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Washoe County School District recall, Nevada (2014)
| Washoe County School District Board of Trustees recall |
|---|
 |
| Officeholders |
John R. Mayer Dave Aiazzi Estela Gutierrez |
| Recall status |
| See also |
| Recall overview Political recall efforts, 2014 Recalls in Nevada Nevada recall laws School board recalls Recall reports |
An effort to recall the Washoe County School District Board of Trustees in Washoe County, Nevada began in August 2014, but was abandoned after the 2014 general election.
Several community efforts to recall all of the members of the board developed following controversies surrounding its handling of Superintendent Pedro Martinez. Martinez was accused of misrepresenting his background as a certified public accountant. Martinez denied the allegation. The school board first relieved him of his duties, then stated he was on paid leave and, ultimately, told him to return to work immediately. The lack of public meetings on all of these decisions have raised questions as to whether or not the board violated the Open Meeting Law.[1]
Supporters of the recall decided to wait until after the November 2014 general election. While three board members were eligible to run for re-election, Barbara Clark and John R. Mayer were the only one to seek it. Dave Aiazzi did not run due to health reasons. Additionally, Estela Gutierrez did not run.[1] Mayer won re-election without opposition, but Clark was unseated by challenger Nick Smith.
A local developer, Perry Di Loreto, was organizing meetings regarding the recall. He noted the outcome of the election which brought two new faces to the board, stated, "A lot of us, including me, had an immediate impulse about recalls and as we got more into it we realized how complicated and expensive it was. I kept saying, 'Hey, wait a minute, we have an election coming up in November.'"[2]
Recall supporter arguments
Martinez was accused of misrepresented himself as a certified public accountant, which he denied. The board relieved him of his duties, but announced the following day that he was on paid leave. Shortly after, they told him to return to work immediately. The actions came under heavy criticism, in part, due to the fact that much of the decision making process was done in closed meetings. Some posited that the move violated the Open Meeting Law.[3][4][5] In September 2014, the board voted to pay Martinez a settlement of $500,000 in a wrongful termination lawsuit.[1]
Path to the ballot
- See also: Laws governing recall in Nevada
In order to begin the recall process, an Intent to Recall would have been filed. To move forward, supporters of the recall would have had to gather signatures totaling at least 25 percent of the votes cast in the officials last election. Since the board members were elected in different years and districts, the amount of signatures would have been unique to each member.[6]
If signatures had been submitted, the county registrar would have then certified the signatures and transmitted their findings to the Nevada Secretary of State, who would have determined whether or not the signatures were sufficient to call an election. A recall election would have been held within 30 days of the secretary of state's announcement that the signatures were sufficient.[6]
Recent news
This section links to a Google news search for the term "Washoe + County + School + District + school + board + recall"
See also
- Recall campaigns in Nevada
- Political recall efforts, 2014
- Laws governing recall in Nevada
- School board recalls
- Washoe County, Nevada
External links
Additional reading
Footnotes
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 Reno Gazette-Journal, "Washoe school board recall may happen, developer says," September 26, 2014
- ↑ News 4, "New school trustees say they will have to restore trust," November 6, 2014
- ↑ Reno Gazette-Journal, "Martinez sues Washoe County School District, trustees," July 26, 2014
- ↑ Reno Gazette-Journal, "Reading to recalls: 10 things to watch this school year in Washoe," August 6, 2014
- ↑ Reno Gazette-Journal, "Future of Pedro Martinez, school board unknown," August 2, 2014
- ↑ 6.0 6.1 MyNews4.com, "Organizers find complications in efforts to recall Board of Trustees," August 4, 2014
