Letters to the Editor

Recall & the Palo Verde USD Board of Education

August 31, 2010

To the Editor,

Nearly four months ago, a group of three dozen concerned citizens met to discuss the problems facing Palo Verde Unified, and the direction the District was headed under the direction of Board President, Robin Wellman, and Clerk of the Board, Jim Carney. In May, fourteen Proponents signed a Notice of Intent to begin a recall and soon began collecting signatures.

The grounds for the recall were as follows:

Mr. Carney and Mr. Wellman have been unresponsive to the constituents of the Palo Verde Unified School District and they have failed to protect and promote the learning and well-being of our students. They supported the reduction of the school week to four days, and the placement of seventh and eighth graders into the elementary schools. They also voted to eliminate general summer school classes and the summer swim program at the high school pool.

Mr. Wellman and Mr. Carney supported a wholly unearned $78,000 severance payment to Jacob Jensen, son of then Superintendent, Dr. Alan Jensen. Then each voted to renew Jacob Jensen’s employment contract with the District.

Mr. Carney and Mr. Wellman repeatedly voted against placing Superintendent Dr. Yul Whitney on administrative leave, while Dr. Whitney was the subject of a criminal investigation by the Blythe Police Department.

Mr. Wellman and Mr. Carney have not provided the leadership necessary to reach the educational goals of the District. Instead, Mr. Carney and Mr. Wellman have promoted his personal opinions and agendas ahead of his responsibilities to the students and the community that Palo Verde Unified School District serves.

It was the first recall ever of any PVUSD Board members in the history of Blythe. It may be the only attempt ever to recall an elected official in the Palo Verde Valley – period. The petition drive was an astounding success. In less than six weeks, more petition signatures were gathered, in the heat of the summer, than either Mr. Wellman or Mr. Carney originally garnered in votes in 2007 to take their current seats. Thank you to the hundreds, in fact thousands, of Blythe registered voters who took the time to learn about the reasons behind the recall petition, and as so many did, sign the Recall Petition.

After much hard work collecting the necessary petition signatures, and after much consideration, the Proponents of the Recall have decided not to forward the signatures to the Riverside County Registrar of Voters for certification. To do so would almost certainly place a recall vote upon the ballot in a February 2011 Special Election, which could cost PVUSD well over $30,000.

Ironically, if the District ware functioning properly, these would be funds well-spent. However, serious problems continue to plague the school district. It has been revealed that instead of last spring's Third Interim projections of a $100,000 surplus for the this school year, it is now being reported by the new Director of Business Services, Kim Bishoff, that we are facing an astounding $2.5 to $3 million deficit!

Under the current financial circumstances, an expensive Special Election to recall Mr. Wellman and Mr. Carney is not in the students' interest. There are extraordinary decisions that will have to made this coming year and we hope that the recall effort has at least alerted the Board that voting citizens are extremely concerned. However, we still feel that it is in the community's interest never to elect Mr. Carney nor Mr. Wellman to the Palo Verde USD Board of Education again.

Ella Shelton, Chair
Proponents of the Recall

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