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Linda Downing recall, Lacey Township School District, New Jersey (2018)
| Lacey Township School District recall |
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| Officeholders |
| Recall status |
| See also |
| Recall overview Political recall efforts, 2018 Recalls in New Jersey New Jersey recall laws School board recalls Recall reports |
An effort to recall Linda Downing from her position on the Lacey Township School District Board of Education in New Jersey did not go to a vote in 2018. Recall supporters did not submit recall petitions by the deadline.[1]
The recall effort began in March 2018 after two students were punished after posting photos of firearms equipment on social media, according to one of the leaders of the recall effort. School district officials denied that any students had been punished due to the district's weapons policy and said they could not discuss details of the incident.[2]
Downing served on the seven-member school board for over 20 years prior to the recall effort.[2][3]
Recall supporters
The recall effort was started by Lacey residents Amanda Buron, Frank Horvath, and Valerie Jones. They said they targeted Downing because she was the longest-serving member of the board.[2]
The notice of intention to recall said, "In her more than two decades in office, Linda Downing has shirked her duties as a board member to exercise proper oversight of Lacey School District policies and fiscal affairs." The notice also said that Downing "contributed to a climate within the district where the First and Second Amendment rights of students are repeatedly violated, specifically the extreme and outrageous punishments given to students who did nothing more than lawfully use firearms as posted on their social media."[2]
In a statement, Buron said, “We call on the voters of Lacey to send a message to their elected officials that contempt for taxpayers and individual rights of students will not be tolerated in our township."[2]
Recall opponents
Downing had not responded to the recall effort against her as of April 13, 2018.[2][4]
School district officials denied punishing students due to the district's weapons policy, but they did not say if students had been punished for violating other policies. School officials also said they could not discuss details of the incident in order to maintain the students' privacy.[2][5]
Path to the ballot
- See also: Laws governing recall in New Jersey
Downing's recall petition was certified for circulation on March 28, 2018.[6] To get the recall on the ballot, recall supporters had to submit 5,022 signatures to the Ocean County Clerk's Office within 160 days. The number of signatures needed was equal to 25 percent of the registered voters in Lacey.[2][7]
2018 recall efforts
- See also: School board recalls
A total of 33 school board recall efforts nationwide were covered by Ballotpedia in 2018. They included 74 board members. Twelve recall elections were held in 2018. The school board recall success rate was 28.4%.
Of the 12 efforts that made it to the ballot in 2018, eight were approved and the 20 targeted members were removed from office. Another two recall elections were defeated, and the targeted members kept their seats. One effort saw a mix of results: three members retained their seats, while the fourth was removed from his. Another recall election was held after the board member resigned. Her replacement was elected through the recall. The chart below details the status of 2018 recall efforts by individual school board member.
See also
- Lacey Township School District, New Jersey
- Recall campaigns in New Jersey
- Political recall efforts, 2018
- School board recalls
External links
- Search Google News for this topic
- Lacey Township School District
- Ocean County Clerk
- Recall Downing Facebook page
Footnotes
- ↑ Abbey Smith, “Email communication with Scott Colabella, Ocean County Clerk," October 23, 2018
- ↑ 2.0 2.1 2.2 2.3 2.4 2.5 2.6 2.7 Asbury Park Press, "Lacey gun rights advocates seek to remake school board," March 27, 2018
- ↑ Lacey Township School District, "Board members," accessed April 9, 2018
- ↑ Jersey Shore Online, "Lacey Parents Fight To Recall Board Member," April 13, 2018
- ↑ Asbury Park Press, "Did Lacey school violate students' Second Amendment rights?" March 20, 2018
- ↑ Facebook, "Recall Downing post on March 28, 2018," accessed April 9, 2018
- ↑ Facebook, "Recall Downing post May 3, 2018," accessed May 8, 2018
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