Recall effort surfaces at Poway Unified board meeting
While the topic was not on the agenda, an announced recall effort against Poway Unified School Board member Andy Patapow was on the minds of many who attended Monday night’s board meeting.
The leadership of the Poway Federation of Teachers organized an informal tribute to Patapow and to his 20 years of service on the board. During the public oral portion of the meeting, a half-dozen speakers from various school volunteer groups, including those dealing with students in crisis, praised Patapow for his advocacy efforts on behalf of students. Cheering them on were several dozen teachers’ union members in their blue PFT shirts.
Not once during their presentations was the word “recall” mentioned.
Earlier in the evening, board members T.J. Zane and Michelle O’Connor Ratcliff expressed their support for Patapow. Moments later Patapow said he fully intends to finish the final year of his term; a comment that drew a prolonged standing ovation from many in the standing-room-only audience.
During his three minutes at the microphone, former school board member Marc Davis called the recall effort “silly on its face” and said that Patapow had done nothing to warrant being removed from office.
Davis specially asked Board President Kimberley Beatty and board member Charles Sellers if they supported the recall. Sellers did not reply, but Beatty said she had been advised by the representative of the district attorney’s office that board members could not comment on election and campaigning issues.
Last week a group of parents and community members, saying they were unhappy with Patpow’s support several years ago of the controversial capital appreciation bonds (CABs) used to finance campus improvements, launched an effort to recall Patapow. While the group’s first and second official notices of intent to start the campaign were rejected by the county Registrar of Voters because of invalid addresses of some of those signing the notice, a third notice was approved late last week.
Once the wording on the recall petition is approved by the county, supporters will begin to collect the necessary 10,000 signatures needed to qualify the question on a future ballot.
Davis told the school board that an election, depending on when it was held, would cost the district between $200,000 and $800,000.
Also under public oral, parent Gabby Dow first thanked Supt. John Collins for his years of service to the district, then suggested the time had come for the board to “go in another direction” for leadership.
“Your leadership is not for the future,” Dow told Collins, who did not respond.
Regarding items on the agenda, the school board:
• Approved a 2015-16 contract with the Poway School Employees Association calling for across-the-board 3 percent pay raises and improvements to benefits. The package will cost the district about $4 million, according to a staff report.
• Agreed to have staff prepare a “request for qualifications” for additional legal counsel for the board and the district. Beatty and O’Connor-Ratcliff (both attorneys) will review the responses and present three possible candidate firms to the board for consideration.
