Dear Editor,

Even though I don’t have children attending the Gilpin School now I still believe I benefit as a community member if Gilpin RE-1 has an excellent school board.

My children benefited from the excellent education they received from our local school and I want the students who attend Gilpin now to have the same advantage. When the children in our community become the next members of the labor force all of us will benefit if they have critical thinking skills and they are creative.

For these reasons, I will vote for Jill Peterson who is running for a two-year term. I am impressed with her emphasis on students having critical thinking skills and on teachers fostering creativity. While all the candidates express concern about declining student enrollment and an increasing number of teacher’s resignations, Jill suggests a process to understand why these problems are occurring and a willingness to be creative about how to solve these two problems once the reasons are understood.  She also values student and teacher diversity and the need to adapt teaching methods that will work best for each student. Finally, she strongly supports creating a safe environment for all students physically and emotionally not just from the horror of a school shooting but also from the emotional trauma of bullying and marginalization.

I will also vote for Kristin Goodlett who is running for a four-year term. Both candidates already have experience serving on the school board and can “hit the ground running” to address the concerns about declining student enrollment and teacher resignations. Both appear to have the time and willingness to continue learning about their role as a School Board member and how to appropriately manage conflict when differences arise among the Board members and the administration.

Neither candidate seems inclined to ban books, try to limit access to vaccines for preventable childhood diseases, limit curriculum to only the American history we can be proud of or marginalize students. They appear to be supportive of all students and want all students to have the very best education to prepare them for an optimal future after they graduate. Both support a wide range of electives including classes at Warren Tech to accommodate the interests of all students, not only students who are interested in the core subjects and athletics.

Let’s give our youth the leaders they deserve

Jeanne Nicholson

Black Hawk