Support Our Schools - GWSD

Support Our Schools - GWSD Our mission is to educate, advocate, and harness resources to unite our community in support of educa These should be used before legal action is taken.

MISSION:
To educate, advocate, and harness resources to unite our community in support of educational excellence in the Gunnison Watershed School District. CORE VALUES:
We believe nonpartisan public education is the foundation of democracy. We believe that diversity and equity are fundamental nonpartisan values at the core of public education. We believe the school’s primary focus should be to dev

elop well-rounded, academically successful students with the potential to achieve individual success and make positive contributions to the community. We believe children thrive when they have a supportive network of adults, including parents, family, mentors, teachers, and other community members. We believe parents have a right to contribute to and make key decisions about their own children’s health, wellbeing, and education. We believe students and families have individual rights, needs, and responsibilities. The public school district is tasked with balancing the rights, needs, and responsibilities of all individuals within the district to ensure every student is successful. KEY MESSAGES:
There are established, accessible channels for district parents to express concern or complaint. The lawsuit is frivolous and distracting. It should be dropped, and existing channels should be used to express this grievance so teachers, administrators, and staff can return to the core mission of the district: to ensure student success. The lawsuit and phantom complaints take away money, time, and energy from our children and our educators. The Gunnison Watershed School District is facing unprecedented challenges: labor shortage, overcrowding, and underfunding. Substitute Teacher Staffing Shortage: 60% vacancy rate

School Bus Driver Shortage: no bus service in CB

Kitchen Staff: no meal service in CB

Facilities are overcrowded

We must not let national agendas shape our perception of GWSD. Our teachers, principals, staff, and superintendent are not the enemy. They are US. They are our neighbors, friends, and family. We recognize our teachers, principals, and superintendent as experts in their fields. They are committed to ongoing professional development, including using the most current research-based practices that are proven to support student learning and success. Our schools have always been a beacon of hope, belonging, and community in our county—a source of pride we support and gather around. We want to keep it that way. Parents have the right and responsibility to make choices about how their children are educated. Our community’s public institutions may not be able to accommodate every ideology, methodology, or doctrine; but parents have choices—within the district and the community—and have the right to select alternatives that best support their children’s needs.

We are all aware that school districts across the state are struggling financially including struggling to pay teachers ...
02/22/2022

We are all aware that school districts across the state are struggling financially including struggling to pay teachers and staff a living wage and struggling to perform maintenance and expand facilities to meet growing enrollment and ensure the safety of our kids. The Gunnison Watershed School District is no different. But, have you ever wondered or heard your friends and neighbors ask questions about why with rising property values and taxes this is the case?

If so, please plan to join us for a very informative hour on either Tuesday, March 1st at 12:00 pm or Wednesday, March 2nd at 6:00 pm via Zoom to learn the "why" behind these complex school finance issues.

Great Education Colorado and the Colorado School Finance Project will help us answer a variety of school funding questions, and we'll bust some of the most common myths and misconceptions including:

Our property valuations and property taxes are sky rocketing. Why is the district saying they don't have enough money to fund maintenance, expansion, security, and teacher and staff salaries?
We all agree that teacher and staff pay in the district isn't keeping up with our cost of living. Why doesn't the district raise salaries?
Why doesn't the district work to move us from an agricultural designation to a resort designation to increase our funding like other resort communities have done?
Why aren't we getting cost of living increases for our district staff?
Why can't we use/divert money from the sale of Ma*****na and other funding sources to help fund the schools?
Why doesn't the district live within its means and set aside money that it gets every year to pay for expansion and maintenance needs?
Enrollment growth in the North end of the valley has been consistent for over a decade. Why aren't we getting enough
money from the state to pay for the growth?

JOIN US!! Link in bio 👆🏾

Here's a SUPER easy way to let our legislators know that we need more funding for our schools, and we needed it yesterda...
02/20/2022

Here's a SUPER easy way to let our legislators know that we need more funding for our schools, and we needed it yesterday. Teachers nation-wide are quitting in droves. Paying them a living wage that honors the expertise required to do their jobs is the least we can do to try to increase teacher retention and attract more people to the profession.

Students and teachers deserve a sustainable solution to Colorado's school staffing shortage NOW!

Please consider attending the Gunnison county library board of trustees meeting tonight, at the gunnison public library ...
02/17/2022

Please consider attending the Gunnison county library board of trustees meeting tonight, at the gunnison public library 4-5pm.

We just became aware of a community member has decided to take on a potential book ban at the public library. We are in need of folks who can show support for our public libraries and ultimately our right to safely and privately access all sources of information.

We hope you can attend, thank you!!

SOS followers and supporters: we need support at the school board meeting tonight, IN-PERSON at the Gunnison Community S...
02/14/2022

SOS followers and supporters: we need support at the school board meeting tonight, IN-PERSON at the Gunnison Community School Commons 5:30pm.

Show some ❤️this Valentine’s Day, if you can!

**UPDATE** this webinar is currently postponed. Stay tuned for a future date and time TBD!**Are you interested to learn ...
01/27/2022

**UPDATE** this webinar is currently postponed. Stay tuned for a future date and time TBD!**

Are you interested to learn about the basics behind school funding? What are the formulas used, the efforts to change them, and why/how teacher salary discrepancies exist across the state?

*JOIN US* for a free, informational webinar with the Colorado School Finance Project and Great Ed Colorado for a Finance 101 webinar. UPDATE: dates are TBD! We had some dates in February but there's been a need to postpone. Stay tuned for more information soon!

Greetings everyone!We hope you are enjoying the sunshine and relatively warm weather these days, and most importantly st...
01/24/2022

Greetings everyone!

We hope you are enjoying the sunshine and relatively warm weather these days, and most importantly staying healthy.

We have a school board meeting coming up tonight Monday, January 24th at 5:30 pm. The meeting will be virtual again due to the county's COVID numbers. Some great topics for everyone to learn more about are on the agenda including:

Presentation on the 2022 budget
Updates on staffing shortages
Discussion on planning for updated scope of facilities project

To access the meeting please follow this link

The Board of Education will convene in person at Lake School. Public participants will only have access using the video conferencing platform ZOOM Webinar.

Greetings! Thanks to everyone who attended Mondays school board meeting in Gunnison. We estimated about 80-100 people wh...
12/16/2021

Greetings! Thanks to everyone who attended Mondays school board meeting in Gunnison. We estimated about 80-100 people who attended in person, and another 50-60 via zoom.

The night was a huge success as nearly all wore their SOS t-shirts. Because the public comments were organized and SOS spoke on behalf of most, the board was able for the first time in months to spend a majority of the time discussing and educating on current challenges.

This is the way it should work!!

If you want to get involved, plan to attend the next board meeting on January 10 @ 5pm in Gunnison. You can also sign up to volunteer for a shift in CB packing lunches or helping the kids out during lunch.

>> Sign up link in bio!

12/06/2021

HUGE shout out to Swifthaus Design for our logo design! Some key words which were used to develop this logo:

☑️people
☑️interconnectivity
☑️inclusivity
☑️diversity
☑️weaving
☑️collaboration

All are representative of our core values and intertwined in our mission. To be a part of the conversation and solution, be sure to attend the 12/13 meeting in Gunnison, sign our Open Letter, and/or send us a DM!

Address

800 N Boulevard Street
Gunnison, CO
81230

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