The Crested Butte News Serving the Gunnison Valley since 1999
Board has 60 days to fill vacancy
By Kendra Walker
During their February 10 meeting, the Gunnison Watershed School District board accepted the resignation of board secretary Mandy Roberts.
Roberts submitted a letter to the school board expressing her desire to resign, and she was not present at the meeting. The Crested Butte News reached out to Roberts, who shared, “It is with much thought that I have decided to tender my letter of resignation to the RE1J school board. Due to personal conflicts in the needs of my family I feel like I must make this choice so that I can be fully present with them at this critical time. There are many times when one has to make hard decisions, and this choice puts me serving the community’s children versus my own children. I regret the disturbance this may cause and realizing my term does not run out for many months. I hope that a suitable replacement would be found in someone that might share my values and concerns and offer the balance to the board as I feel I have done. Perhaps a suitable candidate could be chosen from the runner up of the previous board election.”
Upon acceptance of her resignation, the school board now has 60 days to accept applications from interested community members, conduct interviews and appoint someone to fill the remainder of the term, which ends in November 2025.
The board emphasized the need to communicate the vacancy as widely as possible to encourage applicants, conduct interviews and make a decision in the 60-day timeframe.
The board members expressed their gratitude for her time in the role. She was appointed to the board in November 2021 to represent a south of Round Mountain seat.
“I would like to thank Mandy for her service,” said board president Tyler Martineau. “It’s a lot of work serving on the board and she has contributed close to four years of her time in the midst of raising a family. I know that’s been a big commitment. She has represented an important part of our community and so I want to thank her.”
“I’m sorry to see Mandy leave. I think she added a really good perspective to the board, often one that I didn’t always see readily myself,” said board member Mark VanderVeer. “I know that was a tough decision, and I’m sorry to see that she won’t be able to finish out her term.”
“I would like to reach out and extend my respect and thanks to Mandy for all of her contributions,” said board member Jody Coleman. “She has represented a constituency that I would also like to reach out to and extend my services to so that those people don’t feel left out during her resignation time. I want to wish her well and hope this is the best decision for her and her family and her life. Mandy, thank you for your heartfelt contributions to this entire community.”
