As political polarization deepens across the country, school board meetings and elections have become increasingly heated, including in Colorado. In March 2023, three of the five members of the Elizabeth School District resigned in protest—with one member writing that meetings had become “chaotic and have brought behavior unbecoming of the community.”

Experts from the University of Colorado Boulder are available to discuss the polarization of education policy and school boards, including around issues like Title IX and the rights of LGBTQ+ students. 

Political polarization

Kathy Schultz, dean of the School of Education, is author of the book Distrust and Educational Change. She can discuss teacher shortages in Denver and around the country and the politicization of education policy and school boards. 

Trends in school boards

Anna Deese, a doctoral student in the School of Education, is a former school board member from Montana. Her research focuses on historical trends in school boards, equity concerns and norms of school board governance. 

Schools and the law

Kevin Welner, a lawyer and a professor in the School of Education at CU Boulder, is director of the National Education Policy Center. He can discuss potential legal challenges to recent education policies around the country, including Florida’s “Don’t Say Gay” bill and school district decisions to remove books from school libraries and classrooms.

LGBTQ+ students

Elizabeth Meyer, an associate professor in the School of Education, is a co-author of a 2022 report titled “Transgender Students and Policy in K-12 Public Schools: Acknowledging Historical Harms and Taking Steps Toward a Promising Future.” 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. 

Denver’s school board

Anna Noble, a doctoral student in the School of Education, is a former science teacher in Denver Public Schools. She studies tensions in portfolio-managed school districts and is currently focusing on how different conceptualizations of "equity" relate to the politics of education reform, organized labor and social justice movements.