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About 100 people came to a special meeting of the Sunnyside Unified School District Governing Board on Thursday night in support of their leader, seemingly on the brink of resigning.

But the meeting did not happen, as only two of the five members appeared, one less than the quorum needed to hold a public meeting.

Board President Eva Dong and member Robert Jaramillo attended the meeting. Members Tony Silvain, Linda Lopez and Luis Araiza did not.

Dong called the meeting to clarify issues resulting from a Tuesday meeting in which the board voted 3-2 not to approve certain language in Superintendent Raul Bejarano's contract.

After the vote, the reasons why Silvain, Araiza and Lopez voted against the contract remained unclear, though Silvain said Wednesday that his vote was similar to a call for Bejarano's resignation.

Araiza and Lopez have not commented on their votes.

In the aftermath, Bejarano has met with lawyers to discuss terms in case he is called to resign. Administrators and teachers have sent e-mails and letters to Bejarano and the board, using words such as "shocked," "deeply concerned" and "deeply disappointed" to describe their feelings in the two days since the vote.

The assembly Thursday contained moments not normally seen in the district boardroom.

Bejarano received three standing ovations in 40 minutes. And after one supporter literally gave Bejarano her "two cents' worth of how I feel," about half those in attendance lined up to give Bejarano some of their pocket change. Some displayed signs showing support from teachers and parents.

After giving the absent members the required 15 minutes to appear, Dong announced that the meeting had been rescheduled for 6 tonight, saying the absent members requested the new meeting and that the agenda would be to discuss the contract and "a reorganization of the board."

"Obviously, they're not too happy with my leadership," Dong told the crowd.

Before the assembly disbanded, Dong asked the administrators, teachers and parents to come to the rescheduled meeting to show their support for Bejarano.

"We cannot let this happen to our children because that's who it's going to affect in the long run," Dong said.

"Don't let things like this get us down," Jaramillo said, adding that he was supporting Bejarano, who came to the district in 2000 after working in Nogales, Ariz., for more than 30 years.

The board members' absence irked many of those in attendance.

"I think it's pretty crappy," said Chaparral Middle School teacher Jill Truslow. "Our district is in trouble."

The district is working to get more students to read at grade level and keep its high school students from dropping out.

On the positive side, only one school did not meet federal "adequate yearly progress" this year, and the district is appealing that decision on the grounds that the special-education students needed certain accommodations to take the AIMS test.

Since there was no quorum, the proceedings Thursday were not a matter of public record, so the comments of the eight people who spoke to the crowd were not recorded.

One of the speakers, Liberty Elementary teacher Brad Fritz, expressed his disgust that the board members would not attend.

"I take this as a slap in the face that they're not here," Fritz said. "I think that this shows that we have … people who don't care about the students or the community."

No one spoke against Bejarano.

Some of the speakers called for the removal of the three absent board members.

Silvain is defending his seat, as is Dong, against former board member Eric Giffin in the Nov. 7 election. Lopez's and Araiza's terms end next year.

Bejarano's contract, which pays him $102,207 through his June 30 retirement, stipulates that the board must have "just cause" to dismiss the superintendent, express its wish in writing and hold hearings.