A recall election against Kirstin Shapiro, member of the Regional School Unit 21 Board of School Directors in Maine, has been scheduled for December 17, 2024.
The recall effort started in October 2024 during stalled contract negotiations between the school board and the Kennebunk Arundel Kennebunkport Educators’ Association. Teachers started the 2024-2025 school year without a contract as their former contract expired on August 31, 2024. At the time the recall began, Shapiro was serving as a member of the committee representing the school district in the negotiations.
The recall effort was started by Arundel resident Dorothy Gregoire. Gregoire said that Shapiro’s behavior caused a loss of confidence in her judgment and her ability to serve on the board. Gregoire also said that Shapiro had violated the school board’s policies on handling complaints.
Shapiro did not publicly respond to the recall effort against her.
No specific grounds are required for recall in Maine. To get the recall against Shapiro on the ballot, recall supporters had to collect 231 signatures in 14 days. The signatures were equal to 10% of registered voters in the town of Arundel who cast ballots in the state’s 2022 gubernatorial election.
Ballotpedia had tracked a total of 223 recall efforts against 345 officials across all office types as of November 1, 2024. At that time, 57 of the officials targeted for recall had been removed from office in a recall election, which is a success rate of 17%.
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