Washington State Supreme Court allows Richland School Board recall to proceed.
The Washington Supreme Court ordered unanimously today that four charges each against Richland School Board members Misipati Semi Bird, Audra Byrd and Kari Williams could proceed to recall.
“After carefully considering the issues presented, the Court concludes that four of the recall charges presented in this case are factually and legally sufficient and three charges are factually and legally insufficient.”
The court reversed the trial court’s order for three charges against each of the three members.
The four charges that will go to recall include:
Count 2: for all three for violating the Open Public Meetings Act by voting to make masks optional during a special meeting when the matter wasn’t on the agenda.
Count 3: for all three for voting to make masks optional which was a violation of the law. They had been advised in writing that such a vote would be a violation.
Count 4: for all three for exceeding their powers as a school board by voting to make masks optional. School boards are not empowered to make public health policy within public schools.
Count 10: Byrd and Williams violated the Richland School Board Code of Ethics.
County 12: Bird violated the Richland School Board Code of Ethics.
Supporters of the recall must now collect enough signatures on petitions to have the recall put to a vote during either a regularly scheduled election or a special election.
Can the Big Three appeal to a high court? If not who has the recall yard signs?
I will not sign. The masks were pointless and complete virtue signaling! Child abuse as our kids should never have been muzzled in the first place.
Hi Jude, I appreciate your comment. Thank you for reading the Observer. Randy
So you are okay with people not following the rules and proper procedures for things such as public meetings? Imagine if counselors for the City of Richland or Kennewick did what these board members did, bet you’d have your pitchfork out. What’s good for the goose is good for the gander!
Benton County Republican Party of WA State It is so frustrating the WA State Supreme Court voted to let the Richland School Board(RSD) recall move forward. Leading this recall are Brian Brendel, Brad Rew and Tony Perruong; Richland businessmen and a Pacific Northwest National Laboratory manager. First, this recall is a huge waste of taxpayer’s money and yet, the RSD is asking voters to pass a multi-year school levy which will increase taxes. Second, Shelley Redinger, RSD Superintendent, the RSD Legal Counsel, Rick Jansons and Jill Oldson, RSD board members, should be encouraging Brian Brendel, Brad Rew and Tony Peurrung to drop the recall. Third, the masking of our school children, the social distancing, the shutting down of schools, the pressure and push to vaccinate our kids with a shot that did not have long term safety data was WRONG and went on FAR TOO LONG! Children were not high risk and there was no consideration for natural immunity. In the end COVID became the vehicle that pulled back the curtain and revealed the ugly truth that government agencies, scientists, doctors, elected officials were greatly compromised; honesty, sanity and trust were murdered. Fourth, it is our job to protect our children, and yet, our children suffered greatly academically and mentally because of these mandates. There is no doubt, nor can anyone dispute the COVID mandates harmed our children. There is no doubt we failed to protect our children. Though we know all these things to be true, Brian Brendel, Brad Rew and Tony Perruong are moving forward to recall the 3 board members who got it right, who had the courage to vote to protect our children. I ask you why? I honestly can’t think of a reason. Could it be shady politics? Big egos? I don’t know. Fifth, Brendel, Rew and Perruong should rethink their position. They should drop their recall and let RSD move on.
Hi Janice, I appreciate your comments. Thank you for reading the Observer. Randy
Responsibility for the extra cost is squarely on those three board members who blatantly ignored training and legal counsel and broke the law to grandstand for their MAGA constituents. If there were a way to sue them for the cost, I’d do that, too. As it is, we’re limited to recall. Oh, and collecting the money owed for their lawyer paid thus far by the district.
Hi Judi, I appreciate you comment. Thank you for reading the Observer. Randy
It doesn’t matter if you believe the masks worked or not .. The issue is these Board members chose to go against the mandate ..We need board members that will follow the rules until it’s either put to vote or it’s stated in the Washington Board of Education ..I don’t know that I trust someone who goes against the rules ..
Hi Robin, I appreciate your comment. Thank you for reading the Observer. Randy
Excellent!
Its funny how hypocritical many of you are. You follow this blog to find out the dirt that Randy can dig up on the City of Richland leaders and to see that they are held accountable, yet when its something you believe in or are in favor of, you think its okay to look the other way and not hold people accountable. So, which is it? Follow the rules or do not follow the rules?
Like it or not we all live in a nation of rules and regulations. And whether you believe they are or not, mandates are required to be followed. These 3 individuals went against the rule of law in several ways and should be held accountable. They would be doing the district a favor if they each resigned.
Hi Samuel, I appreciate your comments. Thanks for reading the Observer. Randy
I don’t know what you mean about following a blog about COR leaders. I don’t live in Richland and I have no idea what’s going on with their city council.
I can tell you my story. It’s about my grandchildren. My grandchildren suffered far too long through weeks and weeks of remote learning, social distancing and mask mandates. My grandson was 8 years old at the time and these changes and restrictions had a negative impact on him. It changed him. He is the reason I started going to school board meetings. His happy go luck personality changed. He seemed anxious and stressed out. It was hard to watch. He fell further behind in reading and math. He spent last summer in a summer reading program in an attempt to catch up. He is still behind. Did you know that most kids are one year behind in at least one subject? During this same time his brother was a 5 year old autistic student who spoke very little. How do you think being in a mask all day, being taught by a teacher who is in a mask, affects a special needs child who is already struggling with language? Did Inslee, Reykdal, Brian Brendel, Brad Rew, Tony Perruong ever consider the detrimental affect these useless masks had on our children? Did they ever consider the reasons the 3 board members voted for mask choice? There’s plenty of evidence that masking, social distancing and remote learning hurt our children’s learning and mental well being. I was at the school board meetings last year in which I saw grown men, fathers crying because they saw the daily anguish their children were living through. Depression for their children was real. There was a courageous teacher who spoke about the adverse affects masking had on his students. I don’t believe we will truly know the toll these asinine COVID restrictions imposed by lunatic officials had on our children. I’ve asked myself why? Why impose such mandates and restrictions for so long on a group that was very low risk? To me it still doesn’t make any sense. There’s something dirty about the whole damn thing. Was it incompetence? Stupidity? Political? Power and Control? Allegiance to big Pharma? Big money? My Mom always did say: “Follow the money, follow the money.” Our first and fundamental responsibility is to our children. Parents and grandparents do not have to follow the Inslee’s, Reykdal’s, Fauci’s, Biden’s, CDC, FDA, WHO off a cliff to the detriment of our children. The government agencies and officials got it all wrong, which they so often do, which is why they should not have been imposing mandates for months on end. The officials in charge making these decisions should be sued, they should be held accountable for the damage they have caused. It’s such a wake up call to those of us who once put our full faith in our government. Such a wake up call that some governors figured it out long before our Governor Inslee did. Our 3 board members did not vote to take away masks, they voted for mask choice. And they talked to our Benton County Department of Health before they made the decision to vote for mask choice. What is so very frustrating is this could have been avoided if the board would have followed a suggestion to collaborate with Kennewick and Pasco school districts to write a letter to Inslee and Reykdal voicing their concern about masking. When the 3 districts work together we are the biggest district in the state. We could have applied pressure to Inslee to hurry up his time table and lift his mask mandate. I believe 3 other districts had defied Inslee’s mask mandate and with Richland being the 4th and rumors of Kennewick potentially following Richland, we could have applied real pressure to King Inslee, but weeks went by and the board took no action and parents did not feel listened to. At the same time, I made a suggestion to the board to write a letter to Inslee and Reykdal voicing opposition to a COVID vaccine requirement for children that the Washington Department of Health (WDOH) was discussing. A clerk I talked to, told me Inslee wanted the vaccine requirement in order for children to attend school. Thousands of parents across the state called or emailed the WDOH to voice opposition. Again, weeks passed, but our board took no action to write an opposition letter. Why would we require a COVID vaccine for children when there is no long term safety data, when kids are extremely low risk, when they won’t consider natural immunity in lieu of a vaccine, when the vaccine doesn’t stop a person from getting or transmitting the virus, when there is a potential health risk taking the vaccine. And yet, today, 2-10-2023, the CDC added the COVID vaccine to the childhood list of immunizations. The CDC has lost all credibility. I hope, if need be, there will be someone left on this board who has the courage to fight Inslee on a vaccine requirement for children. The CDC suggested giving the vaccine as young as 6 months old. Wow. Like Mom said, “Follow the money.” Throughout our country’s history we’ve had profiles in courage that defied the rules and took a stand against injustice. Patriots such as George Washington, John Adams, Patrick Henry, Nathan Hale, Abe Lincoln, Frederick Douglass, Harriet Tubman, Rosa Parks, Martin Luther King Jr.
Out of the 4 school districts that voted to defy Inslee, we are the only district where businessmen and managers closely tied to Hanford and Pacific Northwest National Laboratory filed a recall. I wonder why that is. Did someone on the board call them to take an action? I don’t know.
Brian Brendel, Brad Rew, Tony Perruong would be doing the district a favor if they dropped their recall and let the district move forward.
We spend approximately $16,000.00 per student, per year to educate our children and approximately 50% of our children are not competent in language arts, math or science! It is time to put COVID behind us and focus on educating our children.
Thanks for listening.
Hi Janice, I appreciate your concerns. It looks like the voters will decide. Randy
Hi Janice, all of your typing had to do with masks being worn and the reasons why they shouldn’t have been, but you’re not getting it. You are missing the picture. The issue is the FACT that these 3 School Board Members did the following:
1. Knowingly defied a state ordered mandate (Like it or not, it was law).
2. Made a decision on an issue that wasn’t properly noticed (School Board Meetings MUST include the items of business that will be discussed and voted on).
3. Caused the RSD to close down schools in order to determine how to address the issue (talk about a waste of money, time and resources!)
For these 3 reasons alone the 3 School Board Members should be recalled if they don’t voluntarily resign first, which would be the right thing to do. At this point it has very little to do with whether or not masks should have been worn, it has EVERYTHING to do with FOLLOWING THE LAW. Simple FACT….. THEY DID NOT FOLLOW THE LAW WITH WHAT THEY ATTEMPTED TO DO AND HOW THEY WENT ABOUT MAKING THAT DECISION.
Hi Sam, I appreciate your comment. Thanks for reading the Observer. Randy
Regardless of the issue, violators of laws do not belong in office.
Holding secret meetings to go against the majority is not democracy. Individuals do not get to decide which laws they wish to obey. That is anarchy.
Hi Jan, Thank you for your comment. Randy
Hi Jan, Thank you for your comment. Randy
Brian Brendel is out of line saying the voters made a mistake by voting for Keri, Audra and Semi. Such a statement is so arrogant. It’s our governor who has violated the law. No governor has a right to violate the U.S. Constitution and our 1st Amendment rights. Good grief, Inslee shut down churches! That is a violation of the 1st Amendment. He mandated masks and shut down schools for an extended period of time which harmed children. But he saw fit to leave open pot stores. Inslee is the one that is in violation of the law. Richland School District will go the way of the liberal lunacy of Seattle if this recall goes forward. The political craziness that has infiltrated our schools needs to stop.
Piuhlease. Enough.
No matter what side you are on, it makes absolutely zero sense to spend $250,000.00 in SCHOOL DISTRICT FUNDS for a recall when 3 out of the 5 school board seats are going to be empty or up for re-election in November of this year! Again, I ask myself WHY ARE BRIAN BRENDEL, BRAD REW, TONY PEURRUNG PUSHING THIS RECALL? Let people vote in November instead of spending 250k that should be used to educate our children. I’m wondering out loud if this has gotten personal and egos have gotten in the way of common sense and the common good. Come on Brian Brendel, Brad Rew and Tony Peurrung stop dividing the community, driving a wedge and wasting thousands of dollars we don’t have. It’s not to late for one or all of you to rethink your stance, stand up and drop this recall. Let us heal and move on. Vote in November and let the people decide. And in case if you haven’t been paying attention this school board works so hard and has gotten a lot of cool things done! Do you know what they are? Have you really sat down and talked one on one with all the board members? They amaze me! They don’t even get paid! 🛑STOP THE RECALL.
Tell them to resign, they were the ones being arrogant and flipping their noses at the law. Having them resign will save the $250,000 and be the moral and ethical thing to do. YES RECALL!
Fauci and Gov Inslee are the lawbreakers. Masks don’t work, mask harm kids! Social distancing didn’t work and harmed kids, vaccines don’t work and harmed kids! The government has no right to trample and violate the 1st Amendment of the US Constitution, to shut down churches, to keep us for practicing our religion, to keep us from assembling, to shut down businesses without just compensation, etc. The two on the board siding with Inslee and Reykdal are on the wrong side of history. Our children were harmed and they took no action, so weak! They said in a meeting they didn’t want the kids in masks either, but wouldn’t even take a simple step to write a letter to Inslee or Reykdal, Superintendent of Public Instruction. Unbelievably weak! Keri, Audra and Semi didn’t vote to prohibit mask wearing, they voted for mask choice. It is unbelievable how weak kneed adults let our children’s rights and our rights be stripped from us, by a bunch of arrogant, corrupt officials who didn’t know what they were talking about. Inslee and Reykdal need to be sued for the damage they’ve caused and Fauci belongs in jail. His lies and blocking of the use of therapeutics caused thousands of dead Americans. Wake up America. We have been lied to and scammed. Adults are suppose to protect children and we failed them big time! Shame on us! May we never forget. Thank God our founders were not so weak.
AND JUST RECENTLY THE CDC HAS RECOMMENDED THE COVID VACCINE FOR ALL CHILDREN, AGE 6 MONTHS AND UP! SHALL WE PROTECT OUR CHILDREN OR FOLLOW THE GOVERNMENT AND THE CDC OFF A CLIFF? LISTEN TO THE VIDEO. THE CDC IS CORRUPT.
https://m.youtube.com/watch?fbclid=IwAR0gOlOyKHgp2lv9j9UvJNMisWp7g0hq2ZOBly0k8pgMzytQbG_W747Sgsg&v=UKEjftGvrcw&feature=youtu.be&mibextid=ykz3hl