How long, and where have you lived in Boulder County?

28 years off and on since 1990, always in south Boulder.

What schools have you attended throughout life?

• Wren Avenue Elementary, El Dorado Junior High, Concord High School (all public schools)

• University of California, Berkeley (B.S., Chemistry), 1987

• Stanford University (M.S. Environmental Engineering, 1988; Ph.D. Atmospheric Science, 1994)

What additional training or education have you received relevant to the Boulder County School Board?

I taught environmental, atmospheric and general chemistry at U.C. San Diego for 4 years. I also worked as a BVSD classroom monitor in Winter 2021 in an effort to help kids get back in school.

List the Boulder County boards, civic or volunteer activities in which you have been involved and the dates of service.

RTD bike rack advocate (1994-1996), Skip citizen’s advisory committee (1995), Intercambio volunteer teacher (2005-2006), pro bono research on children’s health resulting in 7 peer-reviewed publications (2008-present), Fairview PTO (2022-23)

Why do you want to hold the office for which you are running?

I’m running as a concerned mom of two high-school-age children who have attended BVSD schools since kindergarten. I attended public schools myself through my bachelor’s degree. Abraham Lincoln said that public schools are a place where children of all backgrounds come together and are essential for perpetuating our republic, but I am concerned that trust in public schools is eroding. Close to 1.5 million US students left public schools in the last few years. This is happening in BVSD too, exacerbating the declining enrollment problem we have due to unaffordable housing and birth rate demographics. Last year, kindergarten enrollment declined to only 89% of the potential student pool, a 6% drop from the historical average. A recent district survey showed that 24% of parents of young children were either undecided or did not plan to enroll their kids in BVSD. BVSD needs to ask why and make informed decisions to try to win back these parents. I hope to bring more diversity of opinion to the Boulder Valley School Board and help restore confidence in public schools.

Will you be able to meet the time commitments of the office? Yes, because my hours as a research scientist are flexible and depend on grant money that I raise myself.

Do you support following Public Health guidelines for child safety like vaccinations? If you don’t then what are your reasons and alternatives?

The U.S. Public Health system follows a bio-pharmaceutical model of health that may work well for some people, but others may prefer to emphasize nutrition and alternative ways to support their immune systems. The fundamental issue is that Public Health does not believe in the value of natural immunity. That was clear during COVID and is implicit in the following statement from the Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment vaccine education module, “The difference between natural infection and vaccination is the price paid for immunity.” This statement assumes that the course of natural infection, regardless of the pathogen, is always severe, that vaccines have no adverse effects or unintended consequences, and that the immunity gained from the two is equivalent. However, for many people, the natural immune system can clear infection with relatively mild symptoms, leading to robust, long-lasting immunity, while a vaccine can have serious side effects and provide only transient immunity. The COVID vaccines are a case in point. Last month, the CDC issued guidelines recommending that all Americans aged 6 months and older get the new COVID booster shot. Meanwhile, many other countries (e.g., all of Scandinavia, the UK, Australia, Germany and Japan) have banned or discouraged mRNA shots for children due to their unfavorable risk:benefit ratio for young people. This is just one example of an area where I question U.S. Public Health guidelines. As someone who has studied immunology at the university level and done pro bono research on children’s health for 15 years, I support parental choice for all matters relating to children’s health and well-being.

How would you promote diversity among staff in BVSD, and what is the best way to bring more inclusion and responsible diversity into the schools?

BVSD should hire the most qualified people it can find and should not use demographic targets in its hiring decisions. Teachers are put at a disadvantage if they are perceived to have been hired based on criteria other than their own merits. The challenge for BVSD may be that the best way to understand diversity is to experience it firsthand, but the BVSD student body is not particularly diverse, either racially (the student body is 66% white, 20% Latino, 6% Asian and 1% black) or politically (Boulder votes strongly Democrat). Practically speaking, I’m not sure that it is the role of public schools to “teach” diversity, although I think it’s important to encourage students to read about different cultures and to treat each other respectfully.

Briefly, how does your belief system align with BVSD’s Strategic Plan?

I generally agree with the goals of the strategic plan although I would like to see more emphasis on core educational development of reading, mathematics, science, etc. and less emphasis on social and political issues. I suspect that the heavy emphasis on the latter is contributing to declining enrollment in BVSD, since not all parents are on board.

BVSD to its credit has tried to address the large racial achievement gaps within the district. According to CMAS data from Spring 2023, about 62% and 75% of white students met benchmark expectations in math and reading, respectively, compared to only 25% and 38%, respectively, for Latino students. However, these gaps involve socioeconomic issues that are not entirely under the district’s control. Furthermore, students in the middle may take a hit when too much of the focus is on the gap students, e.g., with the disproportionate funding model used under COVID. Smaller class sizes and more individual attention for students who are struggling academically are a key strategy for closing achievement gaps as well as for supporting all students.

The mountain schools in BVSD are different from the other schools within the district. How will you become familiar with them, and how will you best support them so they can thrive in their own environments?

I spend a lot of time in the mountains as an avid hiker and skier and pass through and stop in Nederland often. I will advocate for mountain students to have access to the same resources as other students. I am eager to listen and better understand any specific concerns that mountain schools have.

If you could ask all of the candidates one question, what would it be?

All candidates but me have said that they thought public health officials did a good job during COVID and that they will defer to their guidance on all further issues related to health. My question for the other candidates is: Do you think health officials made any mistakes during the pandemic that should not be repeated, and would you encourage parents to follow the CDC’s advice by giving the new COVID booster shots to their children (keeping in mind that other countries, as described above, have banned COVID shots for kids)?

For more information, email cynthiadn@protonmail.com or check out the website at cynthiaforbvsd.com