Elizabethton Schools Recall Effort Wins

ELIZABETHTON, Tenn. (AP)  Organizers of a group upset over politics in the Elizabethton school board won Tuesday when voters chose to recall two of the five board members.

In November, members of the school board met hundreds of miles away from home at the Opryland Hotel in Nashville to discuss hiring, David Roper, a school official from Roanoke, Ala. as the Elizabethton director of schools. The Elizabethton board hired Roper as director of schools.

The hiring displeased Tammy Ward and others in the community who supported then-Elizabethton High School principal Ed Alexander for the job. After Roper's hiring, Alexander was reassigned to work at an alternative school.

Concerned Citizens of Elizabethton listed two grounds for removal:
participation in board meetings which denied the public access to the conducting of public business and failure to follow board procedures.

More than the required 66 percent of the total vote turned out to remove board chairwoman Judy Richardson and board member Bob Berry.

Not counting absentee votes, the tally to recall Richardson was 2,720 for and 702 against, according to the Carter County Election Commission. The tally to recall Berry was 2,700 for and 714 against.

"I feel we'll have a change for the better in our school system," said Tammy Ward, spokeswoman for Concerned Citizens of Elizabethton, which led the recall effort. "I feel like now we can put some accountability and some responsibility back on the school board."

Voters do have an avenue to pursue when our elected officials are not acting in the best interest of the voters.