Scottsdale Unified School District recall, Arizona (2021)
From Ballotpedia
| Scottsdale Unified School District recall |
|---|
|
| Officeholders |
| Patty Beckman Jann-Michael Greenburg Julie Cieniawski Libby Hart‐Wells |
| Recall status |
| Did not go to a vote |
| See also |
| Recall overview Political recall efforts, 2021 Recalls in Arizona Arizona recall laws School board recalls Recall reports |
An effort to recall four of the five members of the Scottsdale Unified School District Governing Board in Arizona did not go to a vote in 2021.[1][2]
The recall petitions were filed on August 20, 2021. Patty Beckman, Jann-Michael Greenburg, Julie Cieniawski, and Libby Hart‐Wells were named in the recall petitions. To get the recall on the ballot, recall supporters would have had to submit petitions with 20,935 signatures by December 18, 2021.[3]
The recall petitions were filed after the board voted to require masks in its schools until September 29, 2021, when a state law banning school district mask requirements went into effect. All four members named in the recall petitions voted in favor of the mask requirement. The vote on the mask requirement came after the district announced that more than 600 students had to be quarantined due to having close contact with someone who tested positive for COVID-19.[4]
The governing board voted on November 15, 2021, to strip Greenburg from his position as president of the board, following accusations that he had a collection of personal information and pictures of students and parents in the district. The Scottsdale Police Department announced on December 2, 2021, that no criminal conduct had been committed under its jurisdiction. The district hired a forensic investigator to look into the issue. Greenburg said the board did not have all of the facts. "There appear to be bad actors involved, and I am confident our law enforcement professionals will quickly resolve these issues," Greenburg said.[5][6]
Beckman and Greenburg were elected to four-year terms on the board on November 6, 2018. They ran unopposed in an at-large election for two seats. Cieniawski and Hart-Wells were elected to four-year terms on November 3, 2020. They received 22% and 17.5% of the vote, respectively, in an at-large race in which six candidates competed for three seats.
To read about other recall efforts related to the coronavirus and government responses to the pandemic, click here.
Recall supporters
Effort against Beckman
The petition against Beckman included the following grounds for recall:[7]
| “ | Ms. Beckman repeatedly violated A.R.S. S 1-601 — Parents' rights protected referenced in the
Arizona Department of Education Parental Rights Handbook. He put the physical and mental health of students at risk by voting to mandate face coverings for K-12 pupils and violated parents' rights as cited below: A. The liberty of parents to direct the upbringing, education, health care and mental health of their
children is a fundamental right. |
” |
Effort against Greenburg
The petition against Greenburg included the following grounds for recall:[9]
| “ | The Scottsdale Unified School District (SUSD) community is demanding the recall of Jann-Michael Greenburg due to his disregard for the
SUSD parents, teachers, staff and especially the students. Under his leadership, the mental and emotional health of many SUSD students has steadily declined to an alarming level. The education of all SUSD students has suffered and continues to suffer. Parents are not allowed to have a voice in the upbringing, education, health care, or mental health of their children as it relates to decisions being made by Jann-Michael Greenburg. This is a direct violation of parental rights under Arizona law. Parents, teachers, staff and students do not feel like they have a voice and feel silenced and disrespected. The SUSD community has lost confidence in Jann-Michael Greenburg to represent them, and demands his immediate recall.[8] |
” |
Effort against Cieniawski
The petition against Cieniawski included the following grounds for recall:[10]
| “ | The Scottsdale Unified School District (SUSD) is demanding the recall of Julie Cieniawski due to her disregard for the SUSD
parents, teachers, staff and especially the students. Under her leadership, the mental and emotional health of many SUSD students has steadily declined to an alarming level. The education of all SUSD students has suffered and continues to suffer. Parents are not allowed to have a voice in the upbringing, education, health care, or mental health of their children as it relates to decisions being made by Julie Cieniawski. This is a direct violation of parental rights under Arizona law. Parents, teachers, staff and students do not feel like they have a voice and feel silenced and disrespected. The SUSD community has lost confidence in Julie Cieniawski to represent them, and demands her immediate recall.[8] |
” |
Effort against Hart-Wells
The petition against Hart-Wells included the following grounds for recall:[11]
| “ | The Scottsdale Unified School District (SUSD) community is demanding the recall of Dr. Libby Hart-Wells due to her disregard for the
SUSD parents, teachers, staff and especially the students. Under her leadership, the mental and emotional health of many SUSD students has steadily declined to an alarming level. The education of all SUSD students has suffered and continues to suffer. Parents are not allowed to have a voice in the upbringing, education, health care, or mental health of their children as it relates to decisions being made by Libby Hart-Wells. This is a direct violation of parental rights under Arizona law. Parents, teachers, staff and students do not feel like they have a voice and feel silenced and disrespected. The SUSD community has lost confidence in Libby Hart-Wells to represent them, and demands her immediate recall.[8] |
” |
Recall opponents
In response to the backlash against the vote to require masks, Greenburg said the district community was somewhat divided. "But I would say that it currently favors a mask requirement at this time around 70-30," Greenburg said.[12]
In response to the recall effort, Greenburg said that the district community should not be surprised by the vote. "Other board members have only been on the board for eight months." Greenburg said. "They were just elected to their seats. And the community knew where they stood on these issues when they ran for office because re-opening schools, mitigation strategies, they were at the forefront of issues being debated when they ran for office."[12]
Path to the ballot
- See also: Laws governing recall in Arizona
The recall petitions were filed with the Office of the Maricopa County School Superintendent on August 20, 2021. To get the recall on the ballot, recall supporters would have had to submit petitions with 20,935 signatures by December 18, 2021.[3]
About the district
Scottsdale Unified School District is located in Maricopa County, Arizona.
Scottsdale Unified School District is located in Maricopa County, Arizona. It is classified as a mid-sized city school district by the National Center for Education Statistics. The district served 22,227 students during the 2018-2019 school year and comprised 30 schools.[13]
During the 2018-2019 school year, 23.9% of the district's students were eligible for free or reduced-price lunch, 2.9% were English language learners, and 10.3% of students had an Individual Education Plan (IEP).[14]
| Racial Demographics, 2018-2019 | ||
|---|---|---|
| Race | Scottsdale Unified School District (%) | Arizona K-12 students (%) |
| American Indian/Alaska Native | 2.5 | 4.5 |
| Asian or Asian/Pacific Islander | 5.1 | 2.9 |
| Black | 4.6 | 5.5 |
| Hispanic | 22.7 | 45.6 |
| Native Hawaiian/Pacific Islander | 0.2 | 0.4 |
| Two or More Races | 1.4 | 3.3 |
| White | 63.4 | 37.8 |
Note: Percentages for race and ethnicity may add up to more than 100 percent because respondents may report more than one race and the Hispanic/Latino ethnicity may be selected in conjunction with any race. Read more about race and ethnicity in the census here.
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
- Scottsdale Unified School District, Arizona
- Scottsdale Unified School District, Arizona, elections (2020)
- Scottsdale Unified School District elections (2018)
- Recall campaigns in California
- Political recall efforts, 2021
- School board recalls
- States that allow school board recalls
External links
- Search Google News for this topic
- Scottsdale Unified School District
- Office of the Maricopa County School Superintendent
Footnotes
- ↑ Office of the Maricopa County School Superintendent, "Recall Elections," accessed December 20, 2021
- ↑ KNXV Phoenix, "No recall election set for SUSD board president," December 19, 2021
- ↑ 3.0 3.1 Office of the Maricopa County School Superintendent, "Recall Elections," accessed August 26, 2021
- ↑ Fox 10 Phoenix, "Recall petitions filed for Scottsdale Unified School District board members who voted in favor of mask mandate," August 23, 2021
- ↑ 12 News, "SUSD Board votes to remove Jann-Michael Greenburg as President over controversy," November 15, 2021
- ↑ AZ Central, "Scottsdale police find no criminal conduct with dossier of parents' personal information," December 3, 2021
- ↑ Office of the Maricopa County School Superintendent, "Application for Recall Petition Serial Number: Patty Beckman," accessed August 26, 2021
- ↑ 8.0 8.1 8.2 8.3 Note: This text is quoted verbatim from the original source. Any inconsistencies are attributable to the original source.
- ↑ Office of the Maricopa County School Superintendent, "Application for Recall Petition Serial Number: Jann-Michael Greenburg," accessed August 26, 2021
- ↑ Office of the Maricopa County School Superintendent, "Application for Recall Petition Serial Number: Julie Cieniawski," accessed August 26, 2021
- ↑ Office of the Maricopa County School Superintendent, "Application for Recall Petition Serial Number: Libby Hart-Wells," accessed August 26, 2021
- ↑ 12.0 12.1 azfamily.com, "Recall petitions for 4 district governing board members in Scottsdale," August 22, 2021
- ↑ National Center for Education Statistics, "Search for Public School Districts," accessed March 8, 2021
- ↑ National Center for Education Statistics, "Public Elementary/Secondary School Universe Survey," accessed March 8, 2021
