MIDDLETON, Idaho — The Middleton School District is facing a unique situation now after three of their four school board members are facing a recall this August, coming just days after the district superintendent announced his resignation.
Marianne Blackwell, the zone 4 representative and vice chairperson of the board, is the third board member to be up for recall after petitions to do so got enough signatures.
On Friday, the Canyon County Elections Office confirmed it did receive the recall petition for Blackwell and that enough signatures were verified for the process to move forward.
Joe Decker, the Canyon County spokesperson, said the deadline to have the ballot language written up is July 8.
With the recall petition verified, Decker said a letter went out to Blackwell which notified her of the effort on Friday. The letter allows her five business days to resign. If she chooses not to resign, the public will vote on the recall in August.
Zone 1 Representative Aleisha McConkie and Board Chairman Tim Winkle will also be on the August ballot.
According to Decker, that is a unique situation.
“I’ve been here since early 2012 so I’ve seen my fair share of elections and I’ve never seen anything like this with almost an entire school board up for recall," he said. "We have had recall efforts before and recall elections in the past but I’ve never seen anything quite to this level.”
Decker says before any board members can be recalled, two sets of criteria have to be met. First, it needs the overall majority vote. Second, more people have to vote in favor of the recall than the total number of people that voted to elect the board member in the previous election.
An effort is also underway to recall the fourth and final board member - Kirk Adams, in November.
The recall efforts came after controversy took over the district surrounding the board's decision to not renew high school principal Ben Merrill's contract.