy earlier this year. 

After Clifford’s resignation, the four remaining Board members tried unsuccessfully to agree on a candidate to appoint. Board members deadlocked 2/2 during three rounds of interviews, with the Haynses consistently voting together against incumbent Board members Phil Lewis and Dale Wallace. 

Casey Bowden, a new election candidate for the Area 2 Gateway Board seat, announced his candidacy on the same day as the notice to end the recall efforts. According to a press release, Bowden works for a local financial institution and is the father of a child at Grand Oaks Elementary, a school within the Gateway District where Bowden also serves on the Site Council.  His campaign website was not yet active at the time this story was published. 

You can read more of our coverage of the Gateway School District here. If you have a correction to this story, you can submit it here. Have information to share? Email us: editor@shastascout.org