Help us improve in just 2 minutes—share your thoughts in our reader survey.
New Plymouth School District recall, Idaho (2018)
| New Plymouth School District recall |
|---|
 |
| Officeholders |
Dave Brogan Dani Rollins Arlo Decker Darrell Brown |
| Recall status |
| See also |
| Recall overview Political recall efforts, 2018 Recalls in Idaho Idaho recall laws School board recalls Recall reports |
An effort to recall all five members of the New Plymouth School District board of trustees in Idaho did not go to a vote in 2018. Recall supporters did not submit petitions by the deadline on June 25, 2018.[1]
Zone 1 representative Ron Kovick, Zone 2 representative Dave Brogan, Zone 3 representative Dani Rollins, Zone 4 representative Arlo Decker, and Zone 5 representative Darrell Brown were targeted for recall after the teachers union held a vote of no confidence in Superintendent Kevin Barker and called for his removal. Board members initially did not take any action against Barker and said they remained in full support of him.[2][3] On April 25, 2018, however, they voted to accept Barker's resignation effective June 30, 2018, and to buy out his contract with funds from a third-party donor.[4][5]
The terms of Kovick, Brogan, and Brown were due to expire in June 2019, and the terms of Rollins and Decker were due to expire in June 2021.[2]
Recall supporters
The recall effort was started by New Plymouth Community Cares, a group of educators and community members. On April 2, 2018, a post on the group's Facebook page said, "We are committed to ensuring our district gets the School Board and Superintendent that our students, parents, educators, and community deserves."[2][6]
On April 15, 2018, the group posted:
| “ | "At this point, our best hope is to recall the School Board and replace them with individuals who will ensure we have a superintendent who supports our students and staff. It is the only way to stop Superintendent Barker from continuing to promote a threatening atmosphere in which the teachers and students are unable to fully thrive.
We hope you will stand with us and sign a petition to put the School Board Recall on the ballot. Sincerely, Your Fellow Friends, Family, Parents, Teachers, and Community Members Invested in our School District.[7] |
” |
| —New Plymouth Community Cares (2018)[8] | ||
On January 30, 2018, the New Plymouth Education Association approved a vote of no confidence in Superintendent Kevin Barker. A total of 73 employees voted to approve the vote of no confidence, 13 voted against it, and 14 abstained. The teachers union cited a hostile work environment. They also called on Barker to resign.[9]
After the vote of no confidence, the New Plymouth Education Association conducted an online survey that asked teachers whether they strongly agreed, agreed, were unsure at the time, disagreed, strongly disagreed, or preferred not to complete the statement: "I am either considering or am already actively seeking employment outside of the New Plymouth School District.” According to the teachers union, 41 of 74 district employees answered that they strongly agreed or agreed.[3]
Recall opponents
Board members Arlo Decker and Darrell Brown said that the entire board was united. They said none of them would resign in response to the recall effort.[2]
“Everybody on the board is trying to work people back together," Decker said. "This other group of people seem to hate so much. I don’t think anything we do, short of the board all being recalled or the board all resigning or Mr. Barker resigning, I don’t think anything would satisfy them. They’re out for blood."[2]
Decker also said that the recall supporters had not provided facts to support their complaints. “Posting unfounded allegations on social media or doing surveys that do not provide the factual basis for the questions being asked is not a proper procedure to resolve problems,” the entire board said in a statement. “It only makes us all more divided and increases the level of rhetoric and decreases the opportunity to communicate and resolve problems.”[2]
Former teachers union president Roy Gasparotti said he did not support the vote of no confidence. “This ongoing war of words and ‘she said/he said’ accusations has absolutely no positive effect on the students and patrons of our district,” Gasparotti said. “The original intent of the NPEA was to identify and solve problems … not cause problems.”[9]
After an executive session on March 15, 2018, the board announced it would take no action against Barker. In a statement, board members said they had considered information brought to them and remained in full support of Barker.[3] Barker initially said he had no intention of resigning, but that changed. During a three-hour executive session on April 25, 2018, the school board voted to accept Barker's resignation and to buy out his contract.[4][9]
Path to the ballot
- See also: Laws governing recall in Idaho
To start the recall process, members of New Plymouth Community Cares submitted 20 signatures from residents in each of the district's five zones to the Payette County Elections Office, and the county clerk verified the signatures. To get the recall on the ballot on August 28, 2018, recall supporters had to submit signatures from 20 percent of the registered voters in each district zone by June 25, 2018.[2] Zone 1 required 501 signatures, Zone 2 required 386 signatures, Zone 3 required 523 signatures, Zone 4 required 427 signatures, and Zone 5 required 441 signatures. Recall supporters did not submit petitions by the deadline.[1]
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
- New Plymouth School District, Idaho
- Recall campaigns in Idaho
- Political recall efforts, 2018
- School board recalls
External links
- Search Google News for this topic
- New Plymouth School District
- Payette County Elections Office
- New Plymouth Community Cares Facebook page
Footnotes
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 The Argus Observer, "Deadline passes without petition to recall board," June 26, 2018
- ↑ 2.0 2.1 2.2 2.3 2.4 2.5 2.6 Idaho Statesman, "'They're out for blood': Community group wants to recall Idaho town's entire school board," April 20, 2018
- ↑ 3.0 3.1 3.2 Idaho Statesman, "Superintendent’s leadership ‘gossip’ splits New Plymouth, now some teachers look to leave," March 15, 2018
- ↑ 4.0 4.1 Idaho Education News, "New Plymouth Superintendent Accepts Six-Figure Buyout," April 27, 2018
- ↑ Idaho Statesman, "An Idaho school superintendent wouldn’t resign, so this person paid him $400,000 to leave," April 30, 2018
- ↑ Facebook, "New Plymouth Community Cares post from April 2, 2018," accessed April 24, 2018
- ↑ Note: This text is quoted verbatim from the original source. Any inconsistencies are attributable to the original source.
- ↑ Facebook, "New Plymouth Community Cares post from April 15, 2018," accessed April 24, 2018
- ↑ 9.0 9.1 9.2 Idaho Statesman, "New Plymouth superintendent has ‘no intention’ of resigning after 2nd no confidence vote," January 31, 2018
 |
State of Idaho Boise (capital) |
|---|---|
| Elections |
What's on my ballot? | Elections in 2025 | How to vote | How to run for office | Ballot measures |
| Government |
Who represents me? | U.S. President | U.S. Congress | Federal courts | State executives | State legislature | State and local courts | Counties | Cities | School districts | Public policy |
