By Nicole Montesano • Staff Writer • 

Newberg voters rejecting school board recall in early returns

Update 1/21

Controversial Newberg School Board members Brian Shannon and Dave Brown appear to have held onto their seats following Tuesday's recall election, although more ballots are still expected to arrive this week.

How many more will arrive remains unknown.

So far, the county has logged a 56% turnout in the election, which drew intensive anti-recall advertising from a wide range of conservative groups not normally involved in school board issues, and a voter turnout double that of the 2019 election in which Shannon and Brown were originally elected. County reports showed that 14,304 voters out of 25,249 registered cast ballots. Results as of Wednesday evening in Yamhill County showed Shannon retaining his seat by 52% to 47.9%, and Brown retaining his by 51.9% to 48%.

In Washington County, where about 600 voters were eligible to participate, the recall is also failing in early returns, showing 96 yes votes and 150 no votes for Shannon, and 90 yes and 140 no votes for Brown.

In Clackamas County, where about 300 voters were eligible to participate, results are evenly split. Early returns showed 66 yes and 66 no votes for Shannon, and 67 yes and 65 no votes for Brown.

The totals showed a winning margin of 633 votes for Shannon and 594 for Brown as of Wednesday, making it unlikely that the results will be reversed by late-arriving ballots.

County Clerk Brian Van Bergen said 165 ballots were rejected because of challenged or missing signatures. Voters whose ballots were rejected because of problems with their signatures can provide a new signature in the next 20 days, in order to have their ballots counted. As of Wednesday afternoon, about 44 people had done so.

In addition to the signature-curing issue, the clerk’s office is also waiting for additional ballots to be received by mail. The election was the first to occur under a new law that allows ballots to be counted if they are postmarked by election day — Jan. 18, in this case — though not yet received by the clerk’s office.

Because of that, Van Bergen said, “we won’t know for sure how many viable ballots we’ll have in total until eight days after election day.”

The divide in the community was so intense that Newberg-Dundee Police Chief Jeff Kosmicki put out a statement on Facebook about the election.

“We are aware of the highly charged nature of this election which has unfortunately resulted in incidents of criminal activity against private and public property. There has been overt damage or theft to various flags, lawfully placed political signage, and blatant vandalism to public buildings,” the statement said. “Lawful expression of speech is one of the most important elements of our system, but crossing over to criminal activity will not be tolerated. Accordingly, our department will be increasing patrols in recently impacted locations. We encourage a peaceful and respectful environment throughout the process. Please give us a call if you become aware of any incidents or issues that are contrary to public safety.”

Shannon did not respond to a request for comment. Brown could not be reached.


Shannon and Brown
are still facing three civil lawsuits over their actions that allege they have cost the district tens of thousands of dollars and repeatedly violated Oregon Public Meetings laws. One of the three contends they have also violated a teacher’s Constitutional rights. Brown and Shannon have also sued a group of their constitutents, who have responded by filing a motion to have the lawsuit dismissed as SLAPP, or “strategic lawsuit against public participation.” Judge Jennifer Chapman has had that motion under consideration since the beginning of December, but has not yet issued a ruling.

Three district staff have resigned over the past three months.

Chief petitioner Zachary Goff told the News-Register that the failure of the recall effort “is tough, but quite a few positive takeaways.”

“First of all, the turnout in this vote was amazing. It means that we did our job and got the word out there to vote, and the fact that it was so close really shows you, and really shows us that we once again did a good job getting people to get out and use their voice,” he said.

Recall elections are difficult, Goff said, “because it’s a negative thing; you’re removing someone from office and you’re telling everyone they did a bad job … so everything you’re putting out is negative, and that’s often why recalls don’t move beyond the petition stage.”

He said he hopes the close results serve as “a wakeup call” to Shannon and Brown, to better represent the entire community.

The group behind the recall has formed a political action committee, “Voices of Newberg,” that Goff said intends to remain active.

“I think the biggest purpose of it is to make sure that people are paying attention to all of the candidates that are coming through, not just in Newberg and Dundee, but all of Yamhill County,” he said.

The group wants to make sure “we are following through on maintaining this network we have created. It’s bipartisan, it’s filled with lots of nonaffiliated voters, and folks from all walks of life, and I think building that up and making sure we are still heard and represented in this area,” will be its next steps, Goff said.

***

Update, 1/18 10:15 p.m.

Controversial Newberg School Board members Brian Shannon and Dave Brown retained and slightly widened their hold on their seats in the second returns of the night, in a recall election against both.

Results released shortly after 10 p.m. showed 13,997 votes counted of 14,103, and a 55.9% turnout so far — more than doubling the turnout when both were elected in 2019. 

The updated count showed no votes for recalling Shannon at 52%, to 47.9% in favor of a recall. For Brown, they showed 51.9% against a recall, and 48% in favor. Neither Clackamas nor Washington counties had updated their results as of 10:15 p.m.

The count is expected to continue over the next few days, as it may take some time for late-mailed ballots to arrive. Voters will also have 21 days to cure any signature defects.

Shannon had not so far responded to a request for comment, and Brown could not be reached. Chief Petitioner Zachary Goff also had not responded to a request for comment. The recall group posted on Facebook that any comment would be premature.

***

Newberg voters are narrowly rejecting the recall of two school board members in first results of tonight's recall election.

The first count included 11,787 ballots, and the clerk's office still had another 1,472 ballots whose signatures had been verified, but that had not yet been counted. In addition, ballots picked up at a dozen drop boxes in the county have not yet gone through signature verification, County Clerk Brian Van Bergen said.

Van Bergen said he expects to release an update at or shortly after 10 p.m. tonight. However, the final results won't be for another three or four weeks, because voters have 21 days to cure problems with their signatures, in order to allow disqualified ballots to be counted.

More votes are likely to trickle in over the coming days, as the election is the first under a new law that allows ballots to be counted as long as they are postmarked by election day, Jan. 18 in this case.

Returns showed about 51.4% voting against recalling Brian Shannon and Dave Brown in the first tally of ballots by the Yamhill County Clerk's Office, released just after 8 p.m. 

In Washington County, where about 600 voters were eligible to participate, the recall is also failing in early returns, showing 96 yes votes and 150 no votes for Shannon, and 90 yes and 140 no votes for Brown.

In Clackamas County, where about 300 voters were eligible to participate, results are evenly split. Early returns showed 66 yes and 66 no votes for Shannon, and 67 yes and 65 no votes for Brown.

 Voters are deciding whether to recall Newberg School Board Chair Dave Brown and Vice Chair Brian Shannon for their actions over the past year.

In 2020, the Newberg School District adopted a state Department of Education policy titled “All Students Belong.” The policy states that students and teachers may not be subjected to discrimination or hate symbols, and state law requires it to be adopted by all school districts.

The resolution declared that “Black Lives Matter” in order to reinforce that the lives of Black educators, staff, students, and everyone in school communities are just as valuable as anyone else’s life; and that Black students matter and belong in our classrooms, just like all other students.”

Many Newberg School District teachers put up Pride and Black Lives Matter flags and signs in support of their students, in the wake of thepolicy and directives from the state.

In July 2021, after two new Newberg school board members, Renee Powell and Trevor DeHart, were sworn into office, Brown and Shannon were elected chair and vice chair of the board, respectively.

Shannon immediately moved to reconsider the All Students Belong policy. The four majority board members later rescinded the policy and banned all Black Lives Matter and Pride flags, symbols and signs from schools.

After hearing repeated warnings they were violating state law, the four changed the ban to all “political, quasi-political and controversial” flags, signs and symbols, a ban so broad that administrators said it was virtually impossible to enforce.

Over the subsequent months they hired an attorney in an apparent violation of Public Meetings laws, fired the district’s popular superintendent without cause, and ignored the pleas of students and teachers who told them their actions were causing harm.

They are facing three lawsuits, and have filed a lawsuit of their own against some of their constituents.

Comments

Rotwang

Good. Truth and sanity win over rich, woke Hollywood leftists trying to poison local government. Let's hope that the results stay that way.

Joel R

I get why the teachers would want to put those symbols up in their classrooms and I think their hearts are in the right place. But I also feel strongly that schools need to be a place that is neutral when it comes to things that there are strong and divided opinions on. If a Christian student felt like they were being shamed and harassed for trying to be their authentic self would it be okay for a teacher to mount a cross on the wall at the front of a room to let the student know they are safe and understood? I don't think so.
At some point we have to love and believe in our kids enough to let them struggle through the difficult things in life. Often times it is in that very struggle that great personality traits are developed and forged.

chuckb

Excellent point Joel and my sentiments exactly. Keep the symbols and opinions OUT of the classroom. All of them!

tagup

Being neutral in the face of racism & homophobia equals support for discrimination.....asking the students to “struggle through” is basically saying to students that you don’t care and won’t help ...I wonder if you would feel the same if your kids were on the other side of the argument.

Joel R

tag, I have always had a lot of respect for your point of view and I do on this issue too.
I'm not saying discrimination is acceptable or that we shouldn't care about and encourage kids. I am saying that we can't pick and choose what emblems, flags and symbols we put up in classrooms and that struggle is a part of life and paradoxically can be good for all of us in the long run.
If my kids were harassed and discriminated against because of their religious beliefs (and believe me religiphobia is a real thing in our schools), I wouldn't expect the teachers to put a cross up on the wall in the classroom to show support. I would teach my kid that some people are rude and that's just how life is. I'd teach them to simply use it as fuel and motivation to continue to excel in all that they do.
Of course there could be some extreme situations where it would need to be reported to and dealt with by the school administration. But for the most part I think it's best to try really hard to not create a victim mentality in our kids.
In my observation, the most successful people in life REFUSE to be victims.

Jean

Yay!!!! Hooray for hate and racism!!

Hibb

The political reactionaries have tried to usurp the view of the general population and have failed. The thought that our classrooms should be a breeding ground for those intent on swaying our next generation of leaders into a path of absurdity should alarm all of us. I applaud the Newberg School Board for not folding under the mounting pressure and staying the coarse. For a little while the liberal media was making Newberg their focus and hopefully now they will turn their sights elsewhere.

The future of democracy is under attack in the name of activism and our children are being mislead. This whole scenario seems to be something hatched by those wanting to destroy this nation and make no mistake that the threat is very real and is coming from both the far left and far right.

tagup

I’m sure, in the 60’s, equal rights for black Americans seemed like the “path of absurdity“ to those that wanted to maintain the status quo....change is always uncomfortable for those that don’t feel the discrimination.

Rotwang

Tagup, I went to school in the 60s, and I don't recall seeing anything other than US flags inside.

tagup

You probably didn’t see racial bias or discrimination in the 60’ s either.
We both know that flags really aren’t the point anyway....

Rotwang

Update, please.

Drew1951

Rotwang: I also went to school in the 60s and you are correct, the only symbol in our classrooms was the American flag. But, I also remember that people of color were not allowed to live in my town. Good God: when the Harlem Globetrotters came to town they had to spend the night in another town. Yeah, I want to go back to those days (not really).

tagup

I recall plenty of Peace signs in Jr High.....definitely a symbol of protest against the war at the time.

Flex5796

Well said Joel. I agree that schools need to remain neutral, this way every child feels safe to go to school. Bullying needs to be nipped in the bud on the first offence. We can't teach our children to be emotionally self sufficient and have boundaries if we are creating a forced acceptance, that only teaches anger and more hate not tolerance and respect.

M. Lazzeri

I support my friends and neighbors who place signs in their yards in support of gay pride, BLM or the candidate or cause of their choice.

I'm not as comfortable with those same signs and symbols in public buildings. It becomes too often an un-necessary flashpoint.

Don't we already have enough of that?

M. Lazzeri

I support my friends and neighbors who place signs in their yards in support of gay pride, BLM or the candidate or cause of their choice.

I'm not as comfortable with those same signs and symbols in public buildings. It becomes too often an un-necessary flashpoint.

Don't we already have enough of that?

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