Tensions were high and the 73A District Court was packed on Thursday morning, as three petitions filed by local group Save the Sandusky Logo (previously known as Save the Sandusky Mascot) against members of the Sandusky Board of Education were rejected 2-1 for being unclear.
Filing the petition’s language on Thursday, December 15, group member Rick Spiegel and several others appeared at 9:00 a.m. on December 29 before the county’s election commission, with school board president Jason Trepkowski, board treasurer Daniel Gerstenberger, and Craig Jacobson on behalf of his wife, trustee Jane Jacobson, in attendance for public comment as well.
The commission, made up of county probate judge Greg Ross, county treasurer Trudy Bowers, and county clerk Leslie Hilgendorf were tasked with deciding if the recall petition’s proposed language is clear and factual before signatures are collected and further steps taken.
As presented to the election commission, the group said in their petition against each board member that “[o]n November 28, 2022 at the Sandusky Community School Board Meeting, [the board members] failed to represent a majority of the public after the community survey results showed that 88% of the registered voters in the Sandusky Community School District wanted Redskin as the school/mascot and logo. [The board members] voted yes to name the mascot/logo the wolves at the school board meeting.”
Though Ross was satisfied with the language’s clarity and factuality for each, he did wonder aloud at one point during public comment if the assertion the board failed the majority was opinion or fact. Meanwhile, Hilgendorf and Bowers both expressed discomfort with the lack of clarity when it came to the group’s reference to 88%.
“Eighty-eight percent of what?” Hilgendorf asked, while Bowers added that she had concerns about how the original survey was distributed, collected and counted, being an informal one done by the group with the use of postcards and address information from the county tax roll records.
Gerstenberger suggested during public comment that the language be worded “88% of returned surveys,” as the group admits to not receiving all 4,800+ they originally sent.
Following the three rejections, the group seeking the recall can appeal the language in 10 days at a second clarity hearing.
