Jake Speed recall, School District of Onalaska, Wisconsin (2017)

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School District of Onalaska Board of Education recall
Officeholders
Jake Speed
Recall status
Recall approved
Recall election date
November 28, 2017
See also
Recall overview Political recall efforts, 2017 Recalls in Wisconsin Wisconsin recall laws School board recalls Recall reports

An effort to recall Jake Speed from his position on the School District of Onalaska Board of Education in Wisconsin was approved at the ballot on November 28, 2017. Deanna Verdon won the election and Speed was recalled.

Recall supporters said Speed misused his office, made false claims, and acted disrespectful and belligerent during board meetings. Speed said the rest of the board had opposed him since his election in 2016 and that they had not allowed him to "do anything to really help the district look good to voters." To get the recall on the ballot, supporters of the effort had to collect 1,743 signatures from residents of the school district. Speed was one of seven members on the Onalaska Board of Education.

Recall vote

Jake Speed Recall, School District of Onalaska, 1-year term, 2017
Party		Candidate	Vote %	Votes
	Nonpartisan	Deanna Verdon	93.7%	1,408
	Nonpartisan	Jake Speed Incumbent	6.3%	95
Total Votes				1,503
Source: WEAU 13 News, "Onalaska school board member recalled," November 28, 2017 and School District of Onalaska, "Board of Education Regular Minutes December 11, 2017," accessed January 9, 2018

Recall supporters

The recall effort was led by Onalaska residents Mark Cassellius, who previously served on the Onalaska Board of Education from 1998 to 2013, and Justin Steele. A Recall Jake Speed website was created in April 2017, and it listed the following reasons for recall:

“	Misused his office as a school board member to improperly access District premises, schools and District Office, and to threaten, harass, and/or intimidate employees in their work places. Deliberately made false claims that he filed a complaint against the District and its officials with the La Crosse County District Attorney. Deliberately made false claims that he filed a criminal complaint against the District with the FBI. Refused to perform multiple duties of his office. Been disrespectful and belligerent at school board meetings by persistently talking over other board members, raising his voice and becoming combative. Threatening board members and the board as a whole. Made security measures necessary to ensure Board member safety. Been censured by the School Board. Refused to attend 6 of 7 Closed Session meetings related to the purchase of a building for a relocated District Office.	”
—Recall Jake Speed website (2017)

The Recall Jake Speed website was created after the rest of the Onalaska Board of Education voted 6-0 to censure Speed after he told a local radio station that the board had illegally spent money on an attorney. “I know how well our school board can function,” said Cassellius. “All of this has been a big distraction for them. I hope after this we can move forward.”

Recall opponents

In an interview with News 19 in August 2017, Speed said the other members of the school board had been opposed to him since he successfully petitioned to remove the names of incumbents Tim Smaby and Ann Garrity from the April 2016 ballot. "As far as me being able to do anything to really help the district look good to voters, that's not really been allowed to happen," said Speed. "There is no way those people are going to allow me to do anything that makes myself look good."

Speed also denied the recall supporters' allegation that he had threatened a district employee and said that a formal complaint filed against him for abusive behavior toward a staff member had not been true. "She invited me behind her desk to look at the email and then I was accused of coming behind her desk and scaring her and all these other things. But I didn't do anything that I wasn't asked to do," said Speed.

"I'm the only one who has not been recruited by this board," said Speed. "That's why they treat me the way they do. They want to make sure that nobody like me wants to come forward and say hey, I believe what Jake believes and these people should follow the rules."

Speed did not attend the meeting on October 23, 2017, when the board voted to schedule the recall election.

Background

Board votes to censure Speed

The Onalaska Board of Education unanimously voted—with Speed recusing himself—to censure Speed on April 10, 2017. Board Clerk Brian Haefs initiated the censure after Speed told a local radio station in March 2017 that the board had illegally paid $3,500 to consult an attorney. The board had consulted the attorney due to comments Speed made on the same radio show in February 2017. According to the La Crosse Tribune, Speed told the radio host at that time that he had filed a complaint over malfeasance in the district with the FBI and the La Crosse County District Attorney.

At the board meeting on April 10, 2017, Haefs said, “No such complaint has ever been filed.” According to the La Crosse Tribune, it was not illegal for the board to pay to consult an attorney as $65,000 had been allocated in the district's 2017 budget for legal advice. “The board of education values diverse opinions but expects board members to conduct themselves in manners that are consistent with their oath of office,” Haefs said.

Speed thanked the board for their action on the censure vote. “I appreciate all of this for the simple fact that you guys are now proving that you’re trying to silence the things that I’ve been trying to do,” said Speed. He also said the board violated open meeting laws and skipped necessary procedures when members did not run the censure vote through an ethics committee. “If you guys spent as much time working on solving the problems as you do covering them up, there wouldn’t be any problems,” Speed said.

The motion to censure Speed can be found in the box below. Scroll in the box to read the entire document.

2016 election

Speed was elected to a three-year term on the board in April 2016 after successfully petitioning to get the names of incumbents Tim Smaby and Ann Garrity off the ballot due to missing information on their nomination forms. Garrity won re-election as a write-in candidate that year, and Smaby was later appointed to the board after the resignation of a different board member.

Path to the ballot

See also: Laws governing recall in Wisconsin

Supporters of the recall filed paperwork to start the process on August 4, 2017. To get the recall on the ballot, they had to collect 1,743 signatures from residents of the school district by October 3, 2017. Recall supporters said they submitted over 2,300 signatures on October 2, 2017. The school district clerk verified that there were a sufficient number of signatures to make it to the ballot on October 19, 2017. The recall election was held on November 28, 2017.

Speed had until October 29, 2017, to step down from his position or face the recall election. The candidate filing deadline was October 31, 2017.

About the district

The School District of Onalaska is located in La Crosse County, Wisconsin.

The School District of Onalaska is located in the city of Onalaska in La Crosse County, Wisconsin. The city of Onalaska was home to an estimated 18,697 residents in 2016, according to the United States Census Bureau. A total of 3,088 students were enrolled in the school district for the 2014-2015 school year.

Demographics

The city of Onalaska outperformed La Crosse County and the state of Wisconsin in terms of higher education achievement between 2011 and 2015. The United States Census Bureau found that 35 percent of city residents aged 25 years or older had attained a bachelor's degree, compared to 30.9 percent of county residents and 27.8 percent of state residents. The city also had a higher median income than the county and the state. From 2011 to 2015, Onalaska had a median household income of $53,737, while La Crosse County and Wisconsin as a whole had median household incomes of $50,539 and $53,357, respectively. During the same time period, the poverty rates in the city, county, and state were 8.7 percent, 14.4 percent, and 11.8 percent, respectively.

Recent news

The link below is to the most recent stories in a Google news search for the terms Jake Speed School District of Onalaska recall. These results are automatically generated from Google. Ballotpedia does not curate or endorse these articles.

Jake Speed recall, School District of Onalaska, Wisconsin (2017) - Google News

See also

• School District of Onalaska, Wisconsin
• Recall campaigns in Wisconsin
• Political recall efforts, 2017
• School board recalls

External links

• School District of Onalaska
• Recall Jake Speed
• Recall Jake Speed Facebook page