Petitions submitted in Camden-Frontier school board recall effort

FRONTIER — Sarah Wilcox, the Camden Township resident leading efforts to recall two Camden-Frontier Board of Education members, submitted her recall petitions to the Hillsdale County Clerk’s Office on Tuesday, Nov. 7.

Abe Dane, the chief deputy clerk, said 418 signatures had been collected against Jesse Crow and 414 signatures against Emily Morrison, who are both serving six-year terms on the board of education expiring in November 2026.

“The Hillsdale County Clerk's Office is currently reviewing the signatures filed for any errors or invalid signatures,” Dane said. “Crow and Morrison have 30 days to submit challenges to the petition signatures.”

If the petitions against Crow and Morrison are deemed sufficient after the review and challenge period, a recall election may be called for May 7, 2024.

The recall efforts were launched in the wake of Morrison and Crow both voting earlier this year to officially retire the “Redskins” mascot from Camden-Frontier and completely phase it out by June 2024.

That vote caused an uproar amongst some alumni and residents of the school district, who claim the school board has “jumped on the bandwagon of the woke mob.”

An earlier attempt to recall Morrison and Crow failed when Wilcox failed to properly fill out the header on many of the signature sheets turned into the Hillsdale County Clerk’s Office on July 21, invalidating a majority of the signatures collected in an effort to hold the recall election this November.

In Wilcox’s first attempt to recall Morrison and Crow, Wilcox gathered 403 signatures against Morrison and 398 against Crow, but less than 10 were vetted as valid by clerk's office staff.

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Camden-Frontier Schools Superintendent Chris Adams stated the school board’s 4-3 split decision to retire the “Redskins” mascot has been an unavoidable topic for years.

The decision to phase out the mascot by June 2024 will give the school a chance to solicit input from its students, staff, board members and community members on the new mascot for the school, which will then be announced on its website.

Camden-Frontier is one of the last districts in the state to retire the “Redskins” mascot.

— Contact Reporter Corey Murray at cmurray@hillsdale.net or follow him on X, formerly Twitter: @cmurrayHDN.

This article originally appeared on Hillsdale Daily News: Petitions submitted in Camden-Frontier school board recall effort