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West Ada School District recall, Idaho (2020)
| West Ada School District recall |
|---|
 |
| Officeholders |
Steve Smylie Philip Neuhoff Rene Ozuna Amy Johnson |
| Recall status |
3 Did not go to a vote |
| See also |
| Recall overview Political recall efforts, 2020 Recalls in Idaho Idaho recall laws School board recalls Recall reports |
An effort to recall all five members of the West Ada School District Board of Trustees in Idaho did not go to a vote in 2020. Ed Klopfenstein, Steve Smylie, Philip Neuhoff, Rene Ozuna, and Amy Johnson were named in recall petitions submitted by the group Recall West Ada.[1]
Two of those members—Smylie and Neuhoff—resigned from their seats. Smylie resigned on October 27, 2020, saying, "When adults fight, children lose. I am proud of this district and I always will be, but no one was prepared for a pandemic, and it has turned into division." Neuhoff resigned on December 8, 2020, saying that other areas of his life needed his attention.[2][3]
Following the resignations, recall supporters dropped the efforts to recall Ozuna and Johnson, but they continued the effort to recall Klopfenstein.[4] They did not submit signatures to recall Klopfenstein.[5]
Recall supporters said they were frustrated that the district had not developed a plan for students in sixth through twelfth grades to return to in-person learning full-time. The school district began the 2020-2021 school year with a week of online-only instruction in September in response to the COVID-19 pandemic. After that first week, the district allowed students in all grades to attend school in-person part-time. Elementary school students moved to full-time in-person instruction on a gradual basis.[1][2]
A 2016 recall effort in the school district removed two school board members from office, while another two resigned. Klopfenstein, Smylie, Ozuna, and Neuhoff were appointed to those vacant positions. All four were later re-elected to the board after running unopposed. Johnson was elected to the board in November 2019. She received 64.1% of the vote and defeated incumbent Mike Vuittonet.[1][6]
To read about other recall efforts related to the coronavirus and government responses to the pandemic, click here.
Recall supporters
The recall effort was started by the group Recall West Ada. “As parents, we have exhausted all avenues to work to reopen schools,” Recall West Ada Chairman Morgan Wigle said. “The board has created an atmosphere of exclusion, non-transparency, and dysfunctional leadership. We have determined by actions of the West Ada School Board that its trustees do not represent the parents, students, staff, and taxpayers of the district.”[1]
Recall opponents
The five school board members did not respond to the recall effort.
Path to the ballot
- See also: Laws governing recall in Idaho
The recall paperwork was approved for circulation by the Ada County Clerk's Office on October 14, 2020.[7] Recall supporters had 75 days to collect signatures.[6] They did not submit signatures by the deadline.[5]
The number of signatures needed for each board member was equal to 50% of the votes cast in the most recent election that appeared on the ballot for the offices. The table below lists the number of votes and the approximate number of signatures needed for each board member:[6]
| Board member | Number of votes cast in last on-ballot election | Approximate number of signatures needed |
|---|---|---|
| Amy Johnson | 5,155 | 2,578 |
| Ed Klopfenstein | 2,974 | 1,487 |
| Philip Neuhoff | 931 | 466 |
| Rene Ozuna | 2,805 | 1,403 |
| Steve Smylie | 3,557 | 1,779 |
If enough signatures had been submitted and verified, a recall election would have been scheduled. To remove the board members from office, the recall election would have had to meet two thresholds:
- 1) a majority of voters would have had to cast ballots in favor of the recall
- 2) the number of votes cast in favor of the recall would have had to exceed the number of votes the board member received in his or her last election.[6]
Because Neuhoff, Klopfenstein, Smylie, and Ozuna won their seats after running unopposed, the second threshold would not have been required in their recall elections. That threshold would have applied to Johnson's recall election. At least 2,960 votes would have needed to be cast in favor of her recall for it to be successful.[6]
About the district
The West Ada School District is located in southwestern Idaho in Ada County. The county seat is Boise. The county was home to an estimated 481,587 residents in 2019, according to the United States Census Bureau.[8]
Demographics
Ada County outperformed Idaho as a whole in terms of higher education achievement between 2014 and 2018. The United States Census Bureau found that 37.8% of county residents age 25 and older had attained a bachelor's degree, compared to 26.9% of state residents. The median household income in the county was $63,137, while it was $53,089 for the entire state. The poverty rate was 9.7% in Ada County, and it was 11.2% for the state.[8]
| Racial Demographics, 2019[8] | ||
|---|---|---|
| Race | Ada County (%) | Idaho (%) |
| White | 91.9 | 93.0 |
| Black or African American | 1.4 | 0.9 |
| American Indian and Alaska Native | 0.8 | 1.7 |
| Asian | 2.7 | 1.6 |
| Native Hawaiian and Other Pacific Islander | 0.2 | 0.2 |
| Two or More Races | 3.0 | 2.6 |
| Hispanic or Latino | 8.5 | 12.8 |
Note: Percentages for race and ethnicity may add up to more than 100 percent because respondents may report more than one race and the Hispanic/Latino ethnicity may be selected in conjunction with any race. Read more about race and ethnicity in the census here.
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.
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.
Related recalls
- Idaho Falls School District 91 recall, Idaho (2020)
- Pocatello-Chubbuck School District No. 25 recall, Idaho (2020)
- Aaron Proctor recall, Whitepine School District, Idaho (2020)
See also
- West Ada School District, Idaho
- West Ada School District, Idaho, elections (2019)
- West Ada School District elections (2017)
- West Ada School District recall, Idaho (2016)
- Recall campaigns in Idaho
- Political recall efforts, 2020
- School board recalls
External links
Footnotes
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 1.3 Idaho Ed News, "PARENTS LAUNCH RECALL AGAINST WEST ADA TRUSTEES," October 6, 2020
- ↑ 2.0 2.1 Idaho News, "West Ada School Board alters reopening plan; Vice chairman resigns," October 28, 2020
- ↑ Idaho Statesman, "Another West Ada school board member resigns, the third to step down this fall," December 9, 2020
- ↑ Idaho Ed News, "WEST ADA GROUP DROPS RECALL OF NEW BOARD CHAIR AND VICE CHAIR," December 17, 2020
- ↑ 5.0 5.1 Abbey Smith, “Email communication with Shannon Grisso, Elections Clerk, Ada County Elections," January 4, 2021
- ↑ 6.0 6.1 6.2 6.3 6.4 Idaho Ed News, "THE COMPLICATED MATH OF THE WEST ADA RECALL CAMPAIGN," October 12, 2020
- ↑ Abbey Smith, “Email communication with the Ada Count Clerk's Office," October 15, 2020
- ↑ 8.0 8.1 8.2 United States Census Bureau, "QuickFacts: Ada County, Idaho," accessed October 14, 2020
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