A recall petition was filed earlier this week against a Kearney Public Schools (KPS) Board of Education member, accusing him of leaving in the middle of a meeting where a policy on transgender athletes was discussed.
KPS board of education member, and secretary, Dave Brandt, told NTV News that the reason why he left the meeting for about an hour was because his son had an orchestra concert that same night at the Kearney High School.
“When we moved the meeting day, we happen to move it on top of his orchestra concert,” Brandt said. “School board meeting starts at 5:30 p.m., his concert was at 7:30 p.m., at about 7:15 p.m., I stepped out to go to my son’s concert. When the concert was done, I came back and joined the meeting again.”
Kearney resident James Clark filed the recall petition against Brandt. On March 6th, Clark was watching the school board meeting through streaming.
“I watched one of the commentators ask where Brandt went, and of course the board never answers these types of questions,” Clark said. “A lot of people were wondering, ‘Was it a medical emergency? What got him away?' He is required to be there and is imperative that he is there to listen to public commentary.”
After knowing Brandt’s reason for leaving the meeting, Clark said the board member’s actions were still irresponsible.
“I don’t know what the procedure or policy of the school board is regarding absenteeism, I just know that Mr. Brandt made a decision, and I feel that it was the wrong decision,” Clark said. “There were a lot of people who showed up. They [the school board] extended the time for more people to speak. Those people made sacrifices as well, Mr. Brandt,” Clark said.
Clarks recall petition reads:
“During the March 6, 2023, KPS Board of Education meeting, David Brandt left the meeting during the public comment period, missing much of the commentary and returned to cast a vote on the very topic discussed by more than 45 speakers. Such action reveals contempt for the stakeholders Mr. Brandt was elected to represent. These actions are unacceptable and warrant removal.”
Brandt told NTV News that the missing time he spent outside the meeting didn’t impact his final vote, which was against a policy that would restrict athletes in middle and high school (grades 6-12) to compete according to their biological sex at birth, as stated on the student’s original birth certificate.
The policy received first round approval with the board members John D. Icenogle, Paul Hazard, Steve Gaasch and Drew Blessing voting in favor of it, and Brandt and Kathy Gifford against it.
“I don’t believe there was nothing that was said during public comment that probably haven’t been repeated during public comment,” Brandt said. “I got lots of emails on the topic from a bunch of constituents, which I believe I got to reply to all of them. I would hate to miss something important that somebody said, but at the same time, I heard public comment for at least an hour and 15 minutes and a lot of it was pretty similar to what had been said before as well.”
The public wasn’t notified that Brandt was going to miss part of the meeting. He said KPS Board President Drew Blessing and KPS Superintendent Jason Mundorf knew about his plans. Page 17 of the "Board Minutes" from the March 6 meeting show Brandt stated the reason for his absence and apologized for it.
Brandt said that as the meeting got closer and more people signed up to speak, he knew it was going to last longer than first expected. At the March 6 meeting, the board decided to extend the public comment period to two hours and 10 minutes.
“In the middle of the afternoon I told my son, ‘Hey, I think the meeting is going to last longer, do you want me to come to your concert or stay at the meeting’? and he said ‘I’m not going to tell you to not come to my concert’ and I said ‘I’ll be there’,” Brandt added.
He said there has been time in the past where the board has had board members miss meetings, and not attending all.
The notification of the petition was sent to Brandt last week, but he has yet to receive the certified mail. Buffalo County Election Commissioner Lisa Poff told NTV News that Brandt will have to issue a defense statement, something he said he will definitely do.
“I can’t imagine not supporting my kids, so if it’s going to come down to me missing one of the four-times a year that my kid performs or not missing an hour of a meeting, I’m going to go support my children,” Brandt said. “Hopefully people will see that, that would be a good reason for me to miss an hour of a meeting.”
The election commissioner’s office will then have five days to get the petition printed and ready to hand out.
Poff said Clark will then have 30 days to gather 2,227 valid signatures in order for a recall election to take place. She added her office will have 15 business days to verify the signatures.
Clark said he is ‘very confident’ he can get all the necessary signatures from constituents.
“This is not about me, is about Mr. Brandt and his actions not addressing the public’s needs, the people who elected him,” Clark said. “Too many times we do not hold our elected officials accountable, we put them in place based on their promises, and then when they make bad decisions nothing comes of it. These are the consequences of not respecting the people’s wishes.”