Back to School
鶹Ժ and schools across Colorado are preparing for the 2024-2025 school year. Experts from CU Boulder are available to discuss a range of issues for the back-to-school period, including the heat in many classrooms and the politics of book bans.
School boards & politics
Anna Deese is a doctoral candidate in the School of Education and a former school board member from Montana. She studies public school boards, with a focus on how boards approach equity-focused goals. She can discuss the history of school boards and board decision-making and planning.
Book bans
Katie Spoon is a doctoral candidate in the Department of Computer Science and master’s student in education policy who studies inequalities in social systems, such as education and careers. She can discuss how people of color are disproportionally targeted in the recent wave of book banning in the United States.
SCOTUS, vouchers & Project 2025
Kevin Welner is a lawyer, professor in the School of Education and director of the National Education Policy Center. He can discuss a wide range of issues related to the law and education, including school vouchers, religious charter schools and faith-based discrimination. He can also talk about Project 2025, a proposal written by the Heritage Foundation that, among other policy goals, calls for abolishing the U.S. Department of Education.
Bilingualism & school “resegregation”
Kim Strong is an assistant research professor in the BUENO Center for Multicultural Education in the School of Education at CU Boulder. She is the lead author of a 2023 report that found that racial and economic segregation remains a pervasive problem in Denver Public Schools. She can discuss policies around bilingual education, and how English language learner students face barriers to accessing high-quality education.
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LGBTQ+ students
Elizabeth Meyer is an associate professor in the School of Education and the author of a forthcoming book called “Queer Justice in Schools: A Guide for Youth Activists, Allies, and their Teachers.” She can discuss her research on Title IX in K-12 schools, LGBTQ+ students and how discriminatory practices can harm transgender and non-binary youth.
Health impacts of excess heat
Colleen Reid, associate professor of geography, studies the health impacts of climate change, including extreme heat. She can discuss how extreme heat impacts youth and the social inequities related to access to air conditioning, parks and green space.
Mental health
Julia Zigarelli is a licensed child psychologist and deputy director of the Renee Crown Wellness Institute. She can discuss mental health issues facing students today and strategies for coping.