Clatskanie School District recall, Oregon (2018)

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Clatskanie School District recall
Officeholders
Judy Skirvin Monty Akin
Recall status
Recall approved
Recall election date
May 1, 2018
See also
Recall overview Political recall efforts, 2018 Recalls in Oregon Oregon recall laws School board recalls Recall reports

Judy Skirvin and Monty Akin were removed from their positions on the Clatskanie School District school board in Oregon following a 2018 recall election. The election was conducted by mail-in ballot, and the deadline to turn in ballots was May 1, 2018.

Skirvin and Akin, along with board Chair Walt Lovegren, were targeted for recall after they voted not to renew the contract of Clatskanie Elementary School principal Brad Thorud on February 26, 2018. The other two members of the board voted against the motion to not renew Thorud's contract. Lovegren resigned from the board before the recall petitions were verified.

Another board member, Valerie Williams, also resigned from the board in March 2018. Her resignation was not related to the recall effort. She said she was moving outside of the district.

Clatskanie Superintendent Lloyd Hartley, who recommended Thorud's contract not be renewed, resigned from his position on April 17, 2018.

Recall vote

Judy Skirvin, At-Large Board Member, Clatskanie School District
Result		Votes	Percentage
Recall		1369	79.36%
Retain		356	20.64%
Election results via: Columbia County Elections Department, "Recall Election- CSD 6J May 1, 2018," accessed June 22, 2018 and Clatsop County Elections Department, "Recall Election May 1, 2018: Official Final," accessed June 22, 2018

Monty Akin, At-Large Board Member, Clatskanie School District
Result		Votes	Percentage
Recall		1302	74.36%
Retain		449	25.64%
Election results via: Columbia County Elections Department, "Recall Election- CSD 6J May 1, 2018," accessed June 22, 2018 and Clatsop County Elections Department, "Recall Election May 1, 2018: Official Final," accessed June 22, 2018

Recall supporters

The recall petitions against Lovegren, Skirvin, and Akin said that they did not represent their constituents when they voted to not renew Thorud's contract. The petitions said that because of their votes, the community had lost confidence and respect for them. The petition also stated that the three board members did not consider evidence presented in opposition to the motion to not renew Thorud's contract and that they did not carry out their duties impartially.

“The students and the community needed a voice,” Katherine Willis, leader of the recall effort, said. “I do not feel at this time that members of the school board are representing their best interests.”

Willis also said there was confusion in the community over why Thorud's contract was not renewed. “Principal Thorud has nothing but a glowing reputation with the community,” Willis said. “I can’t find a person that has dealt with him personally … that has nothing but phenomenal things to say about him. I think there’s a lot of shock, I think everyone’s confused about how this could occur.”

The recall petition against Skirvin also said: "We believe that Director Skirvin's familial ties with district employees and her connection to Principal Amy McNeil influenced her position regarding the non-renewal of Principal Brad Thorud." Thorud removed Skirvin's daughter from her position as a district teacher in 2016.

The petition seeking Akin's recall can be found below. Scroll in the box to read the entire document.

The petition seeking Skirvin's recall can be found below. Scroll in the box to read the entire document.

Recall opponents

Hartley recommended that Thorud's contract not be renewed in February 2018 due to his "inability to work within the administrative team," according to The Chief. Hartley also said Thorud allegedly threatened the district's middle school and high school principal, Amy McNeil. He said that two attorneys had recommended that the board not renew Thorud's contract in light of that alleged threat.

After the recall effort began, Hartley said he stood by his recommendation. He also acknowledged that the community had a right to organize. “Where we’re at right now, there’s a process to everything,” Hartley said. “Letters to the editor, letters to me, even a potential board recall. That’s all part of a process. We have to take one step at a time and let the process play itself out.” Hartley resigned from his position on April 17, 2018.

Skirvin said Thorud's decision to remove her daughter from her teaching position did not influence her vote. "Mr. Thorud had an administrative right to remove my daughter from her position at the elementary school as she was a probationary teacher," Skirvin said. "She is now working in the Life Skills classroom at the middle high school going to graduate school to get her Special Education Endorsement and complete her Master's Degree. She absolutely loves what she is now doing."

In an email, Lovegren told his fellow board members that he resigned "after giving great consideration to the complaint filed against me. … I feel if my personal beliefs are going to be scrutinized to how I stand on the district’s issues that I have no choice but to stand by them."

Twenty-seven employees of Clatskanie Middle-High School issued a statement in support of Hartley in March 2018. “We support our superintendent, not because we have to, or because we feel obligated to, but because we trust him,” the statement said. “This is not a blind trust, it is a trust built on experiences and has been earned over the years that we have worked with him.”

Response by Akin

Akin submitted the following response to the recall effort to the county elections department. Scroll in the box to read the entire document.

Response by Skirvin

Skirvin submitted the following response to the recall effort to the county elections department. Scroll in the box to read the entire document.

Path to the ballot

See also: Laws governing recall in Oregon

The recall effort began on March 9, 2018, when Willis submitted the initial recall documents to the county and state election departments. To get the recalls on the ballot, supporters had to collect 288 signatures per board member and submit them to the Columbia County Elections Department. They submitted those signatures on March 16, 2017, and the county verified enough of them to put the recalls on the ballot. Skirvin and Akin had until April 2, 2018, to decide to resign or go forward with the recall election. They did not resign, and the county scheduled the recall election for May 1, 2018. Akin's recall was approved by voters with 75 percent of the vote, and Skirvin's was approved with 80 percent of the vote.

The board delayed appointing new members to the two vacant positions until after the recall election. Because both recalls were approved, leaving the board with one member, the Northwest Regional Education Service District sent consultants to help appoint enough board members to have a quorum. Those new members joined the board on May 22, 2018.

See also

• Clatskanie School District, Oregon
• Recall campaigns in Oregon
• Political recall efforts, 2018
• School board recalls

External links

• Search Google News for this topic
• Clatskanie School District
• Columbia County Elections Department

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