Mount Pleasant City School District recall, Michigan (2021-2022)
| Mount Pleasant City School District recall |
|---|
 |
| Officeholders |
Courtney Stegman Amy Bond |
| 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 three of the seven members of the Mount Pleasant City School District in Michigan did not go to a vote. Wiline Pangle, Courtney Stegman, and Amy Bond were named in the recall petitions. The effort against Pangle ended when recall supporters were not able to collect enough signatures by the deadline on January 1, 2022. The recalls against Stegman and Bond ended when recall supporters did not submit petitions by the deadline on January 30, 2022. To get the recalls on the ballot, recall supporters would have had to collect approximately 3,200 signatures per board member.[1][2][3][4]
The recall effort began in July 2021 after the board voted to require masks for students under the age of 12 for the 2021-2022 school year due to the COVID-19 pandemic.[5]
An earlier effort to recall Pangle and Stegman did not advance to the ballot. The recall petitions for that effort were rejected by the Isabella Election Commission in a clarity hearing on July 21, 2021. The commission said the petitions did not meet clarity and factual standards.[1]
To read about other recall efforts related to the coronavirus and government responses to the pandemic, click here.
Recall supporters
Second effort
Recall supporters listed the following reason for the recall effort, according to The Morning Sun:[2]
| “ | On July 19th, 2021 at the Mount Pleasant Public School Board meeting, (Bond/Stegman/Pangle), board member, voted in favor of mandating masks for children under the age of 12 who attend the MPPS District when the children return to school on August 23rd, 2021. A presentation was given at this July 19th, 2021 meeting by the Superintendent that proposed no mask requirements, based on the results of a MPPS Stakeholders Survey sent on July 11th, 2021 which indicated 68% of stakeholders opposed a mask requirement.[6] | ” |
First effort
The first effort's recall petitions said that Pangle and Stegman supported teaching critical race theory, vaccines, and promoting LGBTQ lifestyles through the district's curriculum, according to The Morning Sun. Recall supporters also said the board members had been disrespectful to people who disagreed with them.[4]
Recall opponents
Second effort
Pangle said she was not surprised by the second recall petition.[7] After the petition was approved, Pangle released the following statement:[8]
| “ | I respect the decision of the commission petition to move the petition forward. I stand by my position on masking children that do not have yet access to the vaccine, following guidance by the CDC, the AAP, and our local health department.[6] | ” |
Stegman and Bond did not respond to the recall effort.[1]
First effort
In reaction to the recall effort, Stegman said she had never been disrespectful to anyone during a school board meeting. She also said she ran for election to the board to support "all students, all faculty and the entire community."[4]
Pangle said, "At this point, I can say that I have always listened and showed respect to all community members during public comments at our school board meetings [...] I also take my role as a school board member really seriously, and care deeply about our school district."[4]
Path to the ballot
- See also: Laws governing recall in Michigan
The second recall petitions were filed with the Isabella County Clerk on July 22, 2021. A clarity hearing on the petitions was held on August 4, 2021.[2] The Isabella County Election Commission approved the recall petitions for circulation at the hearing.[9] To get the recalls on the ballot, recall supporters would have had to collect approximately 3,200 signatures per board member.[4]
The first recall petitions were filed with the Isabella County Clerk on July 8, 2021. A clarity hearing on the recall petitions was held on July 21, 2021. The Isabella County Election Commission rejected the petitions at the hearing.[1][10]
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.
2021 recall efforts
- See also: School board recalls
Ballotpedia tracked 92 school board recall efforts against 237 board members in 2021. Recall elections against 17 board members were held in 2021. The school board recall success rate was 0.42%.
The chart below details the status of 2021 recall efforts by individual school board member.
See also
- Mount Pleasant City School District, Michigan
- Recall campaigns in Michigan
- Political recall efforts, 2021
- Political recall efforts, 2022
- School board recalls
External links
Footnotes
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 1.3 The Morning Sun, "No recall election for Mt. Pleasant school board members," January 31, 2022 Cite error: Invalid
<ref>tag; name "novote" defined multiple times with different content - ↑ 2.0 2.1 2.2 The Morning Sun, "New MPPS recall language targets Monday mask vote," July 23, 2021
- ↑ The Morning Sun, "MP school board member survives recall effort," December 29, 2021
- ↑ 4.0 4.1 4.2 4.3 4.4 The Morning Sun, "Recall language filed against two Mt. Pleasant school board members," July 9, 2021
- ↑ WNEM, "Mt. Pleasant parents filing recall language against 3 school board members," August 5, 2021
- ↑ 6.0 6.1 Note: This text is quoted verbatim from the original source. Any inconsistencies are attributable to the original source.
- ↑ Cite error: Invalid
<ref>tag; no text was provided for refs named2ndeffort - ↑ WNEM, "Mt. Pleasant parents filing recall language against 3 school board members," August 5, 2021
- ↑ The Morning Sun, "Mt. Pleasant school board recalls approved," August 4, 2021
- ↑ The Morning Sun, "Date set for MP Schools recall language review," July 14, 2021
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