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Northshore School District recall, Washington (2021)
| Northshore School District recall |
|---|
 |
| Officeholders |
Bob Swain David Cogan Sandy Hayes Amy Cast |
| Recall status |
| See also |
| Recall overview Political recall efforts, 2021 Recalls in Washington Washington recall laws School board recalls Recall reports |
An effort to recall all five members of the Northshore School District school board in Washington did not go to a vote in 2021. The charges were dismissed by a superior court judge in April 2021.[1]
District 1 representative Jacqueline McGourty, District 2 representative Bob Swain, District 3 representative David Cogan, District 4 representative Sandy Hayes, and District 5 representative Amy Cast were named in the recall petitions. Recall supporters said the board had not tried diligently enough to bring students back to in-person instruction. The district moved to online instruction in response to the COVID-19 pandemic. Since then, the district had brought some students back to in-person learning. In response to the recall effort, Swain said he was disappointed and that the claims in the recall petitions were not supported by facts.[2][3]
To read about other recall efforts related to the coronavirus and government responses to the pandemic, click here.
Recall supporters
Dominique France was the leader of the recall effort that included four other petitioners. They said the board failed to evolve with new state guidelines as more information was learned about the COVID-19 pandemic.[2]
They also said that the board had not tried diligently enough to bring students back to in-person instruction. They said other school districts brought more students back to in-person instruction compared to Northshore. "We are on excuse number 5, stop with the excuses, find solutions, every other district has figured this out in compliance with guidelines that's coming from the governor," France said.[2]
"The board in its entirety is negligent of implementing the curriculum and the law," France said.[2]
Recall opponents
In response to the recall effort, Swain, president of the board, released the following statement:
| “ | On behalf of all of the members of the Northshore School District Board of Directors, I am very disappointed with the filing of the recall petition. We have all been working tirelessly for the past year to address the challenges and adjust to the continually changing Covid-19 pandemic world, especially as it relates to supporting and educating our students. The claims filed are not supported by the facts.
As we implement Covid safety protocols and hire additional staff to support the return of our students to the classroom, this petition will ultimately divert precious taxpayer dollars and staff time. Superintendent Reid and the District will remain focused on maintaining the health and safety of our Northshore community while providing for the best educational delivery system that we can for our students under the Governor’s and Department of Health guidelines.[2][4] |
” |
Path to the ballot
- See also: Laws governing recall in Washington
Recall supporters submitted recall petitions to the King County Elections Office on April 2, 2021. The King County Superior Court dismissed the recall charges on April 26, 2021. If the petitions had been approved for circulation, recall supporters would have had 180 days to collect signatures to get the recall on the ballot.[1][2][5]
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.
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
- Northshore School District, Washington
- Recall campaigns in Washington
- Political recall efforts, 2021
- School board recalls
External links
Footnotes
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 Abbey Smith, “Email communication with Halei Watkins, King County Elections Communications Officer," May 4, 2021
- ↑ 2.0 2.1 2.2 2.3 2.4 2.5 Q13 Fox Seattle, "Parents file petition hoping to oust all 5 Northshore school board members," April 2, 2021
- ↑ North Shore School District, "School Board," accessed April 14, 2021
- ↑ Note: This text is quoted verbatim from the original source. Any inconsistencies are attributable to the original source.
- ↑ 570 KVI, "LISTEN: John Carlson Show, April26--8am hour," April 26, 2021
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