CHARLOTTESVILLE, VA (CVILLE RIGHT NOW) – A group of about 20 residents gathered at the steps of the Albemarle County Office Building to formally announce the launch of a petition to remove Dr. Kate Acuff, the Jack Jouett District representative, from the school board.

The group is seeking 476 signatures from Jack Jouett residents in order to petition a circuit court to remove Acuff – the board’s longest tenured member – from her position under Virginia Code. The group would still have to show cause to the Circuit Court judge to get the removal.

“An elected official can be removed when they fail to perform the clear duties of the job or show extreme incompetence when doing that job, and when that failure or incompetence harms the work of that office,” Phil Riese, Chairman of the Albemarle Republican Committee and leader of the group, said during the press conference. “We believe Kate Acuff’s conduct meets that standard, and that’s why all of us are here.”

Among the issues cited during the event were the fact Acuff was told by former ACPS Superintendent Matthew Haas before the rest of the board that a division staff member has been placed on administrative leave and the police were involved in the situation. She did not follow up on that information or inform other board members.

That staff member was former Hollymead staffer Michael Swiney, who was arrested on charges of sex crime in June. His arrest led to the board asking for Haas’ resignation just a week later.

After the board voted, in closed session, to ask for Haas’ resignation, Acuff left the meeting before it adjourned and did not partcipate in the vote, another point of contention with the petitioning group.

Riese also referenced comments made by Chief Deputy Commonwealth’s Attorney Lawton Tufts during Swiney’s last court appearance on Aug. 13, in which he said he had reason to “question the trustworthiness,” of Albemarle County Public School’s Title IX report on two of the alleged incidents, said that the division has been less than forthcoming with information during the criminal investigation and claimed it mishandled mandated reporting of a separate incident.

It was unclear what the petitioning group believed Acuff’s role in the Title IX process was.

As a whole, those who spoke made a number of accusations toward the school division and expressed a general distrust of not only Acuff, but ACPS as a whole, even with the school board recently calling for an independent investigation,

“If there were failures at multiple levels of the school division, then the public have the right to know, and that failure needs to be examined,” one parent said. “Parents are being asked to trust a system that was supposed to protect their children. Transparency and accountability are essential to rebuilding that trust, and until that happens, none of us are going to trust the school district with our children.”

While Riese is leading this effort, he told Cville Right Now afterward that he was reluctant to take on the role due to the partisan nature of his position with the Albemarle Republicans. He claimed at numerous points during the event that the petition was a bipartisan effort, and said afterward the effort will need more people.

“We’re gonna need people out there on the streets, out there knocking on doors, asking for people’s signatures from Jack Jouett,” he said. “This is just Day 1, but we’re gonna get it done. 
We’re gonna there’s no timeline to gather these signatures. However long it takes to get 476 signatures from Jack Jouett voters, we’re gonna take that time.”

Riese also told Cville Right Now he had previously contacted Acuff, sending her an email the prior week asking for her resignation by 5 p.m. that Friday. He received no response, but did get a confirmation from the board’s Chair Dr. Rebecca Berlin that his email was received.

“That’s why we’re here today, because she wasn’t willingly resigning,” Riese said. “So the only course of action we have left to us as citizens is to do this petition to remove her.”

This petition comes as the board is already looking for candidates to replace Vice Chair and at-large representative Allison Spillman, who stepped down from the board following its Aug. 13 meeting, citing a desire to spend more time with family. The application deadline for her position was last Friday, and the board will be conducting candidate interviews Sept. 10.

While Acuff is the target of this petition, the board as a whole has been the subject of criticism since Swiney’s arrest.

Asked if there had been any discussion amongst the group about any other members of the board who could be the target of future petitions of removal, Riese said, “Everything’s possible.”