Fueled by last month’s Pledge of Allegiance controversy, a petition drive to recall Madison School Board member Bill Keys is officially in progress.

Keys’ opponents, namely the Madison School Board Recall Committee, began their recall drive Nov. 12 and have until Wednesday next week to gather about 31,900 signatures needed to push a recall election.

Keys wrote a plan, passed by the school board, offering only an instrumental version of the National Anthem, and not the Pledge of Allegiance, to fulfill a new state law requiring Madison schools to offer either the Pledge or Anthem daily.
Keys said this plan was never an attempt to ban the Pledge of Allegiance.

“It was our district decision to play the National Anthem,” Keys said. “It does not exclude anyone ever saying the Pledge, there’s no way I would ever do that.”
Keys also said his plan was already in place at Madison West High School.

“If the board banned the Pledge, then the high school banned the Pledge,” he said.

Keys’ opponents feel quite differently about the situation.

“I think the School Board had become complacent, believing that everyone in this town thinks like they do,” Bill Geist, co-chair of the Recall Committee, told the Wisconsin State Journal. “This will remind them that their constituency is philosophically broad.”

Keys said he thinks the campaign is serving different motives.

“The whole thing has been distracting, which might have been the agenda,” he said. “They’re trying to keep me off progressive issues.”

Keys said he has a great deal of support from the community, including many students and parents.

Nathan Semple, UW senior and former student of Bill Keys, said he feels the recall is unfair based on Keys’ character.

“Mr. Keys operates on principles, and he’s not letting public opinion sway his principles,” Semple said. “He shouldn’t be fired for that.”

If the organizers collect enough signatures, a recall election would be set for Feb. 19, the same day as the spring primary.

However, Keys said he does not think this will happen, and he plans to dispute any charge.

“This is a grass-roots movement, I don’t believe they’ll reach [their goal],” he said. “If it’s well financed, it’s possible.”

www.madisonrecall.com