The Recall

We attended Board meetings. We have voiced our opinions at the Special Board meetings. We have held small group community meetings to share our concerns and make suggestions. We have written letters to the editors and spent hours and hours speaking with Board members on the phone and email. We as a community have spoken, the Board chose not to listen. In fact, the Board not only chose not to listen, they crafted an employment contract (Haley's) which is the antithesis of what the community requested. And, after the Board made its decision regarding Dr. Haley's contract, a Board member exuberantly raised her arms in a victory celebration at the Board Meeting while Dr. Haley pumped his fist in triumph. They made their decision having been advised of the damage it would cause to our community. The Board clearly communicated that they were not interested in listening to the community they represented. The recall is a natural consequence of their decisions.

FACT: We cannot force the Board to listen to us. In a democracy, a community's only option when their elected officials disregard them, is to vote a politician out of office. We heard stated at the Special Board meeting that we should get over it, move on and if you we didn't like it, vote. The Recall is a vote, it allows an election. The faster we move to an election, the faster we get a representative government. When you sign a petition to recall, you agree to holding elections sooner than scheduled Signatures are confidential.

The Notice of Intent to Recall the Board has been signed and filed. The Notice of Intent to Recall the Board was signed by the maximum signers allowed and has been widely supported by our community.

The recall of the Board is based on the following 4 points:

1. We prefer that our tax dollars be spent on programs and teachers versus administrators.

2. We want a Board that listens to their constituents and encourages positive, open dialog.

3. We want an independent Board, one that leads and manages versus being led and managed.

4. We want our concerns and opinions to our publicly elected officials and school administrators to be heard

The Recall does not suggest everything is wrong with our schools. The goal of replacing the Board is to provide an environment that will allow excellence in education for all. To have excellence in our schools, we do need great leadership, engaged parents and inspiring teachers. To have great leadership and engaged parents, you need consensus. The Recall is a mandate by our community that we no longer believe or trust our elected politicians to lead, manage and build positive consensus in the community. The recall allows a change of leadership.

The faster we get to vote, the faster we move to remove the Board and the faster we can get the focus and money back to our kids. Timing is critical. Our community voiced concerns over and over that "not listening" would negatively impact our ability to fundraise. If we do not raise money at the upcoming Just Imagine Auction in September, the fact is the PTG will not be able to fund field trips, books, safe school ambassador programs, tutoring programs, sports programs, classroom supplies.....etc. The auction money is managed by the Parent Groups, not by the administration or Board, so we know the money is being spent on vital programs. We can argue these things should be covered by our school budgets, but they are not.

The Citizens 4 Quality Education is not the PTG, however, many parents who are involved with the auction and PTG'S are involved with the recall.

There is a community mandate to move ahead with the recall. We will start collecting the needed signatures for a recall as soon as the petitions are approved by John Tuteur. The decision to have a recall was not taken lightly and is a direct result of the Board's decision to disregard the voice of our community (their constituents), to mismanage administration and budgets and to allow an atmosphere of ineffective communication.

Here's what will help:

1. Go to http://citizensforqualityed.blogspot.com/ to educate yourself on the facts and opinions.

2. Sign the petition and help collect signatures for the Recall. The faster we collect signatures, the faster we get to vote.

3. Consider helping Citizens 4 Quality Education with a donation of time or money. You can email citizens4qualityed@gmail.com