West Ada parents launch effort to recall school board chair. Here's why [The Idaho Statesman]

Sep. 30—A group of parents in the West Ada School District has launched an effort to recall Board Chair Amy Johnson.

The argument for the recall is that Johnson is violating the district's conflict of interest policy, said David Binetti, who has led the recall effort. Johnson works at Blue Cross of Idaho — a health insurance company that has supported masks and COVID-19 vaccines — while she helps shape the school board's public health decisions, he said.

The West Ada School Board of Trustees over the past several months has been embroiled in debates over whether masks should be required in the classroom — which most doctors and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention recommend — and has a mask mandate in place that Johnson has supported.

Binetti, who founded the West Ada Parents Association, said he's concerned Johnson is being driven to make decisions based on her employer's stances and her work history. He said every decision has been viewed through an epidemiological lens, instead of how it is affecting education. School boards shouldn't be making public health decisions, he said.

"The reason the conflict of interest provision exists is to prevent exactly this," he told the Idaho Statesman. "You can't serve two masters at the same time."

He added: "If they're not going to talk about education, then who is?"

Johnson, who represents Zone 2, the southeast portion of the district, called the effort a "distraction" and said she would stay focused on her job of supporting kids and their education.

"This is a distraction from our north star," she told the Idaho Statesman. "Our north star has always been for West Ada to keep kids learning full time and to get the best education possible."

Johnson, who was elected in 2019, said all of her decisions around COVID-19 have been based off a variety of sources of information, including medical experts, guidance from the CDC and Central District Health, and conversations with school leaders. As information has constantly changed during the pandemic, she said she has continued to look at the available resources to inform her decisions.

"Blue Cross has not had any impact," she said. "There's been no conversation with me about any of my decisions."

Johnson's term ends in 2024.

It's not the first time West Ada has faced recall efforts. Last year, a group of parents started an effort to recall West Ada's five trustees, Idaho Ed News reported. The group later dropped its effort against most members. It continued with one, but did not submit the signatures for it.

Multiple members of the district's school board also chose to resign last year as they faced parents angry about decisions the board made throughout the pandemic and trustees' plan for resuming in-person learning for students. That included Ed Klopfenstein, who stepped down as chair but remained on the board.

As part of the effort, Binetti launched a website, recallamyjohnson.com, which outlines the reasons the group thinks Johnson should be recalled.

"We've attended meetings by the hundreds, sent emails by the thousands, and stood in line at the district office by the tens of thousands," the website said. "But none of that seemed to matter. Instead, Amy Johnson arranged to keep healthy kids out of school expressly to 'incentivize people to do the right thing' because she's frustrated by our public health officials' indecision."

The recall website said Johnson's career "revolves around health care." According to her campaign website for school board, she has worked at Molina Healthcare and Blue Cross of Idaho. Her health care experience has been centered in the tech sector and strategy, she said.

"So why does she feel compelled to make public health decisions when her first and greatest concern as a trustee is the educational welfare of students?" the recall website says. "And then I found the answer. ... And it suddenly made sense why every COVID policy discussion is framed entirely as an epidemiological concern without regard to educational impact?"

At a board meeting in August right before the start of school, hundreds of parents showed up, most of whom supported a mask-optional policy. During public testimony, parents and students made impassioned speeches for and against mask mandates.

At that meeting, the board voted to change its mask policy to mandate face coverings, but allowed parents to opt their kids out of the requirement. Johnson voted in support of the mandate with the opt-out option. About one-third of the district's roughly 40,000 students were eventually excused from the mask requirement.

That meeting was also when Johnson made the comment about incentivizing people to "do the right thing" and said she was frustrated that local and state leaders weren't "giving any guidance to the community." The comment was in reference to the board's quarantine policy. Under the policy, students wearing masks would not have to quarantine from school and other school-related activities if they were exposed to the virus, but those without masks who were exposed would have to quarantine.

School boards in Idaho have been making their own decisions on whether to mandate masks and what COVID-19 mitigation protocols to use. There are no mask mandates from Idaho, Ada County or the four cities where West Ada schools are located.

The recall effort would take months and involve several steps.

"We do not want to do this," Binetti said. "But we just don't have a choice."

Johnson said she ran for school board because she is a mom and she wanted to do everything she could to fight for children and help improve their education — and that's what she wants to continue doing, she said.

"It'll only distract us if we let it," she said. "I'm not willing to let it."

The recall effort comes as West Ada is still dealing with decisions over mask mandates and COVID-19 protocols for students.

A few weeks ago, amid Idaho's current COVID-19 surge, Superintendent Derek Bub put into place a strict mask mandate, temporarily nullifying the opt-out forms and requiring all students to mask in the classroom.

It's a decision that angered many parents who had been fighting for months to make masks optional in the classroom, arguing they should get to decide what safety protocols their kids follow. But it was also a relief to many others, who had been pushing the district to mandate masks in the classroom as a way to keep their children safe.

This story was originally published September 30, 2021 3:04 PM.

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