Wisconsin Rapids School District recall, Wisconsin (2021)
| Wisconsin Rapids School District recall |
|---|
 |
| Officeholders |
Sandy Hett John Krings Mary Rayome |
| Recall status |
| See also |
| Recall overview Political recall efforts, 2021 Recalls in Wisconsin Wisconsin recall laws School board recalls Recall reports |
An effort to recall four of the seven members of the Wisconsin Rapids School District Board of Education in Wisconsin did not go to a vote in 2021. Recall supporters did not collect enough signatures by the filing deadline on October 11, 2021.[1]
The recall effort began in August 2021, the day after the board voted to require masks in elementary and middle schools in response to the COVID-19 pandemic. Troy Bier, Sandy Hett, John Krings, and Mary Rayome were named in the recall petitions.[2]
To read about other recall efforts related to the coronavirus and government responses to the pandemic, click here.
Recall supporters
Laura Brown, an organizer of the recall effort, said the board had repeatedly disregarded input from community members at school board meetings. "They're not listening to the voices of their community," Brown said. "They know if they left it up to the parents and the community, (students) wouldn't wear masks."[2]
Recall opponents
The board members' vote to require masks followed an announcement from Wisconsin Superintendent of Public Instruction Jill Underly that called for all districts in the state to require masks in schools.[3]
Path to the ballot
- See also: Laws governing recall in Wisconsin
Recall supporters filed initial recall paperwork to start the process on August 11, 2021. To get the recall on the ballot, they would have had to collect 3,938 signatures per board member by October 11, 2021. The number of signatures was equal to 25% of the votes cast in the school district in the 2018 gubernatorial election.[2]
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
- Wisconsin Rapids School District, Wisconsin
- Recall campaigns in Wisconsin
- Political recall efforts, 2021
- School board recalls
- States that allow school board recalls
External links
Footnotes
- ↑ Abbey Smith, “Email communication with Maurine Hodgson, Executive Assistant to Superintendent/Board Secretary, Wisconsin Rapids School District," October 12, 2021
- ↑ 2.0 2.1 2.2 Wisconsin Rapids Tribune, "Wisconsin Rapids School Board recall organizers say they have a third of needed signatures," September 8, 2021
- ↑ Stevens Point Journal, "Wisconsin Rapids Public Schools will require masks for elementary, middle school students," August 11, 2021
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