Amery School District recall, Wisconsin (2021)
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| 2021 Amery School District recall |
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Recall supporters Recall opponents Path to the ballot 2021 recall efforts |
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| External links Footnotes |
An effort to recall four of the five members of the Amery School District Board of Education in Wisconsin did not go to a vote in 2021. Board members Keith Anderson, Char Glenna, Dale Johnson, and Chelsea Whitley were named in the recall petitions. Anderson and Glenna could not be recalled due to a state law that does not allow a recall until an officeholder has held office for at least one year. Both Anderson and Glenna won re-election to their positions on April 6, 2021.[1][2]
The recall petitions against Johnson and Whitley were allowed to be circulated, but they were not submitted by the filing deadline on July 19, 2021.[1]
The recall petitions listed the district's mask policy as well as concerns about critical race theory.[1] The board unanimously voted to end the district's mask requirement on June 14, 2021.[3] To read about other recall efforts related to the coronavirus and government responses to the pandemic, click here.
Recall supporters
The recall petitions included the following language:[1]
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We, concerned parents of the School District of Amery, submit this petition to recall from the office of Amery School District Board of Education, Chelsea Whitley/Dale Johnson, for the following: As a member of the Amery School District Board of Education, Chelsea Whitley has failed to discharge the duties of a school board member in the following manner: 1.Under 'Board Powers and Responsibilities' listed on the school district website, specifically responsibility <nowiki>#3; Adopt effective policies after discussing problems and issues with the district administrator and hearing from staff and citizen committees. The school board, with Whitley as president, stated in a meeting in the fall of 2020 (in the PowerPoint presentation) that masks would be recommended, but not required. Despite overwhelming feedback from the parents of students surveyed in the fall, in a private school board meeting one week later, Whitley/Johnson and the board voted unanimously to require our students to wear masks, ignoring the wishes of the parents of the students surveyed Amery School District. 2.Under 'Board Powers and Responsibilities' listed on the school district website, specifically responsibility <nowiki>#1. Make sure student educational development is the central concern of board policies and the district’s administrative rule. With the promotion of critical race theory which promotes the ideology that the most important thing about an individual is their race. This type of teaching has no place in our schools. I have seen handouts that have been sent home with 8th grade students that discuss social identity that divide categories into “Dominant identities within this category” and “Subordinated identities within this category.” These teachings are not for student educational development and therefore, based on the aforementioned responsibility of the school board, have no place in our district. As a member of the board, Whitley/Johnson should know what curriculum is being taught in our district and this should never have been approved.[4] |
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Recall opponents
The Amery Board of Education unanimously voted on June 14, 2021, to end the district's mask requirements for summer school as well as the 2021-2022 school year. An email from the district announcing the policy change said, "Masks continue to be optional and not required for summer school. In addition, masks are now optional and not required for students and staff while on school grounds, on school transportation, and at school events for the school year 21-22 and beyond."[3]
Path to the ballot
- See also: Laws governing recall in Wisconsin
The recall effort began on May 18, 2021. To get the recalls against Johnson and Whitley on the ballot, recall supporters would have had to submit petitions with 1,087 signatures by July 19, 2021. They did not submit petitions with the required number of signatures, according to the Amery Free Press.[1]
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
- Amery School District, Wisconsin
- Recall campaigns in Wisconsin
- Political recall efforts, 2021
- School board recalls
External links
Footnotes
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 1.3 1.4 Amery Free Press, "Recall effort stalls," July 29, 2021
- ↑ Amery School District, "Amery Board of Education," accessed August 2, 2021
- ↑ 3.0 3.1 Amery Free Press, "Strong presence of public at recent meetings of school board," June 25, 2021
- ↑ Note: This text is quoted verbatim from the original source. Any inconsistencies are attributable to the original source.
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