Members of the Dolores County Board of Education could be facing a recall election, according to a member of the committee formed to investigate the initial steps of a recall.
The impetus for the action was community reaction to the boards decision not to retain Hall of Fame football coach Ken Soper for next year.
Soper, who has 305 coaching victories and is just two wins shy of breaking the all-time state record, was fired March 23 as the football coach in a 6-1 vote from the school board
Recall committee member Leonard Legg said the issue is not that the coach was terminated; Legg was troubled by how the process played out.
It has been going on for some time, Legg said. There are lots of issues. What brought it to the forefront was when they terminated Coach Soper.
He alleged that the termination revolved around a personal conflict with the school board president, Travis Randolph, whose son was on the football team. Legg said he believed Randolph was upset with how Soper was running the team.
Legg said the community insisted that the board not fire the coach but board members proceeded to commit illegal actions and act immorally before informing the coach of its decision.
Other reasons stated for the possible recall include violation of state and constitutional law, violation of the state open meetings law, abuse of power and conflict of interest.
Legg said recall backers believe board members failed to uphold the oath they took when entering office, as well as failing to consider the will of the people.
Committee member Faith Dance said the three-member committee of Dance, Legg and Rick Hobbs does not have a problem with Linda Yellowman, who voted against the termination.
Dance said board member Josh Hankins refused to take part in the meeting in which the vote was taken to not retain Soper.
While there have been reports that only the five board members who voted to not bring back Soper would face a recall, Legg said that is not necessarily the case.
He said each and every board member needs to stand up and tell the community his or her beliefs and opinions, and those statements likely will play a big role in which members might face a recall.
He said if the board promises to uphold its oath of office and work for the will of the people there may not be a reason to proceed with the recall initiative.
If they cannot conduct matters in a professional manner they might be removed, he said.
Legg said the board was not conducting business the way it should have been, and, he added, the decision to remove the coach was made in a special meeting, called without public notice.
Legg said he was told the board moved a scheduled meeting to the next day without informing the public and then made the decision about Sopers future with the football team.
Dance said even before the board met that night, Soper was informed that a decision had been made to go in another direction.
It sounds like the decision came from the school administration, she said.
The recall committee has not yet lined up candidates to oppose the incumbents in a recall election.
I dont think there will be any problem in finding people to replace them, he said.
Legg said committee members are seeking guidance from other communities that have experienced recall elections.
This is pretty new ground for all of us, and we want to do this right, he said.
The committee is also looking into who should be the designated election official, since County Clerk LaRita Randolph is the wife of the board president.
To force a recall, the committee must collect signatures of registered electors equal to 40 percent of the number who voted in the last election. Those signatures would need to be turned in within 60 days of the filing of the recall paperwork.
Reach Michael Maresh at michaelm@cortezjournal.com