This Feels Good!

We can take a few moments to enjoy this feeling before we move on to the election phase!

Collect a few more! And submit on Tuesday at 7 pm

Hey, everyone!  We'll meet at the Monmouth City Park on Tuesday from 7:00 pm to 7:30 to gather the last of the signatures and celebrate the end of the signature-gathering phase of the campaign.  We need 90 to 100 more signatures, so if everyone can go and get just a few more!

Canvassing tomorrow - March 24

The petitions were delivered to the county clerk today with 1,025 signatures. We still need to gather some more, however, so we will be canvassing again tomorrow. If you can, PLEASE join us at Riverview Park in Independence at 1:30 pm. We'll divide into teams and set forth to gather the extra signatures we need for insurance against any unverifiable ones that have been already submitted.

Over the Top!

Hey sports fans - as of this evening we have well over 1,000 signatures on our recall petitions!

Since we need 1,001 to request a recall election, we are ready to deliver them to the county clerk tomorrow to begin the verification process. PLEASE keep collecting signatures, however, as some of those we have collected will be disqualified for one reason or another. We would like to have an additional 150 signatures within the next few days.

The clerk has indicated that it will take around one week to certify the signatures. After that, Susan Stoops will have five days to decide whether or not to resign. If she chooses to resign it will be effective immediately. If she chooses not to resign there will be a recall election within 35 days.

So far she has indicated that she will not resign so we need to start our preparations for the election. Our plans include: the distribution of informational literature, letters to the editor, yard signs, and a mass mailing to the households of all registered voters within the district.

Some food for thought: when she was elected in 2009 (running unopposed), Stoops received 1,370 votes. We already have almost that many voters who would like to see her removed from office.

Calling All Petitioners

If you have petitions with any number of signatures, please bring them to the Independence Public Library tomorrow evening between 5:30 and 7:00. We are very close to ending this phase of the recall and hope to turn in the petitions to the county clerk this week for verification. Let's make a real effort to gather as many signatures as we can over the next 36 hours! Thanks to everyone for their dedication and hard work.

Canvassing this Saturday, March 19

Our door-to-door canvassing last weekend was very successful! We not only collected lots of signatures, we handed out information to community members who were unaware of the magnitude of the problems in our school district. We would like to build on our momentum by canvassing again this Saturday, March 19 from 11 am - 2 pm. Please join us, even if you only have an hour or so to spare. We will set up our tent at Madrona Park in Monmouth and you can meet us there to pick up supplies and choose a neighborhood to canvass.

We are very close to reaching the required number of signatures. Canvassing will allow us to finish up this phase of the recall effort in the next week or so and also inform the community of the issues that will be at stake in the election to follow.

In the immortal words of Larry the Cable Guy, let's Git R Done!

Hope to see you Saturday!

Elementary School Conferences

All four elementary schools in our district will be having parent-teacher conferences all day on Thursday and Friday this week. If you can, please take up a position outside a school (on the public sidewalk) with your clipboard and copies of the petitions. This is a great opportunity to connect with parents as they enter and leave for conferences and hopefully collect a large number of signatures. We know this is not a time when most of us are available so if you can spare an hour or two please do what you can.

Henry Hill Elementary
Independence Elementary
Ash Creek Elementary
Monmouth Elementary

Conferences will run from 9 am - 5 pm on Thursday and Friday. Some teachers will also be holding conferences into the early evening on Thursday.

Recall Meeting - Tuesday, March 15

We will be meeting on Tuesday, March 15 at 5:30 pm at the Independence Public Library. At this meeting, we'll bring everyone up to date on what we have accomplished so far and plan our next steps. In less than two weeks we have made great progress in our signature gathering efforts and will soon be able to submit our petitions to the county clerk. On Tuesday we'll discuss our strategy for the final stage of signature gathering and begin planning for the recall election. Hope to see you there!

A Special Message from Mona

Dear Citizens For 13 J Excellence,

What a great start to the signature gathering for the Recall Campaign. This just shows, I believe that our 13 J Citizens are dissatisfied and DO WANT TO be involved and have a voice.

After the Board Meeting on Monday, I have heard from some that it is time to step up the campaign a notch. We truly believe that we can complete the signature gathering very soon. So, we are announcing an event this weekend that we would like all to come to!! For those that are in town please come, stop by, spread the word, bring friends and family, stop by and encourage...whatever works into your day.

We will be set up at the Independence Riverview Park by 11 a.m. this Saturday. Please if at all possible be there at 11 a.m. to help rally and energize. We will then go forth and gather signatures. Some will stay and encourage, some will go door-to-door, some will go to their own neighborhoods and friends gathering signatures of those they know, whatever people feel comfortable completing. It is our intent to gather signatures in teams until 2 p.m.

If each of us would volunteer and just gather 10 signatures a piece we believe we would be complete, or very, very close to completion of the signature gathering phase. I do not believe that this is unrealistic to be done this week or next. If we were to accomplish this, then we could get a special election to occur even before the May Election.

This, to me is vital. I believe that we have reached a “Crisis” level in this district. I get the honor of walking into our schools at least once a week. I also know that if we do not change what is currently being allowed to happen to our teachers, staff, administrators and fellow community members in this district that we will be damaged beyond repair. I am truly not an “alarmist” type of person. What I am, is a person of action. I know that each of you are also.

What I have seen thus far in the signature gathering, at meetings, at the petition tables is soooo exciting.

So, let’s come together, keep up the momentum and get this complete!

If you are unable to be there on Saturday, I am asking that you either stop by one of the tables this evening, (Monmouth, or Independence Plaza, 4-7p) or ask me to deliver a copy of the petition to you, and commit to completing one 10 signature petition this week.

PLEASE BRING ANY COMPLETE PETITIONS TO SATURDAY, OR THE ORGANIZATIONAL MEETING ON TUESDAY, MARCH 15TH, 5:30-7 p.m., Independence Library. It is very important to turn all signatures in by that time, even if only one signature is on a page.

mona
(K-Hinds)
503-689-3768

What a Great First Week!

Thanks, everyone for a great first week of signature collecting. The weather wasn't very cooperative so it was especially gratifying to have so many folks stop by our tables to sign the petition. Susan even came by to get a button and a brochure for her scrap book.

Hopefully this next week will be warmer and drier - keep up the good work!