Elizabethton Schools Recall Effort Wins

ELIZABETHTON, Tenn. (AP) _ Organizers of a group upset over politics in the Elizabethton school board won Tuesday when voters chose to recall two board members.

More than the required 66 percent of the total vote turned out to remove chairwoman Judy Richardson and board member Bob Berry.

Not counting absentee votes, the tally to recall Richardson was 2,720 for and 702 against, according to the Carter County Election Commission. The tally to recall Berry was 2,700 for and 714 against.

"I feel we'll have a change for the better in our school system," said Tammy Ward, spokeswoman for Concerned Citizens of Elizabethton, which led the recall effort. "I feel like now we can put some accountability and some responsibility back on the school board."

In November 2003, members of the school board met twice _ hundreds of miles away from home at the Opryland Hotel in Nashville _ to interview David Roper, a school official from Roanoke, Ala. The Elizabethton board hired Roper as director of schools.

The hiring displeased Ward and others in the community who supported then-Elizabethton High School principal Ed Alexander for the job. After Roper's hiring, Alexander was reassigned to work at an alternative school.

Richardson said she was in some ways relieved the recall is over. "But I am sad with the way things happened," she said.

Berry could not be reached for comment.

Information from: Johnson City Press, www.johnsoncitypress.com