By SUZANNE DOWNING
April 4, 2026 – The Alaska Division of Elections approved a recall petition targeting Alaska Gateway School District Board President Lisa Conrad in Tok, opening a 60-day window for supporters to gather signatures to force a recall election.
Division of Elections Director Carol Beecher notified recall sponsor representatives that the application met statutory requirements for some of the allegations and that petition booklets were issued March 19. Sponsors must gather signatures from 22 qualified voters within REAA 16 Section II by May 18. The signatures must be collected in person by sponsors, with each signer providing a printed name, residence address, mailing address, signature, and date. Petitions must be submitted to the Division of Elections by 5 pm on the deadline day.
Beecher’s certification letter explains that recall applications must allege misconduct in office, incompetence, or failure to perform prescribed duties, and that the division must assume the allegations are true when evaluating whether they legally qualify.
The division found two of the allegations against Conrad legally sufficient for recall. One claim alleges that Conrad signed a contract with an outside law firm without board approval or the superintendent’s knowledge, which could violate district bylaws governing individual board member authority. A second qualifying allegation concerns her handling of a censure motion in February 2025, where the petition asserts she denied board action on the motion, potentially failing to follow parliamentary procedure and board policy.
Other allegations in the original application were rejected. The division determined that claims related to alleged Open Meetings Act violations were too vague, and that an accusation Conrad ignored public concerns did not constitute a valid ground for recall. Those portions were removed before petitions were issued.
The recall effort targets leadership within the Alaska Gateway School District, which serves the Tok area. The district is located in Regional Educational Attendance Area 16, an unincorporated portion of Alaska that operates without a borough government. In REAAs, school boards function as the primary local governing bodies for education, and recall procedures follow state statutes governing local officials.
If at least 22 valid signatures are submitted and certified by the Division of Elections, a recall election would be scheduled for voters in the affected section of the district.
The district has had a previous recall that succeeded. In 2023, Alaska Gateway School District board member Peter Talus (Seat D) faced a recall election that succeeded with 57.56% of the vote (137 votes) vs. 42.44% (101 votes), with low turnout (~19%).
In 2007, the Chatham School District, REAA 18, saw three board members recalled in a single special election.
2 thoughts on “Recall petition issued for Tok effort to remove school board president”
Took residents need to develop better discernment of people BEFORE they elect someone. If they had better judgement of people then they wouldn’t have to recall anyone. The problem hiring the wrong leaders, there is damage and you have to take a little time to recover
Like Gustavus, Tanana, and uncounted other Alaska towns Tok chooses to let the state provide services that property taxes support in many other towns. I don’t blame them one bit! Every Alaskan should demand the same very favorable treatment.