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Mike Dama recall, Crivitz School District, Wisconsin (2015)
| Crivitz School District Board of Education recall |
|---|
 |
| Officeholders |
| Recall status |
| Recall election date |
| December 22, 2015 |
| See also |
| Recall overview Political recall efforts, 2015 Recalls in Wisconsin Wisconsin recall laws School board recalls Recall reports |
An effort to recall one member of the Crivitz School District Board of Education in Wisconsin was on the ballot on December 22, 2015. Over 53 percent of voters cast ballots in favor of keeping him in office, which allowed him to finish his term.[1]
A group called Wolverines for Change submitted the petition to recall school board president Mike Dama in October 2015. The group accused Dama of putting his own interests above those of his constituency and intimidating other members of the school board.[2][3]
Dama's term was not supposed to be up for election until April 2017.[2]
Recall vote
| Mike Dama, School Board President, Crivitz School District | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Result | Votes | Percentage | ||
 Mike Dama | 485 | 53.95% | ||
 Ginger Deschane | 385 | 42.83% | ||
| Todd Klemme | 29 | 3.23% | ||
| Election results via: Bay Cities Online, "Crivitz School Board Election Results," accessed December 30, 2015 | ||||
Recall supporters
The recall effort against Dama was started by David Kopp. "You go to a board meeting and they look at you with a stone dead look in your eye and say nothing," said Kopp. He said the effort targeted Dama because the problems started with him.[2]
Other complaints from recall supporters included a school board decision to randomly drug test students and the multiple lawsuits the district had faced since Dama took office. "The school could become uninsurable at some point," said Kopp.[2] The petition also said Dama was putting his own interests above his constituency, making decisions that hurt students and using his power as president to intimidate other members of the board. “Our kids are losing right now. This is about getting a change, about making a better environment,” said Kopp.[3]
Supporters of the recall made sure to stipulate that the recall had nothing to do with a civil lawsuit between Kopp's daughter and Dama's daughter involving an incident that happened while they both attended school in the district. That lawsuit was filed by Kopp's daughter, who was over the age of 18, on her own behalf, according to Kopp.[4]
Recall opponents
At a school board meeting on October 21, 2015, board vice president Cory Sotka read a personal statement in support of Dama. Sotka said that while he supported the rights of those seeking the recall against Dama, “No single member can abuse power which he or she does not possess.” He told those attending the meeting that the board president had no role in disciplining students and that the board as a whole shared the responsibility of running the district properly with the district's staff and administrators. He went on to list positive attributes of the district, including higher ACT scores, well-kept facilities, a lower mill rate, and full wireless internet access. “If the district had been run the wrong way, it’s very likely much of this wouldn’t have been possible,” Sotka said.[4]
At the meeting, Dama said that many of the signatures on the recall petition had been challenged and that a number of people who had signed the petition had not realized what it was. He said some of them had thought they were signing his re-election papers.[4]
Some supporters of Dama opposed the potential cost of the recall election, saying they preferred their tax dollars to go towards educational items. Others questioned whether the recall was a personal vendetta against Dama, as his daughter and Kopp's daughter were on opposite sides of a civil lawsuit.[4]
Path to the ballot
The recall group filed intentions to circulate with the school district on August 5, 2015, which gave them 60 days to collect enough signatures to put the recall on the ballot.[3] They had to submit 651 signatures with the school district by October 5, 2015.[2] They reportedly submitted 681 signatures by the deadline. Dama had 10 days to file a challenge to the petition, and the district had 31 days to verify the signatures.[5] In November 2015, the district verified the signatures and set the recall election for December 22, 2015.[6]
Dama filed several challenges to signatures on the petition, but the challenges were not notarized, which made them invalid. If the challenges had been successful, the recall would not have made it to the ballot.[4][6]
See also
- Crivitz School District, Wisconsin
- Recall campaigns in Wisconsin
- Political recall efforts, 2015
- School board recalls
External links
Footnotes
- ↑ Bay Cities Online, "Crivitz School Board Election Results," accessed December 30, 2015
- ↑ 2.0 2.1 2.2 2.3 2.4 WeAreGreenBay.com, "Petition to recall Crivitz school board president," October 2, 2015
- ↑ 3.0 3.1 3.2 Peshtigo Times, "Dama Recall Filed With 681 Signatures," accessed November 18, 2015
- ↑ 4.0 4.1 4.2 4.3 4.4 Peshtigo Times, "School Board Acts Ons Tax Levy, Hear Petitioners," October 28, 2015
- ↑ Bay Cities Multi Media, "Crivitz School Board Recall Petition Filed," accessed November 18, 2015
- ↑ 6.0 6.1 Bay Cities Multi Media, "Voters Will Decide School Board Recall," accessed November 18, 2015
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