Voter Seeks Information on How to Remove Johnston School Board Member

A Johnston resident has asked what the process would be, if any, to remove Johnston school board member John Dutcher from office.

During Monday's school board meeting, an email asking about the process needed to remove Dutcher was read to the full board.

Dutcher has been a controversial figure in the Johnston district at times, recently asking if a background check needed to be done before Superintendent Clay Guthmiller's contract was extended. Last month, Dutcher filed a complaint with the Iowa Ethics and Campaign Board and Iowa Secretary of State  in the September 2011 board election.

The inquiry, which was sent from resident Jeff Smaha, asked school board president Marci Cordaro if a public petition was needed to remove Dutcher from his seat.

Smaha said his inquiry came about because some constituents are frustrated with Dutcher's recent actions.

Our earlier story: 

According to the Iowa Association of School Board's website section "School Boards and The Law," there is no provision in Iowa law for removing a school board member by recall petition or election.

However, school board members may be removed by a district court for:

• Willful or habitual neglect or refusal to perform duties of office
• Willful misconduct or maladministration in office
• Corruption
• Extortion
• Conviction of a felony
• Intoxication, or conviction of being intoxicated
• Conviction of violating the Campaign Finance Disclosure laws
• Second offense, violation of open meetings law

In 2010, Dutcher spurred a  after he questioned policies and procedures on how the district runs its board meetings and signs contracts, among other matters.

"Many are frustrated by the, what I would call bully tactics, that are causing our school board not to be focused on other priorities," Smaha said. "We have wonderful people doing a great job in the district."

Dutcher said he looks at the inquiry as a smoke screen.

"I don't think there is any grounding for it," he said. "Nothing I've done is in the scope of ethics violations. It's humorous to assert that I've done anything ethically wrong."