East Baton Rouge Parish School System recall, Louisiana (2024-2025)
| East Baton Rouge Parish School System recall |
|---|
 |
| Officeholders |
Nathan Rust Michael Gaudet Emily Soulé Patrick Martin |
| Recall status |
| Signature requirement |
Rust: 7,010 Gaudet: 6,689 Soulé: 7,609 Martin: 7,501 |
| See also |
| Recall overview Political recall efforts, 2025 Recalls in Louisiana Louisiana recall laws School board recalls Recall reports |
An effort to recall five of the nine members of the East Baton Rouge Parish School System school board in Louisiana did not go to a vote. The effort began in July 2024. District 1 representative Mark Bellue (R), District 6 representative Nathan Rust (R), District 7 representative Michael Gaudet (R), District 8 representative Emily Soulé (R), and District 9 representative Patrick Martin (R) were named in the recall petitions.[1][2]
The recall effort started after board members did not choose a new superintendent for the district during a meeting on July 11, 2024.[3] The two finalists for the position both withdrew their nominations the following week.[4] Interim Superintendent Adam Smith's contract was scheduled to end on July 23, 2024, due to a state law that required interim superintendents serve no more than six months.[1][5] The board named LaMont Cole the district's new superintendent and approved his contract with a 7-0 vote on August 1, 2024.[6]
Bellue assumed office in 2015 and was re-elected to a four-year term on the board in 2022. Gaudet assumed office in 2017 and won re-election in the same 2022 election. Rust and Martin were first elected to the board in the 2022 election, and Soulé won election to the board in a special election on March 23, 2024.
Recall supporters
Each recall petition said the board members were "not listening to the concerns of the voters of the district."[1]
Recall opponents
Ballotpedia did not identify a public response to the recall effort.
Path to the ballot
- See also: Laws governing recall in Louisiana
No specific grounds are required for recall in Louisiana. The recall process starts by filing a copy of the recall petition with the Louisiana Secretary of State. The number of signatures required on the petition depends on the size of the jurisdiction, with the smallest jurisdictions (fewer than 1,000 eligible voters) requiring signatures equal to 40% of eligible voters in the jurisdiction and the largest jurisdictions (100,000 or more eligible voters) requiring signatures equal to 20% of eligible voters in the jurisdiction.[7] Recall supporters have 180 days to circulate petitions.[8]
To get the recalls on the ballot, recall supporters would have had to collect the following number of signatures in 180 days:[9]
- Recall against Bellue: 7,514 signatures
- Recall against Rust: 7,010 signatures
- Recall against Gaudet: 6,689 signatures
- Recall against Soulé: 7,609 signatures
- Recall against Martin: 7,501 signatures
2025 recall efforts
- See also: School board recalls
Ballotpedia has tracked 20 school board recall efforts against 41 board members in 2025. Recall elections against three board members were approved by voters on April 22, 2025, and June 10, 2025, removing all three from office. Recall elections are also being held on November 4, 2025.
The chart below details the status of 2025 recall efforts by individual school board member.
2024 recall efforts
- See also: School board recalls
Ballotpedia tracked 40 school board recall efforts against 83 board members in 2024. Recall elections in 2024 removed 14 members from office, including three who resigned before the election, and retained seven members in office. The school board recall success rate was 13.4%.
The chart below details the status of 2024 recall efforts by individual school board member.
Recall context
- See also: Ballotpedia's Recall Report
Ballotpedia covers recall efforts across the country for all state and local elected offices. A recall effort is considered official if the petitioning party has filed an official form, such as a notice of intent to recall, with the relevant election agency.
The chart below shows how many officials were included in recall efforts from 2012 to 2024 as well as how many of them defeated recall elections to stay in office and how many were removed from office in recall elections.
See also
- Ballotpedia's Recall Report
- East Baton Rouge Parish School System, Louisiana
- East Baton Rouge Parish School System, Louisiana, elections
- East Baton Rouge Parish School System, Louisiana, elections (2024)
- East Baton Rouge Parish School System, Louisiana, elections (2022)
- Connie Bernard recall, East Baton Rouge Parish School System, Louisiana (2020)
- East Baton Rouge Parish School System elections (2018)
- Recall campaigns in Louisiana
- Political recall efforts, 2025
- Political recall efforts, 2024
- School board recalls
- States that allow school board recalls
External links
- Search Google News for this topic
- East Baton Rouge Parish School System
- Louisiana Secretary of State
Footnotes
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 WBZR 2, "Petitions filed to remove five EBR School Board members following stagnant superintendent vote," July 12, 2024
- ↑ East Baton Rouge Parish School System, "Our School Board," accessed July 19, 2024
- ↑ WBRZ 2, "East Baton Rouge School Board adjourns with no vote on superintendent, new vote next Thursday," July 11, 2024
- ↑ WBRZ 2, "And then there were none: Last finalist ends quest to be EBR schools superintendent. What now?" July 18, 2024
- ↑ The Advocate, "Baton Rouge school leader changes: Out with Sito Narcisse, in with Adam Smith ... for now," January 23, 2024
- ↑ The Advocate, "LaMont Cole gets a $285K salary as top Baton Rouge schools leader. See his pay incentives." August 1, 2024
- ↑ Louisiana State Legislature, "House Bill 54," accessed February 5, 2019
- ↑ Louisiana Secretary of State, "Recall an Elected Official," accessed February 17, 2023
- ↑ WBRZ 2, "How many signatures are needed in proposed recall of EBR school board members? Details here," July 15, 2024
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