To Whom This May Concern:

The GATES ATHLETIC ASSOCIATION has been in turmoil from Basketball, and now to FOOTBALL & CHEER for the 2022-2023 seasons.  This petition is to recognize the parents/ members and athletes of the Association that wish to bring attention to the powers that be of Chesterfield County that there has been a gross misconduct on the part of the GATES ATHLETIC ASSOCIATION BOARD, including, but not limited to the following:

• The ladies Basketball had to disband for the 2023 season for unknown reasons.
• The Gates executive board suspended a Football director, Head Coach, in the middle of the season without any supporting evidence to show the members exactly why.  
• To date, the Board has not given any more information about why they suspended the football director/ coach, and further, they involved the police department to question the director, and his wife.  No charges have been brought, and he was never reinstated.
• Gates members have asked for the books to be public, and then denied parents seeing the books (going against the 501c3 code). 
• Gates Board has hired police escorts to be present at meetings to intimidate members from coming, and as such to avoid answering paying members’ questions to reasoning on all of these things.  
• Leading up to the nomination for new board members, Gates Board has repeatedly changed voting rules due to the mass amount of parents wanting to participate in the removal of the board.
   
• Gates members/parents want to explore legal action against each Board member and the Association for defamation of the character of the director Chris, and his wife Natalie, as well as the children's  names they released in a mass email showing personal information, such as payment status (most of which was inaccurate).
• The misconduct by the board has angered a majority of the members and athletes, and therefore a huge amount of its members want OUT OF GATES.  
• Every signature below wants a removal and replacement of the Gates Board, or the disbandment of the Board. 
• Every signature below wants the Gates board and CQL board to grant waivers upon request for the upcoming Spring and Football seasons so that their children can play their favorite sport elsewhere   
• THEREFORE, WE PETITION the County of Chesterfield sponsorship of the Gates Athletic Association be revoked or put on suspension/moratorium (or any other injunction the county sees fit).  This has gotten way out of hand and decorum must be restored to this once happy, productive Association. The boards actions have only confused the masses more and promoted a huge exodus of kids from the Association.  The current President and Vice President do not represent the true Gates Gators football community, and they haven’t for a long time. 
  Also, side note: the board members thought it a good idea to have the police escort the Director Coach Chris and wife Natalie off the sidelines at a game where he was only watching a game on 10/28 that his son was a part of.  The athletes saw their favorite Coach and Director be police escorted away from the field. No action by him amounted to that sort of treatment.

Respectfully,

Members/Parents/Athletes of the Gates Gators Football and Cheer league