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Brett Weir and Kathy Weykamp recall, St. Joseph Public Schools, Michigan (2022)
| St. Joseph Public Schools recall |
|---|
 |
| Officeholders |
Kathy Weykamp |
| Recall status |
| Signature requirement |
| See also |
| Recall overview Political recall efforts, 2022 Recalls in Michigan Michigan recall laws School board recalls Recall reports |
An effort to recall two of the seven members of the St. Joseph Public Schools Board of Education in Michigan did not go to a vote in 2022. The Berrien County Elections Office did not verify enough petition signatures to put the recall on the ballot.[1]
The recall effort began in March 2022. Brett Weir and Kathy Weykamp were named in the recall petitions.[2][3] Recall supporters submitted petition signatures on August 10, 2022. The county had until September 14, 2022, to verify the signatures. If enough signatures had been verified by the county, recall elections would have been held in May 2023.[1][4]
The recall petition included the board's 6-0 vote on August 23, 2021, as a reason for the recall. The vote included a recommendation for required face masks in the district's Return to Learn Operational Plan.[2]
To read about other recall efforts related to the coronavirus and government responses to the pandemic, click here.
Recall supporters
Shawn Hill, a resident of St. Joseph, filed the recall petitions. The petitions said:[2]
| “ | MCL 380.10 includes language: ‘It is the natural, fundamental right of parents and legal guardians to determine and direct the care, teaching, and education of their children. The public schools of this state serve the needs of the pupils by cooperating with the pupil’s parents.’ Board of Education Minutes for meeting held 8/23/2021 indicate that (the trustee) was present and a motion to support the SJPS Return to Learn Operational Plan carried 6-0. The minutes including a recommendation for required face masks for all students indoors, and not including a provision for a parent to make a determination to avoid required masking for their child while inside any SJPS facility.[5] | ” |
Recall opponents
Weir called the recall petition against him "unclear, misleading, inaccurate and opinionated," according to The Herald-Palladium. “The minutes linked to the superintendent’s proposed RTL plan state as follows, ‘recommendation to support the SJPS return-to-learn operational plan as presented.’ Recall language takes issue with the one component of the multi-phase RTL plan map,” Wier said. “In doing so, petitioner expressed his opinion that parents should have been the decision-makers as to whether students wear a mask in school.”[2]
Weykamp did not submit a response to the recall petition and did not attend the clarity hearing.[2]
Path to the ballot
- See also: Laws governing recall in Michigan
The recall petitions were filed with the Berrien County Election Commission on March 28, 2022. The commission approved the petitions in a clarity hearing on April 12, 2022.[2]
To get the recalls on the ballot, supporters had to collect signatures equal in number to 25% of voters in the office's jurisdiction in the last gubernatorial election. The signatures had to be collected within 60 days of each other.[6] The petitions had to be submitted no later than 180 days after they were approved for circulation.[7]
Ballotpedia covered 35 coronavirus-related recall efforts against 94 officials in 2022, accounting for 13% of recalls that year. This is a decrease from both 2020 and 2021. COVID-related recalls accounted for 37% of all recall efforts in both 2020 and 2021. In 2020, there were 87 COVID-related recalls against 89 officials, and in 2021, there were 131 against 214 officials.
The chart below compares coronavirus-related recalls to recalls for all other reasons in 2020, 2021, and 2022.
2022 recall efforts
- See also: School board recalls
Ballotpedia tracked 54 school board recall efforts against 123 board members in 2022. Recall elections against school board members were held on January 11, 2022, January 18, 2022, January 24, 2022, February 15, 2022, March 29, 2022, April 4, 2022, and November 8, 2022. The school board recall success rate was 7.3%.
The chart below details the status of 2022 recall efforts by individual school board member.
See also
- St. Joseph Public Schools, Michigan
- Recall campaigns in Michigan
- Political recall efforts, 2022
- School board recalls
- States that allow school board recalls
External links
Footnotes
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 The Herald-Palladium, "St. Joseph recall petitions fail to meet valid signature threshold," September 15, 2022
- ↑ 2.0 2.1 2.2 2.3 2.4 2.5 The Herald-Palladium, "Recall petitions against St. Joseph, Watervliet school boards approved," April 12, 2022
- ↑ St. Joseph Public Schools, "Board of Education," accessed July 8, 2022
- ↑ The Herald-Palladium, "Lakeshore, St. Joseph recall campaigns await signature verifications," August 12, 2022
- ↑ Note: This text is quoted verbatim from the original source. Any inconsistencies are attributable to the original source.
- ↑ National Conference of State Legislatures, "Recall of Local Officials," accessed July 27, 2021
- ↑ 'Michigan Legislature, "Michigan Compiled Laws Section 168.961, accessed March 15, 2016
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