Leif Skyving and Amy Rojas recall, Caldwell School District, Idaho (2015)

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2015 Leif Skyving and Amy Rojas Recall: Caldwell School District
Recall status
Approved
Recall election date
November 3, 2015
Table of contents
Recall vote Recall supporters Recall opponents Path to the ballot
See also
External links Footnotes

An effort to recall Leif Skyving and Amy Rojas from their positions on the Caldwell School District Board of Trustees in Idaho was successful in the election held on November 3, 2015. Voters cast ballots in favor of removing both members from office.

An attempt to recall a third member of the board was submitted, and the petition was approved for circulation in October 2014. The effort to recall Tom Briten was postponed due to a state law that required board members hold office in their current term for at least 90 days before a group could start a recall against them. Briten was sworn into his current term on the board in July, so the recall supporters had to wait until October to circulate their petition.

Recall supporters began targeting Skyving and Rojas in July 2015 following the removal of acting Superintendent Tim Rosandick. While Rosandick was not fired from the post, his contract was altered to allow him to stay on as a consultant through the end of its term. The board described the decision as a “mutual agreement," while supporters argued that Rosandick did not want to leave the position.

Despite the recall effort against him, Skyving was elected to serve as chair of the board in July 2015. Fellow recall target Rojas motioned for his appointment to the role. Trustee Travis Manning joined Rojas and Skyving in voting in favor of the motion, while outgoing chair Chuck Stout and Trustee Thomas Briten abstained from the vote.

Recall vote

Amy Rojas, At-large Board Member, Caldwell School District
Result		Votes	Percentage
Recall		296	56.6%
Retain		227	43.4%
Election results via: Canyon County, "Caldwell School District Recalls," accessed December 2, 2015

Leif Skyving, At-large Board Member, Caldwell School District
Result		Votes	Percentage
Recall		142	53.99%
Retain		121	46.01%
Election results via: Canyon County, "Caldwell School District Recalls," accessed December 2, 2015

Recall supporters

Arguments for recall

In June 2015, the board of trustees approved changes to the contracts of Tim Rosandick and Luci Asumendi, who were serving as acting superintendent and assistant superintendent, respectively, at the time. The changes removed them from their positions and changed their status to consultants to the district until their contracts' expirations in June 2016. The changes allowed both Rosandick and Asumendi to seek employment outside of the district. Jodie Mills was appointed to replace Rosandick as acting superintendent, leaving her position as director of curriculum and instruction.

Recall supporters did not agree with the move to change Rosandick's contract. Russ Beardsley, the vice chairman of the committee that hired Rosandick as superintendent, disputed the board's amicable description of the changes:

“	Tim Rosandick didn’t want to leave the district. I know that from discussions I had with him before the election. One of the reasons why we worked so hard to keep (trustees) Chuck Stout, Tom Briten and Sandie Dodson on the board was because they made up the majority, and Leif and Amy have always had a significant distaste for Tim. ... I believe that once the election was concluded and Travis had been declared the winner, I believe that Amy and Leif approached (Tim) and told him that the writing was on the wall.	”
—Russ Beardsley (2015)

Carol Bolz editorial

The following editorial, written by Carol Bolz, a citizen of Caldwell, was published in the Idaho Press-Tribune:

“	The Nov. 3rd election is an important election. Leif Skyving and Amy Rojas need to be recalled from the Caldwell School Board for poor use of money and no transparency. I do admire the work of good volunteers. Volunteers that waste our money and aren’t responsive to the public, like Skyving and Rojas, should resign. It is wonderful that Jody and others are able to step up and do extra work at little extra cost, according to Skyving and Rojas. Perhaps we can consolidate some jobs and have extra money for books, safety and teachers. We should get a true financial accounting when all is done. Gregor Peterson wrote a letter to the editor trying to make us believe the reason for the recall is because some people hold a grudge against the school board and not because of the demotion of Rosandick and Asumendi. No grudge here. Just want fiscal responsibility and answering specific questions. (Voters already decided on Trustee Harris issue.) The only reason given was that as adults, the school board couldn’t get along with these two administrators for 1-2 more years, and we as taxpayers pay for this fiasco. Remember to Vote Nov. 3 for the recall of Skyving and Rojas.	”
—Carol Bolz, Caldwell, (October 14, 2015)

John Blaisdell editorial

The following editorial, written by John Blaisdell, a citizen of Caldwell, was published in the Idaho Press-Tribune:

“	Skyving and Rojas, trustees of the Caldwell School Board, are on the ballot to be recalled. I support this action, as their actions represent maleficence in that they harmed the school district and patrons financially with their actions in the dismissal of Tim Rosandick and his assistant. Their actions have cost the taxpayers of the Caldwell School District well over $350,000 as a result. More money will have to be used in the near future to compensate for these unnecessary expenditures. Questions from the patrons have not been answered, and no one has any idea of why the action took place. If the questions asked had been answered, there would be no issue here for a recall. In the future, because of these actions, I cannot and will not support override bond levies for the school district. I know that there are many with the same state of mind. The yearly override levies, passed regularly for over 30 years, have been an assumed part of the yearly school budget. Without them, teachers would undoubtedly be let go. Because of the current situation, I believe that it will be far more difficult to pass these levies in the future. When the levies fail in the future, some district employees could lose their jobs. There were better solutions available to Skyving and Rojas, but they had their agenda to move forward. Vote them off the school board by supporting the recall effort.	”
—John Blaisdell, (October 27, 2015)

Recall opponents

Skyving and Rojas maintained that the board came to a unanimous decision to buy out Rosandick’s and Asumendi’s contracts in an executive session. They said they had been discussing issues with the two administrators for months prior to the vote and had ultimately agreed. When they came into public session to vote on the matter, however, board member at the time Sandy Dodson left the meeting for undisclosed reasons and member Charles Stout voted down the motion. This left Skyving, Rojas and member Thomas Briten as the only members to vote in favor of buying out the contracts.

Response by Skyving

Skyving said he was surprised to learn about the recall effort. He expressed a desire to explain more of the contributing factors to the changes in Rosandick's and Asumendi's contracts, but could not due to the privacy requirements of board discussions on personnel issues. He also highlighted the fact that, at the time, recall supporters were not targeting his fellow board member Thomas Briten, who also voted in favor of the contract changes. Skyving suggested Briten's omission showed the recall effort was actually based on "old partisanship issues."

He responded to recall organizer Beardsley specifically, saying:

“	I was very disappointed to see what (Russ) had said. He’s basing it on supposition; he doesn’t know the facts. I like Russ, he’s a nice guy and I know that he likes (Rosandick), but I was really offended that he said Amy and I had a distaste for Tim. That’s absolutely not true.	”
—Leif Skyving, (July 2015)

Response by Rojas

Rojas stated that she did not understand why fellow board member Thomas Briten, who voted in favor of the staff changes cited by recall supporters, had not been targeted in addition to Skyving and herself at the time. Following the announcement that the recall effort against her had reached the ballot, she said, "If it's about the superintendent, there were three of us who voted for that, not just two."

Arguments against recall

Idaho Press-Tribune editorial

The Idaho Press-Tribune's editorial board published the following article against the recall election:

“	The news that Caldwell School District Superintendent Tim Rosandick and his assistant Luci Asumendi had been ousted in June from their positions came as a total shock to many district patrons. By most accounts Rosandick was popular with educators and parents, and there appeared to be little controversy surrounding his administration since he was hired in 2012. But what the public saw with its naked eye apparently didn’t jibe with what at least a majority of school board members saw. Leif Skyving, Amy Rojas and Thomas Briten voted to relieve the two administrators of their duties, but to keep them on as consultants for a year at the salaries they were slated to be paid had they remained superintendents. Of course, the obvious question was why. What was the reason? The answer to that question has remained frustratingly elusive to this day. The only formal answer we’ve received, prepared by the district’s attorney, Bill Gigray, sounds like … well, like what you’d expect a lawyer to say regarding a sensitive personnel matter: “Given the current circumstances and in order to maintain a cohesive, unified and mutually supportive management of district affairs, it is agreed this action is in the best interests of all concerned.” Skyving told this editorial board there had been conflict building for some time and compared the situation to a marriage gone bad. But an agreement was reached to not disclose details of what caused the friction, and all parties are committed to honoring that. For all you know, Rosandick could have been a blameless victim of a tyrannical school board that had no legitimate reason to give him the boot. But by the same token, there may have been some things going on behind the scenes that most reasonable people would agree justified the firings — maybe the superintendents were abusive to subordinates or unwilling to work with the board on important issues. Simply put, Caldwell voters have no way of evaluating the removal of Rosandick and Asumendi, and for that reason, they are in no legitimate position to determine whether the recall of Skyving and Rojas is the right course of action. And when you don’t know for sure, you shouldn’t vote to remove them. Russ Beardsley, who is heading the recall effort, cites as one of his main reasons fiscal irresponsibility — a claim made primarily based on the fact the district will pay Rosandick and Asumendi what Beardsley says totals more than $300,000 for their “consultant” roles. He also cites their votes for an emergency levy of about $75,000 — an option made available due to an unexpected enrollment increase. Let’s take each of those separately. It’s easy to look at the salaries for the two ousted administrators as “wasted money,” but remember, they were under contract at the time the vote to terminate was taken. It’s common practice to remove people under contract from their positions but continue to pay them through the agreed duration of the contract. Had they not, Rosandick and Asumendi could have sued, and in addition to having to pay them those salaries, the district would have been saddled with additional legal expenses. In regards to the emergency levy, that shouldn’t be the sort of thing that sparks a recall. Trustees are elected to make those decisions, and as long as they do so in good faith, they haven’t broken any laws or engaged in unethical conduct. If you believe they shouldn’t have taken that levy, the proper recourse would be to vote them out in the next election. We are of the mindset that recall elections shouldn’t be used every time school board members make unpopular moves in the course of performing their duties. If that were the case, we’d be seeing recall elections constantly, because someone somewhere isn’t going to like their decisions. That’s what regular elections are for. The way we see it, recall elections should only be for egregious ethical violations or misconduct. For example, school board members who don’t show up at the meetings or repeatedly fail to provide proper notice of agenda items, or maybe discuss personnel issues without going into executive session. When former Caldwell School Board trustee Sheila Harris was recalled in 2012, there was legitimate reason for it — when she was running for election, she failed to disclose a lawsuit she filed with against the district she would be serving. That was an ethical problem, and that’s the kind of thing that justifies a recall. School district superintendents are like CEOs — they serve at the pleasure of their board of directors (in this case, the school board), and that board is perfectly within its bounds to fire them. There was nothing unethical in what happened here. If you don’t like it, wait until Skyving and Rojas (and eventually Briten, as well) come up for reelection (if they run again) and vote them out. We’re just as vexed at the lack of details on Rosandick’s removal as you are. We believe you deserve a basic reason for it. But just as we believe it’s wrong for Caldwell patrons to lose their superintendent without knowing why, we also believe it would be equally wrong to toss out the people who made it happen without knowing whether the firings could be justified.	”
—Phil Bridges, Idaho Press-Tribune Editorial Board, (October 11, 2015)

Judy Willmorth Ferro editorial

Prior to the initial reporting on the recall effort, the board had described the decision to relieve Rosandick and Asumendi and alter their contracts as a “mutual agreement” seeking to improve cohesion between the board and the superintendent. Judy Willmorth Ferro, state committeewoman for Canyon County Democrats, wrote an editorial opposing the recall, which was published in the Idaho Press-Tribune on August 3, 2015. She disputed that recall supporters could truly know the causes of the contract changes with Rosandick and Asumendi as those discussions were limited to executive sessions of the school board. Referring to Russ Beardsley, one of the recall organizers, she stated:

“	Beardsley has imagined a scenario where the contract change was engineered overnight by two trustees. He recently told KBOI TV that Skyving and Rojas got rid of Rosandick and Asumendi “for no reason.” Did he somehow attend all the board’s closed executive sessions, or did he use a crystal ball? A Ouija board?	”
—Judy Willmorth Ferro, (August 3, 2015)

Like board members Skyving and Rojas, Ferro noted that, at the time, recall opponents had omitted board member Tom Briten, who also voted in favor of the contract changes, from their arguments. The group could not target him with a recall due to his recent election, but Ferro stated, "Beardsley’s failure to mention Briten’s involvement suggests that he wishes to attack only the two senior members of the board."

Path to the ballot

See also: Laws governing recall in Idaho

On July 6, 2015, recall supporters stated they had initiated the recall process with 20 signatures and were working to gather more in hopes of a recall election in August or November 2015. The group had 75 days to gather sufficient signatures.

The number of signatures required for each recall target depended on the number of votes cast in their last election in 2013. Skyving was unopposed in that election; the automatic signature requirement for his seat, therefore, was 348. The recall petition against Rojas, alternatively, only needed 93 signatures—50 percent of the votes cast for her seat in the 2013 election.

On July 24, 2015, the Idaho Press-Tribune reported that sufficient signatures had been submitted to place the recall against Rojas on the ballot with the November 2015 general election. Rojas had five days to resign from her post after a letter was sent to her by the county informing her of the sufficient signatures and recall election. Signatures for the recall against Skyving were submitted and approved on August 21, 2015. He also had five days to resign. The school board ordered the election on September 11, 2015, as they were required to do by state statute.

Recent news

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

Leif Skyving and Amy Rojas recall, Caldwell School District, Idaho (2015) - Google News

See also

• Tom Briten recall, Caldwell School District, Idaho (2016)
• Caldwell School District, Idaho
• Recall campaigns in Idaho
• Political recall efforts, 2015
• School board recalls

External links

Suggest a link

• Caldwell School District
• Canyon County Elections Office

Additional reading

• Idaho Press-Tribune, "Caldwell schools recall try could put voters in bind," July 23, 2015