Residents Seeking Ouster of Johnston School Board Member Submit Petition

An online petition to remove Johnston school board member John Dutcher was presented to the school board Monday evening.

Jeff Smaha and Todd Keech shared the petition, which accumulated 275 signatures and more than 70 comments as of 4:30 p.m. Monday.

"I do not act alone here," Smaha said. "The petition represents the voice of our community. Mr. Dutcher, at the very least, should consider the voice of this constituents as a clear message that he is creating dissenion and dividing our community in a time when we need to come together to plan for the future of our school district."

Smaha requested the board view the petition and determine if the violations of school board code of ethics No. 202.1 have merit.

If the violations have merit, Smaha asked to immediately hold a vote of no confidence for Dutcher and present the violations to the county attorney to remove Dutcher from the board.

Among possible violations cited were Dutcher's duties to: accept office as a board member as a means of unselfish service; recognize the strength of the school board is as a board, not as individuals; and preserve the obligation of having controversial issues presented fairly and without bias.

Dutcher has been a controversial figure in the Johnston district at times, recently asking if a . Last month, Dutcher  accusing four sitting board members – Jill Morrill, Mike Ferrell, Greg Dockum and Deb Henry, administrators and district employees of misconduct in the September 2011 board election.

"My question for the petitioners would be if four members of the board have broken the ethics code, as well as, state law, where is your petition for them," Dutcher said. "… If we are uniformly administering policy, that needs to be addressed."

There is  by recall petition or election.

Dutcher questioned how the petitioners' request could proceed.

"I don't really know if anything they propose is actionable or how they might possibly proceed without addressing the questions regarding Morrill, Farrell, Henry and Dockum," he said. "In general, I find it highly perplexing they would charge me with ethics violations, again unsubstantiated and no evidence, when I have presented evidence to support not only violation of Iowa law, but our board policy."