Cedar Springs Public Schools recall, Michigan (2018)

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Cedar Springs Public Schools Board of Education recall
Officeholders
Heidi Reed Matt Shoffner Shannon Vanderhyde
Recall status
Did not go to a vote
See also
Recall overview Political recall efforts, 2018 Recalls in Michigan Michigan recall laws School board recalls Recall reports

An effort to recall three of the seven members on the Cedar Springs Public Schools Board of Education in Michigan did not go to a vote in 2018. Board President Heidi Reed, board Vice President Matt Shoffner, and board Treasurer Shannon Vanderhyde were initially targeted for recall in March 2018, but recall supporters ended the effort in July 2018, saying that relations between the board and their constituents had improved. "While we will continue to expect a high level of transparency we thank the board for taking these first steps in the direction of reconciliation. It is a new day indeed,” Molly Nixon, spokesperson for the effort, said in a statement.

The recall effort started after members of the audience at a school board meeting on March 11, 2018, were not allowed to speak because they had not filled out a form to do so prior to the meeting. On March 13, 2018, Reed issued an apology in response to the incident, saying she should have allowed the audience members a chance to speak and would do so in the future.

Three other members of the board were up for regular election on November 6, 2018. The last member of the board was in the process of selling her house when the recall efforts began and was not expected to stay in the district for all of 2018.

Recall supporters

The recall petition against Reed said she was targeted for recall for “Enforcing policy that resulted in public comment being limited at a board of education meeting."

The recall petitions against Shoffner and Vanderhyde said they were targeted for recall for “Enacting policy that required a ‘request to comment’ form prior to the meeting to address the board of education during public comments."

Molly Nixon, a Cedar Springs resident and an audience member who was not allowed to speak at the school board meeting on March 11, 2018, said the board had violated the Open Meetings Act. Nixon published the following letter to the editor in The Cedar Springs Post in May 2018.

“	The recall effort for the board of education members Heidi Reed, Matt Shoffner, and Shannon Vanderhyde is officially underway. The specific language refers to what I and other members of the community believe was a violation of the open meetings act, but that is merely a symptom of the larger problem. This board has repeatedly ignored stakeholder voices. They are beginning to rush into selecting a new superintendent when at least 4, if not 7 seats will be up for election in November. I believe this to be a mistake. There are calls to put in place a highly qualified interim superintendent until we have a board that will be seated more than 6 months. The board openly silenced stake holders, can anyone trust that they will listen now? There will be petitions available at the Cedar Springs Burger King community room on Saturday May 5th 1-4 pm, Tuesday May 8th 6-9 pm and Thursday May 17 from 6-9 pm. A board who will not listen to voters cannot be allowed to continue to serve.	”
—Molly Nixon (2018)

Recall opponents

On March 13, 2018, Reed issued the following apology regarding the incident at the school board meeting on March 11, 2018:

“	During our District’s last Board meeting, I did not allow an individual to speak during public comment because they had not signed our required comment form, as has been our consistent practice. Today, after consulting our Board bylaws and legal counsel, I realize that I should have allowed the comment. For this I apologize, and going forward, I will allow.	”
—Heidi Reed (2018)

In response to the recall effort, Reed submitted the following statement to The Cedar Springs Post on behalf of the three targeted board members.

“	Like many districts throughout the state of Michigan, the School Board has relied upon NEOLA for its policies. Before Heidi joined the board, our policies on public comment were adopted and in place. On one occasion, after lengthy public comment period, Heidi disallowed a speaker who failed to follow published board protocol for participating in public comment. When that action was challenged, after contacting our legal counsel, Heidi published an apology on our CSPS website and sent to the Cedar Springs Post and stated that she would not do so in the future. It is our position that the recall petition is invalid, because it inaccurately implies that our board has had a practice of disallowing public comment. We think it is clear from the media accounts that multiple individuals have made their voices heard, loud and clear. To our knowledge, other than this one isolated occurrence, no member of the public has been denied access to public comment. Our board values input from our community and stakeholders, and subject to time limits, all public comment has been heard and permitted. For these reasons, we believe the petition effort is not based on fact. We will continue to serve the Cedar Springs public schools community, with the best interest of our parents, students, and staff uppermost as a guiding principle for future decisions.	”
—Heidi Reed, Matt Shoffner, and Shannon Vanderhyde (2018)

Path to the ballot

See also: Laws governing recall in Michigan

The petitions against Shoffner and Vanderhyde were approved for circulation on March 26, 2018. The petition against Reed was approved for circulation on April 30, 2018. To get the recall on the ballot, recall supporters would have had to collect 2,356 signatures per board member. The number of signatures was equal to 25 percent of the votes cast by school district residents in the last gubernatorial election. In order to get the recalls on the ballot on November 6, 2018, recall supporters would have had to submit the signatures by August 3, 2018. Recall supporters ended the effort prior to the deadline, citing improved transparency.

About the district

The Cedar Springs school district is located in Kent County, Michigan.

The Cedar Springs school district is located in Kent County in western Michigan. It comprises the city of Cedar Springs as well as portions of the following seven townships: Algoma, Courtland, Ensley, Nelson, Oakfield, Solon, and Spencer. The district enrolled approximately 3,500 students in preschool through 12th grade in the 2017-2018 school year, according to the district website.

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

• Cedar Springs Public Schools, Michigan
• Recall campaigns in Michigan
• Political recall efforts, 2018
• School board recalls

External links

• Search Google News for this topic
• Cedar Springs Public Schools
• Kent County Clerk