**Please note: The origin of this petition came from a letter written to the School Board from Susan Gellert, in support of the Administration and opposition to the currently pending litigation. We felt that a petition would be the best way to garner attention and bring to light the support needed from our community. Our resources are best utilized for our kids. Thank you for reading, signing if you agree, and ultimately supporting our kids and their futures.
- Susan Gellert, Meghan Skinner, Sarah Stubbe

This petition is in support of the decisions of the Gunnison Watershed School District and Dr. Leslie Nichols. We are in support of their decision to continue the implementation of a school mask mandate in accordance with the recommendations from the Gunnison County Public Health Director, The Colorado Department of Public Health, The Center for Disease Control, and the American Academy of Pediatrics. We are appalled that anyone would consider bringing litigation to the school district over a policy such as this and we find the attempt to distract and cause expense to our school district’s limited funds, offensive. In addition, this puts additional stress on the already existent labor shortage issue throughout the District. Every bit of our time, monetary, and labor resources need to be placed on our children and their education, as opposed to dollars spent on defending the common sense of our school leaders. 

For the entire 2020 school year, our district successfully completed in-person learning from August through June with a mask mandate in place. We maintained the spread of Covid throughout the district and were able to keep in-class learning which we feel is most important for our kids, families, and teachers. Our children thrive in this environment. A mask mandate did not increase the spread of Covid and we were able to maintain a successful school year. We are proud of this accomplishment and again, support the District's decision in favor of this. 

We also support the existing curriculum developed and delivered by our current teaching staff and administrators. We do not support political ideologies that advocate for banning curriculum or books in our district. It is essential for our teachers and school staff to have a broad and diverse range of professional development to continually expand their knowledge base in order to meet the needs and future realities of our children today and in the future. Our children need to learn about issues outside of Gunnison County, so that they can become successful citizens and leaders, and thrive in the diverse world that we live in. 

We fully support the existing school board members and do not believe any of the existing members should be recalled. We entrust them with our children, their livelihood, and the better good of our community. We also know and understand that this mandate is temporary and they are doing everything in their power to plan for future days without masks. We are incredibly grateful to our teachers, staff, administrators, Dr. Nichols, and our school board as they navigate these incredibly challenging times. They have our full support of the decisions they make to ensure educational excellence for our children.