School Board Recall Effort

As many of you are aware there was a focus across the country this year to recall school board representatives, including efforts right here in Manitowoc against David Nickels and Meredith Sauer. To be accurate and objective, these local efforts, along with many across the nation, did not acquire the total signatures required for these recalls. But that was only one aspect of this work. The other, more important focuses were a resounding success.

Recall sheets were circulated throughout the district, awareness stations were set up throughout Manitowoc and even though the weather was quickly moving towards winter, concerned citizens of Manitowoc sat outdoors at several locations for weeks just to be able to meet you all and have these inspirational conversations.

I was lucky enough to have the time to sit outside and interact with many of you. The conversations alone were worth the effort. I learned an incredible amount about the comparably silent majority in our community from you, the concerned citizens. You took time out of your day to stand behind your convictions and stand against the policy makers in our district who seem to care more about vilifying the recall efforts and less about remedying our statistically failing school district. Teachers, city officials, parents, young adults and professionals…you all showed up; and showing up is how we get things done.

One of the reasons TMC grew into a hard copy and digital publication was to fill the media void in this community with a truly representative voice; if you’ve been reading the existing local publications you may have noticed how these recall efforts were consistently and purposefully framed by school board representatives and local media alike. “Failure” seemed to be the agreed upon angle but I would strongly disagree with that terminology, and for good reason.

Another huge success of these recall efforts is the fact that we found community-based and liberty-inspired individuals that wanted to run for local positions as a direct result of volunteering our time to sit and have these conversations. These community members have a wealth of experience to bring to the table and the least we can do is bring their story to you in the hopes that you will take the time to get to know these amazing individuals.

I want to extend a sincere thank you to each and every one of you for these conversations as talking with you all cemented this publication idea, instilling in myself and others a sense of relief and hope that this community still has a very strong American voice that merely requires an outlet to be heard.

So, we may not have forced a recall. But we also did not cost taxpayers $22,000 for the recall election. In addition, we were able to have conversations with you, while meeting and establishing strong and dedicated local candidates for the upcoming April elections.

That, my friends, smells like success to me.

Thank you, again, for taking the time to get involved in our community.