KENNEBUNK – Those looking to oust two Kennebunk RSU 21 directors have a 4:30 p.m. deadline on Thursday, Dec. 30, to submit recall petitions to Town Clerk Merton Brown.

Brown has calculated the proponents would need 665 signatures of registered Kennebunk voters – 10 percent of those who cast ballots in the last gubernatorial election – to put the recall of school board director Timothy Stentiford and chair Arthur LeBlanc to the voters.

Some in Kennebunk want to recall two elected RSU 21 board members; others say a recall is not warranted. Residents should know within a few days of the Dec. 30 deadline for petitions to be submitted to the town clerk whether they’ll be headed to the polls. Dan King photo

The man who organized the recall, Norman Archer, said signature gathering is going well and he believes supporters will meet the threshold for a recall election.

Archer, who served on the board for five years, from 2007 to 2012 and as chair for two of them, said he’s been seeing a need for change on the board for some time, and began meeting and talking with others this spring.

A group called Don’t Fall for the Recall says the recall is unnecessary and is urging residents not to sign the petitions. Don’t Fall for the Recall member Dan Sayre said he believes the pro-recall contingent is seeking a February vote, when turnout is traditionally low. While LeBlanc’s term expires in 2023, Stentiford’s expires in June. “It will improve their chances of replacing Tim with someone who would be unlikely to win in June,” Sayre said.

Archer said he started asking questions at school board meetings about a year ago and got few answers – and in one case when he did, the answer came six weeks later. And he said, he has watched parents “routinely being shut down when they tried to ask questions.” He said board members treat teachers in a similar fashion.

“This all started with simply asking questions,” said Archer, who is a parent of a student at Kennebunk High School. “In a period of relative tranquility, this board’s lack of transparency would be concerning. But after years of turmoil, partial answers and admonishing the community and our teachers in public session signal that this board does not take seriously the need to be transparent nor values its responsibility to restore public trust in our district.”

He noted the information he was seeking involved taxpayer dollars. “Every citizen has a right to ask these questions and receive answers,” he said.

Don’t Fall for the Recall member Chris Babcock said there is a difference between shutting down speakers “out of spite” or doing so in order to keep a meeting productive. “I have attended meetings and have witnessed speakers from the public shouting and ranting and raving,” said Babcock, in part. “This does not make for a productive meeting in any format.”

Affidavits filed Nov. 29 with the town clerk’s office, which triggers the recall process in Kennebunk, allege LeBlanc’s “role in negotiating the most recent teacher’s contract, and its impact on staff attrition, the failure to seat a curriculum committee, and a failure in executive leadership by allowing teachers, parents and community members to be bullied and admonished in public meetings,” is a cause for recall. The affidavit naming Stentiford is similar. It further alleges “(Stentiford’s) personal contribution to the board’s escalated administrative spending” has caused a loss of confidence in his abilities as an RSU 21 director.

There is more, not stated in the affidavit.

Archer said he began asking questions not long after Dr. Terri Cooper began her job as the district’s superintendent in August 2020.

Cooper’s tenure began six months into the coronavirus pandemic. School opened in a hybrid model in September 2020, and in May, children in Kindergarten through Grade 2 attended in person four days a week. Schools opened for fulltime in person classes for all students on Aug. 30.

Cooper, who has a master’s degree in administration and a doctorate in educational leadership, had previously served as principal in various schools and as a director of employee support services in North Carolina. She was selected from a field of seven candidates interviewed from the 18 who applied.

In a letter Archer sent looking for support in the initial stages of the recall quest, he wrote: “the bottom line is this: after a year of Dr. Cooper, it is clear that she is unfit for the position and not being held into account by the Board. It’s time to take the only step we the voters have: remove the de facto board leaders from office and replace them with people who will do the one job they were elected to do: manage – and possibly replace – the Superintendent.”

The recall affidavits submitted by Archer do not reference Cooper directly.

When questioned by a reporter, Archer noted a superintendent cannot be recalled, “but you can recall the people who hired her and surrounded her with costly consultants to compensate for an apparent lack of experience.”

As to his “unfit” comment, Archer said he believes Cooper is not fit for RSU 21 at this time.

“We need a leader who can stabilize the district, restore public trust, engage the public in a positive manner and build bridges across our three communities,” said Archer. “That’s not happening.”

He said the district has had multiple superintendents over the last seven years. “It would seem obvious that the district required a proven and experienced leader to step in and right the ship, as it were,” said Archer in an email. “Someone who knows Maine statutes, is familiar with our three communities, understands the history of RSU 21 over the past seven years.”

Don’t Fall for the Recall members say the reasons for the recall are neither a failure of judgment or ability of the board – requirements for recall set forth in Kennebunk’s charter. They say the reasons are personal, unfair, undemocratic, dishonest, motivated by outside forces, and will create dysfunction, halt needed progress, harm property values and the Kennebunk brand, and is wrong on the facts.

“We are a leaderless group united in opposition to the recall, and also united in commitment to improve RSU 21,” said Sayre. “That latter bit seems to have been lost in the dialog.” Sayre said the group is “as aware as the other side that there are things that need to be improved.”

“Our position is nothing will be improved if two of the most effective school board members, Stentiford and LeBlanc are removed,” said Sayre.

Sayre said Stentiford and LeBlanc have been instrumental in establishing an effective human resources team at RSU 21, and noted the human resources director was budgeted prior to LeBlanc’s 2020 election to the board. In response to the recall proponents notion that RSU 21 spends too much on administration and human resources, The Don’t Fall for the Recall group has calculated that RSU 21 spends .47 percent of its budget on human resources staff, while the town of Kennebunk spends .79 percent of its budget on HR staffing. They noted at least 17 other school districts in Maine, including several nearby,  have in-house human resources functions. They also noted district legal expenses were reduced from $341,298 in the 2020 fiscal year to $181,140 in the 2021 fiscal year.

The RSU 21 Board of Directors has 12 members, and is currently down two. Todd Shea, Arundel, and Amanda Oelschlegel, Kennebunk, recently resigned,  citing time constraints as reasons for stepping down. Select boards  are preparing to appoint replacements.

Stentiford was elected in June 2019 and was the second highest vote-getter in a field of four candidates for two positions. His term expires in June. LeBlanc was the second highest vote-getter in the July 2020 election that saw two candidates run for two positions on the board.

Sayre quoted the town charter on the intent of recall: “Recall is intended to be used when, in the opinion of the number of voters hereinafter specified, an elected official, acting as such, has caused a loss of confidence in that official’s judgment or ability to perform the duties and responsibilities of the office.”

“The recall is targeting someone Norm Archer endorsed on Facebook in 2019,” said Sayre, referring to Stentiford. He said LeBlanc has a long history of effective service.

“This recall isn’t about ability or judgment; it’s about political differences,” said Sayre.

Sayre and other Don’t Fall for the Recall members believe recall proponents may be connected in some fashion to a national group called Parents Defending Education, which solicits tips from the public on its website. Recent Freedom of Information requests to RSU 21 show the vice president of strategy and investigations for Parents Defending Education asking for a list of vendors and outside educational consultants the district has used since Jan. 1, 2020, in the area of diversity, equity and inclusion.

The RSU 21 Board of Directors addressed the recall effort in a Nov. 23 letter, before the affidavits were filed.

“Members of the Board are aware that there is a well-organized group that meet regularly and seem focused on discrediting the work of the Board and the administration for political gain,” LeBlanc said in the letter signed by board members. “Despite the efforts of this group to cast doubt on the Board’s commitment to our motives, the Board will remain steadfast in its commitment to support our students and employees.”

Archer said the petition effort is going well. But when asked, he said if the signature threshold isn’t met, “we have already accomplished a lot.”

He attributed recent RSU 21 Board actions to the efforts of those supporting the recall.

“Last spring the teachers contract was executed after certain members of our larger cross-community group organized a march on their behalf; the Ed Techs just received a pay raise; the Board pulled back an authoritarian policy preventing staff participation in political initiatives,” said Archer. “Our efforts are working already. This group is growing and will continue to shine a light on this Board and promote candidates who will ask the tough questions, not rubber stamp what’s put in front of them.”

It is unclear if a recall action is likely in Arundel and Kennebunkport. Municipal clerks in both communities have previously said inquiries had been made.

“I’ve had people ask, but no one saying, ‘I’m sending in a petition,’” Kennebunkport Town Clerk Jamie Mitchell said on Friday, Dec. 17.