Dick Bachelder recall, York School Department, Maine (2018)

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2018 Dick Bachelder Recall York School Department
Recall status
Defeated
Recall election date
April 7, 2018
Table of contents
Recall vote Recall supporters Recall opponents Path to the ballot
See also
External links Footnotes

An effort to recall Dick Bachelder from his position on the York School Committee in Maine was defeated by voters on April 7, 2018. The recall was started by the group Coaches and Kids Matter after basketball and football coach Randy Small was fired from his position by interim Superintendent Mark McQuillan in November 2017. Recall supporters said that Bachelder violated the school committee's code of ethics with his alleged involvement in the firing. School Committee Chairwoman Julie Eneman and Vice Chairwoman Brenda Alexander said they believed the charges brought against Bachelder were not supported by hard evidence.

Bachelder was elected to a three-year term on the five-member York School Committee in May 2015. His term was up for general election in May 2018.

Recall vote

Dick Bachelder, York School Committee Member
Result		Votes	Prozentualer Anteil
Recall		315	29.75%
Retain		744	70.25%
Election results via: Seacoastonline, "Bachelder to remain on school committee," April 7, 2018

Recall supporters

The recall petition said that Bachelder committed eight School Committee Code of Ethics violations related to Small's termination. Kent Kilgore, a member of Coaches and Kids Matter, said that Bachelder was the catalyst for Small's removal. Small said that a small group of parents had sought to oust him from his position. “Bachelder was the guy that some of these complaining parents knew and he was interested in taking care of their concerns,” Kilgore said.

Former assistant basketball coach Kevin Talty said that he had overheard a conversation years prior to Small's firing in which Bachelder said he did not want Small to coach two major sports and that he was going to do something about it. After the recall petition began circulating, Talty said three other people had come forward saying they also heard Bachelder make those comments.

The Bangor Daily News summarized the recall petition started by Coaches and Kids Matter:

"	The petition states Bachelder engaged in activities such as acting outside of the meeting of the School Committee, criticizing one or more school employees publicly, discussing confidential business of the School Committee in public places and using his position to benefit others apart from the total interests of the school.	”
—Bangor Daily News (January 17, 2018)

Recall opponents

After the signatures on the recall petition were verified, Bachelder said he would not resign. He also said that he planned to run for re-election in May 2018 regardless of the outcome of the recall election. “I’ve done nothing wrong and I look forward to explaining that statement between now and the recall election,” said Bachelder. “The recall is based on charges only. I have not violated the code of ethics. And I look forward to defending myself.”

Bachelder spoke about the recall effort in public on February 26, 2018. He said that the town's charter should be changed to require recall petitions to be substantiated by fact. “From a personal perspective, the recall election initiative is an unfounded attack on my integrity and ethical behavior. At the same time, it paints the School Committee in a bad light by inference,” said Bachelder. “Neither is warranted or deserved.”

School Committee Chairwoman Julie Eneman and Vice Chairwoman Brenda Alexander said they believed the charges brought against Bachelder were not supported by hard evidence. Eneman said if an evidence-based charge was brought against Bachelder, “we would have a responsibility to look at that as a School Committee.”

Eneman also said that state law requires employee records related to misconduct or disciplinary action to be confidential. She said that school policy stipulates that the decision to hire and fire coaches resides with the superintendent or school administrators. The school committee's role is only to approve the funds for the hiring, according to Eneman. “I know that leaves us saying a whole lot of nothing, but that is the process we have to follow,” she said.

Path to the ballot

See also: Laws governing recall in Maine

Recall supporters had to submit at least 697 signatures to the York Town Clerk by February 9, 2018, to get the recall on the ballot. The 697 signatures were equal to 10 percent of district citizens who voted in the last gubernatorial election. The group said they submitted 1,072 signatures on February 6, 2018. The town clerk verified the signatures and submitted them to the York Board of Selectmen, which notified Bachelder that he had five days to resign from his position or face a recall election. Bachelder refused to resign, and the recall election was scheduled for April 7, 2018. Voters defeated the recall effort with more than 70 percent voting against, according to unofficial results.

See also

• York School Department, Maine
• Recall campaigns in Maine
• Political recall efforts, 2018
• School board recalls

External links

• Search Google News for this topic
• York School Department
• York Town Clerk