(For those of you who want more of a background on my gripes with the Rainier School District, please click here, here and here.)
I have been clued in by a couple friends that things are still humming along with the Rainier School Board recall petition back in my hometown of Rainier, Oregon. The local media there has been quiet but I have been told that there are near enough signatures to initiate a public recall of six of seven members of the Rainier School Board.
The Daily News had reported the following on February 25, and I have not seen a follow-up:
Signature gathering in the Rainier School Board recall effort is going “very, very good” and should be completed well before the state deadline, organizer Russ Crawford said recently.
Crawford filed recall petitions against six of the seven school board members in January, saying they have neglected their duties and given Superintendent Michael Carter too much leeway.
To force a recall election Crawford and his supporters must gather 431 signatures of registered voters on each of the six petitions by April 23. If the signatures are verified by the Columbia County elections supervisor, the board members will have five days to resign or face a recall vote.
Facing recall are Board Chairman Dale Archibald, Penny Blahm, Rod Harding, Scott Schuff, Bill Scholten and Chad Womack.
Only Alison Dale-Moore, who was appointed in December and not eligible, is not facing a recall.
Crawford said he didn’t have an exact number count of signatures because the petitions are still being circulated, but added he has no doubt he’ll gather enough before the deadline.
“Oh absolutely,” he said. “It’s not a question of if, just of when.”
And tonight while at JRA choir practice (yes, you read that right) I received an email notifying me of a blog comment from a concerned Rainier parent that still refuses to send their child to Rainier schools until Superintendent R. Michael Carter is gone. Here is the text of that comment from “Gordo” on my original “Fire Michael Carter Now” post:
Chris, feel free to continue this for as long as it takes to straighten this all out. My kids will not be attending rainier until the superintendent and school board start treating the kids and parents with respect and in a responsible manner. Not likely with the current regime.
Gordo I feel your pain and I definitely plan to continue spreading the word for the Rainier citizens to do something and save their school district. Thank you for your comment and please continue to keep me informed of anything you may hear.
For that matter, if any Rainier citizens have any news they can verify, please shoot me an email or leave an anonymous comment and I will get back with you later.
Save the Rainier School District! Fire Michael Carter!
Yes, Mike Carter is very pleasant guy, until you stand your ground against him about something you feel strongly about. My wife used to volunteer with the HOSTs program. She KNOWS first hand about the discipline issues at this school. Actually, I think the highschool is better behaved than the elementry kids. We used to sit in the parking lot and watch other kids shoving and tripping our youngest. Teachers never knew. You bring something like that to Carter and tell him it’s a problem at HIS school? Meet evil Carter. Blissfully ignorant or just blissfully satan. Don’t you dare even get me talking about the bus. A living hell for the well behaved kids.