A group of Wasson High School parents has launched a recall effort against six of the seven members of the Colorado Springs School District 11 board.

Three parents filed petitions Thursday with the El Paso County Clerk and Recorder’s Office, seeking to recall all D-11 board members with the exception of Bob Null.

“We feel they have mishandled taxpayer dollars,” said Dorothy Dykes, one of the recall committee members.

Null put heart and thought into his vote and asked questions that were never answered before the vote to close schools, she said. Parents and students from Wasson were discriminated against, she added.

“We’re fed up with the board that we have,” she said. “We’re tired of sitting back and not being heard.”

Committee members said they seek new board members who will be honest and forthcoming with community members.

The board approved a plan Feb. 6 that will close Wasson as well as Bates and Lincoln elementary schools in May. Alternative programs at Irving Education Center and other sites will be combined at Wasson, and an early college program will be added. On Wednesday, the D-11 board approved the sale of Irving and Jefferson Elementary School, which closed in 2009.

The Clerk and Recorder’s Office has seven days to review the petitions, said Liz Olson, county election manager. If approved, the committee would have 60 days to collect 15,000 signatures for each petition to proceed to the next step.

Petitions name board President Janet Tanner, Vice President LuAnn Long, Treasurer Nora Brown and Secretary Elaine Naleski, and board members Sandra Mann and the Rev. Al Loma. Terms end in November for Loma, Long and Mann.

Each petition is slightly different. Most say board members approved millions of dollars for improvements to schools and then decided to close those facilities.

Board members have forgotten that their first priority is the education of students, and decisions must be made with that in mind — not finances, Dykes said.

“We’ll be pounding pavement and we have a lot of support,” she said. “It’s not just Wasson, it’s more than that.”

It will be a challenge to collect signatures, said committee member Elaine Shoemaker.

“We’re not going to give up the fight,” she said. “Fighting for these kids is what we need to do.”

The board had options other than closing schools, Shoemaker said. Parents and students were not given enough time to prepare, she said.

Tanner said all the board members named in the recall effort were notified Thursday.

She said board members had been threatened with a recall.

“We will see how it evolves, if it does evolve,” she said.

It is unusual to have the majority of a school board recalled, Olson said. Usually, groups target one or two board members.

If the recall effort proceeds, there is a price.

In 2006, two D-11 school board members were successfully targeted in a recall effort. A third resigned. The election and other costs associated with the recall cost the district $256,729, according to a county invoice.

—

Contact Kristina Iodice: 636-0162 Twitter @GazetteKristina Facebook Kristina Iodice