3 Richland school officials facing recall should pay their own legal bills | Opinion

Three Richland School Board members should not expect taxpayers to pay for their irresponsibility.

They were warned repeatedly not to buck the state mask mandate, but they did it anyway. Now there are legal fees to be paid and it is possible board members Audra Bird, Kari Williams and Semi Bird will ask the school district to cover the costs incurred while fighting a recall effort in court.

If this reimbursement request makes it on an agenda, the three school board members have the majority to approve the expense themselves.

How galling is that?

Never mind that the night Byrd was sworn in on Nov. 23, 2021, she told the audience that after two weeks of research and contacting two attorneys, she could not find a way around state rules that require teachers and students to wear masks to school.

Those same requirements were in place three months later when she, Bird and Williams decided to make masks optional in a surprise vote that was not listed specifically on the agenda and that caught the public off guard.

Did they find a hole in the law? Did state officials tell them they could ditch masks in school?

No.

After the months of controversy, they had to have known their vote was illegal.

And that is the basis of the recall effort. The three are charged with violating the state Open Meetings Act, the state mask mandate and school district policies and procedures.

Last April, the three were told by legal counsel that if they were acting in good faith and in the scope of their duties, they could vote in favor of getting their legal fees reimbursed by the school district.

The board agreed to pay the bill if a judge found the charges were insufficient to go on a ballot.

In an honorable move, Williams did not vote for herself in order to avoid a conflict of interest. Bird and Byrd, however, voted in favor of the deal for all three of them.

But now the Washington Supreme Court has allowed the recall to move forward. That means the board members should be on the hook for those legal fees.

Yes, they voted to make masks optional because they were thinking of the kids. But they weren’t thinking about the long-term repercussions.

Schools were forced to close for two days after their disastrous vote because staff wasn’t ready for the change and also because school funding was going to be put at risk.

This whole unfortunate situation should serve as a cautionary tale that being an elected official doesn’t mean you get to do whatever you want.

Actions have consequences.

These three had a duty to govern wisely and legally, and they didn’t do that.

There are plenty of other school board members in the Tri-Cities and throughout Washington state who disagreed with the mask mandate. But they knew better than to go rogue, defy Inslee’s order and think they could get away with it.

Richland school district money should pay for educating kids — not covering three elected officials’ illegal decisions.

Byrd, Williams and Bird say they were thinking of the kids when they voted to make masks optional. If they vote to have the school district cover their thousands of dollars in growing legal fees, who will they be thinking of?

This story was originally published February 24, 2023 at 5:00 AM.