Trevor Shaw recall, Ketchikan Gateway Borough School District, Alaska (2018)

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2018 Trevor Shaw recall, Ketchikan Gateway Borough School District
Recall status
Resigned
Table of contents
Recall supporters Recall opponents Path to the ballot 2018 recall efforts
See also
External links Footnotes

An effort to recall Trevor Shaw from his position as president of the Ketchikan Gateway Borough School District Board of Education in Alaska resulted in his resignation on August 27, 2018. A recall election had been scheduled for October 2, 2018, but it was canceled following Shaw's resignation.

The recall petition said that Shaw violated board bylaws when he did not allow the board's student representative to participate in a discussion, though recall supporters said there were also other reasons motivating the recall effort. Before he resigned, Shaw said the recall petition was not specific enough, and he also said he believed the recall was politically motivated as he ran for a seat in the Alaska House of Representatives in 2018.

Shaw was one of seven members of the board of education. He was first elected to the board in October 2012.

Recall supporters

The recall effort was started by Sid Hartley, a paraprofessional at Ketchikan High School. She said she initiated the effort after hearing concerns from colleagues and community members about healthcare costs, teacher contract negotiations, and a discouraging atmosphere for public participation at board meetings. “You grow a connection with your colleagues and your students and you hear a lot of their voiced opinions and what they need,” Hartley said. “They’ve been asking the board to give them what they need, basically. And they’ve been unheard.”

Hartley said that due to a 200-word maximum on the recall petition, recall supporters focused on one issue. The recall petition said that Shaw violated board bylaws when he did not allow the board's student representative to participate in a discussion. “Shaw chose to verbally and physically, as it said right here, dismiss a student representative’s request to be heard,” Hartley said. “The board bylaws state that (student representatives) ‘have the right to be recognized at meetings, participate in questioning witnesses and discussing issues.’”

Recall opponents

Shaw said he believed the recall effort was politically motivated. He ran as a Republican candidate for the District 36 seat in the Alaska House of Representatives in the general election on November 6, 2018. “I can’t help but think that several of the signatures were gathered with people saying that this will help oppose his state House run,” he said. “I feel like there’s some dirty politics going on.”

Shaw said that the reason for recall listed on the petition was not the real reason he was targeted. He also said it was not specific. “If you read state statutes, it said official grounds will be detailed with particularity as to the incident that’s being alleged,” he said. “Over the last two years, there have been two different student members, three different board vacancy appointments and probably more than a dozen motions relating to all of those appointments, so I’m not even necessarily sure which incident I have to defend myself from.”

Path to the ballot

See also: Laws governing recall in Alaska

The Ketchikan Gateway Borough clerk issued the recall petition against Shaw on July 23, 2018. Recall supporters had to collect at least 540 signatures (25 percent of the number of voters who cast ballots in the last election) to move the recall forward. They submitted more than 700 on August 7, 2018. The signatures were certified by the borough clerk on August 10, 2018, and the recall election was scheduled for October 2, 2018. The recall election was canceled after Shaw resigned on August 27, 2018.

2018 recall efforts

See also: School board recalls

A total of 33 school board recall efforts nationwide were covered by Ballotpedia in 2018. They included 74 board members. Twelve recall elections were held in 2018. The school board recall success rate was 29.7%.

Of the 12 efforts that made it to the ballot in 2018, eight were approved and the 20 targeted members were removed from office. Another two recall elections were defeated, and the targeted members kept their seats. One effort saw a mix of results: three members retained their seats, while the fourth was removed from his. Another recall election was held after the board member resigned. Her replacement was elected through the recall. The chart below details the status of 2018 recall efforts by individual school board member.

See also

• Ketchikan Gateway Borough School District, Alaska
• Recall campaigns in Alaska
• Political recall efforts, 2018
• School board recalls

External links

• Search Google News for this topic
• Ketchikan Gateway Borough School District
• Ketchikan Gateway Borough Clerk's Office