Northwest School Board recall, Nebraska (2019)

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Northwest Public Schools recall
Officeholders
Dan Leiser Robin Schutt
Recall status
Did not go to a vote
See also
Recall overview Political recall efforts, 2019 Recalls in Nebraska Nebraska recall laws School board recalls Recall reports

An effort to recall Dan Leiser and Robin Schutt from their positions on the Northwest Public Schools Board of Education in Nebraska did not go to a vote in 2019. Recall supporters did not turn in petitions by the deadline on January 15, 2020.

The effort began in November 2019. Recall supporters listed gross mismanagement of the school district as their main reason for seeking to recall Leiser and Schutt. Leiser and Schutt refuted the claims in the recall petition.

Recall supporters

The recall petition listed the following reasons for recall, according to The Grand Island Independent:

• gross mismanagement of the district;
• following a business plan dependent on unreliable income;
• failure to develop and implement a viable middle school plan;
• failure to recover funding from option students;
• failure to pass proper procedures and documentation for option students;
• lack of concern to protect district boundaries;
• being unresponsive to the public; and
• disregarding the concerns and suggestions of district residents.

“They are completely unresponsive to the public — which is also the taxpayers — at board meetings,” Abby Thomas, a district parent and a leader of the recall effort, said. “They refuse to acknowledge us, answer our questions and our Freedom of Information Act requests. They have refused to let us put items on the agenda.”

Recall opponents

Leiser said the claims in the recall petition were false. “I do not see anything that I have done in the last 11 months that warrants a recall,” Leiser said. “I really think the whole thing is just a big waste of everyone’s time and tax dollars. If enough petitions get signed, someone is going to have to pay for an election. If it comes down to them having enough signatures, we will let the district (voters) decide if these claims have any legitimacy or not.”

Schutt refuted the claims about the board's failure to implement a viable middle school plan. “I would argue that this board and myself have been successful in implementing trimester educational opportunities for our current middle school students,” Schutt said. “That started this school year. I said at a meeting earlier this year that doing nothing is not an option. At least we will have done that, which is honestly more than what has happened since the previous failed bond many years ago.”

At a board meeting on December 9, 2019, district Superintendent Jeff Edwards refuted the recall petition's claims. He said he was speaking on behalf of the school district and not for individual board members.

Path to the ballot

See also: Laws governing recall in Nebraska

Recall supporters filed paperwork with the Hall County Election Commission to start the recall process on November 26, 2019. Recall supporters had 30 days to collect 352 signatures from registered voters in the school district. They did not submit the petitions by the deadline.

2019 recall efforts

See also: School board recalls

Ballotpedia tracked 20 school board recall efforts against 47 board members in 2019. Three recall elections were held in 2019. The school board recall success rate was 6.4%.

The chart below details the status of 2019 recall efforts by individual school board member.

See also

• Northwest High School, Nebraska
• Recall campaigns in Nebraska
• Political recall efforts, 2019
• School board recalls

External links

• Search Google News for this topic
• Northwest Public Schools