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Cheers, tears and applause filled the room as the realization sunk in that Sunnyside Unified School District Superintendent Raul Bejarano would finish the last eight months of his contract.

The board voted 5-0 to approve Bejarano's contract, but because the terms of the revised contract were not discussed in open session, no one in attendance knew immediately that the vote meant Bejarano will retire as scheduled June 30.

But as members of the audience began translating the vote, applause grew from a few people to the entire room.

"I feel real good," said board member Eva Dong. "We can start to concentrate on what's going on out there in the district."

The nearly 100 people who waited through the 80-minute executive session were equally relieved.

"I think it's great, especially for the students," said teaching assistant Bea Lopez. "He's a well-liked superintendent, and he's done great things."

Bejarano, who was surrounded by his wife and two daughters after the meeting, said he hopes the district can return its focus on the students.

"We've accomplished so much that we can't continue to take steps backward," he said.

Lopez and others are still feeling the sting of a weeklong series of aborted meetings and hours of executive sessions to discuss Bejarano's contract.

Last Tuesday, the board voted 3-2 to approve a revised contract, then voted 3-2 against it. Many, including Bejarano, thought that meant the members wanted Bejarano to retire. Board member Tony Silvain expressed that sentiment, but Linda Lopez and Luis Araiza, who cast the other two dissenting votes, did not comment on their votes.

A meeting scheduled for last Thursday did not obtain a quorum and Friday's meeting ended without a board vote.

Though many are happy that Bejarano is staying through the end of the school year, some feel that's not enough.

Community members have formed United for Sunnyside, an organization looking to remove Araiza and Lopez from the board through a recall election.

A letter from the organization, whose members include Dong's daughter, Kathy, will be read to the board at next Tuesday's meeting.

In the letter, the organization is calling first for Araiza and Lopez to resign from their board seats, citing unethical and unprofessional actions by the two during the recent contract disputes. If the two do not resign, the organization will go ahead with the recall election, Kathy Dong said.

The organization needs 1,800 signatures to put the issue on a ballot, Kathy Dong said.

The board also voted to hire Cascade Consulting to continue the search for a new superintendent after University of Arizona Associate Dean Robert Hendricks submitted a letter Monday withdrawing his committee from the search campaign. Hendricks was out of town Tuesday and unavailable for comment, but at Friday's meeting he expressed concern over getting quality candidates in the midst of board turmoil.