A group of community members are petitioning to recall Garfield Re-2 School Board President Meriya Stickler.

The petition, signed by community members Luke Snoddy, Robin Ann McMillen and Lisa Anne Gross, states five main reasons behind why they’re trying to recall Stickler.

Many of those reasons center on how some parents felt about pandemic protocols put in place by the Re-2 school board. On Sept. 27, the Garfield Re-2 School District implemented a universal mask mandate for all staff and students.

“There was not a moment that anyone didn’t decide that we’re going to bring our kids back because we knew that was the healthiest place for them,” Stickler told the Citizen Telegram on Wednesday. “It wasn’t perfect, but we made the best choice every time we could with the information that was at hand.”

The new rule was spurred by increases in COVID-19 cases throughout the district. By Sept. 23, eight staff members and 150 students were quarantined due to school or outside exposure, according to the district’s COVID-19 dashboard.

After the mandate, quarantines for staff and students dropped significantly. Meanwhile, the district is among the 17% of Colorado school districts to maintain in-person learning throughout most of the pandemic.

“Our business was student education, and we couldn’t educate our students at home,” Stickler said. “We needed them to be in the seats, and everybody at that table made it their mission, at that point, to bring our kids back.

And that’s just what we did.”

But the mask mandate prompted staunch opposition from some community members, including ones on the petition.

From there, many times school board meetings were interrupted by community members angry about the mask mandate. Re-2 school board member Katie Mackley abruptly resigned due to what she claimed was harassment of her as well her family.

“I don’t want it to sound aloof, but our staff, our community, our students, are all trying to get back to business,” Stickler said. “We’re trying to heal the community. That’s where my focus is going to be.”

In addition to the petition, a website created by community members — http://www.re2cp.org — also states an order of business to recall Stickler.

Re2 Community Partners board members noted on this site include Brooklyn Barkman, Neil Bishop, Salomi Gonzalez, Fathom Jensen, Aime Powers, Ty Schroerlucke as well as Snoddy.

The Citizen Telegram reached out to several people either listed on the petition or on the website. Most did not call back and those who did declined to comment.

Reporter Ray K. Erku can be reached at 612-423-5273 or rerku@postindependent.com