No recall for Tuba City school board

By Karen Francis
Diné Bureau

TUBA CITY — Frustrated parents and community members did not collect enough signatures to hold a recall election for three members of the Tuba City School District governing board.

In a news release, Coconino County officials stated that “board members Linda Honahni, Alvin Harvey and Jack Begay will not stand for recall at the next regularly scheduled election.”

The Committee for Community Action and Recall filed a petition for each of the three board members with more than 800 signatures on each petition, but more than 120 of those were deemed invalid because the signers were not registered to vote. At least 673 signatures were needed to hold the recall election.

According to Coconino County , the petitions “were processed according to Arizona state statute and signatures were deemed invalid for multiple reasons.”

Chairwoman of the CCAR Virginia Butler said that she was still waiting to receive the petitions back from the county so the committee could look into the reasons why the signatures were not valid.

Butler said that the group will continue its effort next by asking the five chapters that the school district serves to pass resolutions in support of the group’s effort to oust the three board members.

Since the recall election will not go through, Butler said, “We’re just going to have to campaign harder in November.” She said that two of the board members are up for re-election and one other seat will be up for election because it is only filled temporarily.

She added that even though the committee did not collect enough signatures for recall elections, “We did have over 800 people that signed the petition that want change.”\

Butler also encouraged citizens to make sure that they are registered to vote and know where they are registered.
In its news release, Coconino County stated that the original petitions will be returned to the recall committee along with a detailed list for each petition that shows the line number, name of the signer and the reason the signature is invalid.