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Rachael Davies recall, Lake Mills Area School District, Wisconsin (2020)
| Lake Mills Area School District recall |
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| Officeholders |
| Recall status |
| See also |
| Recall overview Political recall efforts, 2020 Recalls in Wisconsin Wisconsin recall laws School board recalls Recall reports |
An effort seeking to recall Rachael Davies from her position on the Lake Mills Area School District Board of Education in Wisconsin began in August 2020. Davies resigned from the board on August 24, 2020.[1]
Recall supporters said Davies did not follow the board of education's bylaws when she wrote a social media post that contained profanity.[2] The board voted to censure Davies for the social media post and others in a 4-1 vote—with Davies voting against—on July 27, 2020.[3] Davies said she did not give up her right to speak on social media when she became a board member.[2]
To get the recall on the ballot, supporters would have had to collect 1,273 signatures from qualified voters in the school district in 60 days.[2]
Recall supporters
Recall supporters published the following statement in an online petition:
| “ | Over the Fourth of July weekend, Rachael Davies publicly posted a profanity tirade on Facebook, which pushed a false narrative of a “racist white lady” hitting a Black Lives Matter protester’s car. The crash was later found to be the fault of the protester, as evidenced by Lake Mills Police Department’s squad cam. Rachael even said this was on purpose— IN ALL CAPS. Rachael’s rush to judgment and inability to gather facts to make informed decisions makes her unable to fulfill the duties of her position as Vice President of the Lake Mills Board of Education.
Rachael had also posted on Facebook in June about Covid and school reopening, while failing to differentiate her personal opinions from those of the Board. Her failure to differentiate is a violation of the bylaws of the Board of Education. Her bigotry and communication style have been a repetitive issue and she is unable to uphold the board’s commitment to 'ENSURE OPEN COMMUNICATION WITH ALL STAKEHOLDERS.' She has not admitted to any wrongdoing, nor has she apologized to the community. On Monday, July 27th, the Lake Mills School Board voted unanimously (with the exception of Rachael) to censure Rachael Davies after another board member explicitly asked Rachael to resign. We are asking Rachael to resign from her position as the Vice President of the Lake Mills Board of Education.[4][5] |
” |
Recall opponents
In a statement in response to the recall effort, Davies said she did not give up her right to speak on social media when she became a board member.[2]
| “ | I think most people understand that. I am vested in Lake Mills. I grew up here. My father worked at APV Crepaco and my mom was a school teacher here. Overall, I am proud of the inclusivity of our small town, but we can do better, as is evidenced by the words of children and families of color who live in our community.
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” |
In response to the censure vote, Davies said, "I’m a private citizen. When a person is elected to the school board they do not cease to be a parent. They do not cease to be concerned for their child. I’m allowed to express my concern for my children and it is a freedom called freedom of speech. Being a concerned mom is never wrong."[3]
She also said she did not call anyone out by name in her post. "I merely talked about my concern for my kids in this community. Calling out racism is never wrong," Davies said.[3]
Path to the ballot
- See also: Laws governing recall in Wisconsin
To get the recall on the ballot, recall supporters would have had to collect 1,273 signatures from qualified voters in the school district in 60 days. The number of petition signatures was equal to 25% of the voters in the school district who cast ballots in the 2018 gubernatorial election.[2]
2020 recall efforts
- See also: School board recalls
Ballotpedia tracked 29 school board recall efforts against 64 board members in 2020. Four recall elections were held in 2020. The school board recall success rate was 7.8%.
The chart below details the status of 2020 recall efforts by individual school board member.
See also
- Lake Mills Area School District, Wisconsin
- Recall campaigns in Wisconsin
- Political recall efforts, 2020
- School board recalls
External links
Footnotes
- ↑ Lake Mills Leader, "Davies resigns from school board," August 25, 2020
- ↑ 2.0 2.1 2.2 2.3 2.4 2.5 HNG News, "Recall group seeking signatures," August 11, 2020
- ↑ 3.0 3.1 3.2 HNG News, "Davies censured for social media comments," July 27, 2020
- ↑ StandUnited.org, "Rachael Davies : Recall Rachael Davies," accessed August 18, 2020
- ↑ 5.0 5.1 Note: This text is quoted verbatim from the original source. Any inconsistencies are attributable to the original source.
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