Judge throws out attempted recall of Seattle School Board president

A King County Superior Court judge on Monday dismissed the attempted recall of Seattle School Board President Liza Rankin.

A group of five parents launched the recall last month, accusing Rankin of multiple acts of malfeasance and misfeasance, and violating her oath of office.

They argued Rankin advanced an “unjust and unfair” school closure process, and repeatedly failed to provide transparency and gather community engagement when making decisions “critical to the well-being of the district.”

RELATED: Seattle School Board president faces recall effort over handling of school closures

The parents also contended Rankin failed to uphold her duties as a school board member to adequately oversee the district — including ensuring the district operates with financial responsibility and meets student academic goals — among other charges.

After hearing from lawyers representing the parents and Rankin, Judge Michael Scott said the arguments lacked adequate proof for the recall to move forward. The petition would’ve still needed to get more than 48,000 valid signatures from legal voters before getting on a ballot.

“The court does not evaluate the truthfulness of the charges — it verifies the charges are factually and legally sufficient on the face of the petition, before the charges reach the electorate,” he said.

Scott said the court’s role in the recall process is meant to prevent it from being used to “harass public officials, by subjecting them to frivolous or unsubstantiated charges.”

“I don’t think anyone here could call these charges frivolous,” he said. “There is a question of whether or not they’re sufficiently substantiated, whether they’re sufficient in legal and factual terms.”

The ruling comes as the district has grappled with a rollercoaster of school closure proposals for the past year — changing the timeline and number of schools affected several times. And while the recall is only partially about closures, it signals growing distrust and frustration among some parents and community members across the district.

Rankin has been on the board since 2019, representing the northernmost parts of Seattle, and has been vocal in her support for school consolidations for more than a year.

RELATED: Seattle Public Schools drops contentious closure plan following months of waffling and backlash

After the ruling Monday, Rankin said she felt relieved and excited to “get back to work.”

“This really was a distraction, and we have very, very important work to do for students,” Rankin said. She also reiterated her belief that the district should downsize the number of school buildings it operates.

“We still have a budget deficit that has to be dealt with. We are, by the numbers, operating a higher number of buildings than is efficient for the number of students we have,” Rankin said. “Those are all very real things that haven’t gone away, that we still have to grapple with.”

Although the ruling didn’t go in their favor, the petitioners said Monday they don’t feel defeated. In fact, they’re hopeful.

“We feel like we stood up for the people of Seattle who are deeply frustrated with the direction of Seattle Public Schools and want to hold their elected leaders accountable for their failure to meet the needs of Seattle’s kids,” said Ben Gitenstein, one of the petitioners. “So we’re happy and excited and ready to keep pressing forward for change.”

Gitenstein said the recall attracted support from more than 200 parents, who agreed to sign the petition if it moved forward. And with that momentum, Gitenstein said the petitioners now have their sights set on recruiting people to run to change the direction of the board, when four of the seven seats are up for election next year.

“While the judge in there today decided on a very strict legal matter about the process of a recall petition, it is clear from the public response to this effort that the people of Seattle are fed up and they want change,” Gitenstein said. “They will not put up with this anymore.”