Workers, unions and community succeed in recalling Lincoln County school board members

After suffering disrespect and threats to privatize their jobs from the local school board, school employees in Lincoln County, Oregon, organized and won the board members' removal.

In a Nov. 22 special election, four of the five members of the Lincoln County School Board were voted out. The Linn-Benton-Lincoln Education Service District appointed temporary replacements Dec. 12, and a new board will be elected next May. [A fifth board member was a recent replacement of a board member who resigned, and thus wasn't subject to recall.]

The campaign was led by Oregon School Employees Association (OSEA), which represents 100 cafeteria workers, bus drivers and clerical support workers in the district. Victor Musial, OSEA director of field operations, said the union tried to work collaboratively with the board in solving the district's budget crisis, but got the cold shoulder.

Musial says board members were rude to union members and to the public. One member even called union leaders "carpetbaggers."

About 45 percent of registered voters took part in the special election, and the vote to remove board members averaged nearly three to two.

The board had antagonized the community in a number of ways, Musial said. At the same time the board voted to give big raises to school administrators, it closed an elementary school, ended auto shop class at Newport High, cancelled middle school sports and threatened to contract out janitorial and school bus services. The unkindest cut was the decision to close a K-12 school in the village of Eddyville, where a private foundation guaranteed all graduates four years of full tuition at any Oregon public university.

In mid-July, OSEA began collecting signatures to recall school board members. Even after the recall effort qualified for the ballot, Musial says the union offered to call off the campaign if the board would work with them. "We were saying this is not the way to balance the budget; running a school district is not like running a business." Musial said they got nowhere.

OSEA was helped in the campaign by local booster clubs, the Electrical Workers and other unions, and the Oregon AFL-CIO, which did a mailing to all local union members.

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