The Washington Supreme Court says a group of Richland School Board members were appropriately subject to a recall by voters after they violated state law in two different ways.
The Court says three of the five members of the board disobeyed Gov. Jay Inslee’s statewide mask mandate when they voted to make face coverings optional in Richland schools. And they violated Washington’s Open Public Meetings Act because there was evidence that a quorum of the board had debated the issue via text messages before the panel met in an actual public meeting.
After the school board’s actions, a group of Richland voters filed a petition to recall the three members who, at a Feb. 15, 2022 meeting, had voted to remove the mask mandate, more than a month before the governor lifted the mandate for public schools. A superior court ruled that the recall petition was factual and legally sufficient to appear on the ballot. The three board members appealed the Court’s order in May 2022. The Washington Supreme Court dismissed most of their appeal in a unanimous decision issued on Thursday.
The decision, written by Justice Sheryl Gordon McCloud, also points out that the school board members proceeded with their efforts to remove the school mask mandate after being advised by several attorneys that they did not have the authority to do so.