La Crosse’s first school board recall happened 40 years ago

On August 2nd of 1977, voters in the La Crosse school district turned out for an unusual summer election, and threw five school board members out of office for firing a junior high principal known for using physical force on students to maintain discipline.  The board voted that March not to renew the contract of Longfellow principal Myron McKee, and his supporters fought back by starting a recall drive, a constitutional provision rarely used in Wisconsin at the time.  National media portrayed the special election as a sign that La Crosse was endorsing corporal punishment in school.  Recall elections became much more frequent in the state after the McKee controversy…and were used again in La Crosse 15 years later to remove school board members who approved a new busing plan for the district.  
 
The Wisconsin Touring Theater Company from U-W-La Crosse was wrapping up its third season of plays performed in a portable mini-theater at school gyms around the state. The ’77 season included “Little Mary Sunshine,” the courtroom drama “The Night of January 16th,” and the children’s shows “Sleeping Beauty” and “Tom Sawyer.”
 
And Elvis Presley performed his final tour that summer, shortly before his death. One of his last concerts was in Madison, where Elvis made news for breaking up a fight at a gas station. Forty years ago, 1977, yesterday in La Crosse.