Cynthia Nevison

Cynthia Nevison is running for the Boulder Valley School District (BVSD) Board of Directors in District C, which primarily includes a small portion of the western part of the City of Boulder, the towns of Nederland, Ward, and Eldorado Springs, and extends into unincorporated portions of western Boulder County, but see the map below for better detail. BVSD Directors are elected by all voters in the entire BVSD area, though they run as residents of a given geographic district. Terms are for four years, and Directors are limited to two terms.

Relevant Experience:

  • B.S., Chemistry, University of California, Berkeley
  • M.S., Environmental Engineering, Stanford University,
  • Ph.D., Atmospheric Science, Stanford University
  • Lecturer, Chemistry Department, University of California, San Diego, 4 years
  • BVSD Classroom Monitor, Winter 2021, 3 months

Q – What made you decide to run?

I’m a capable and well educated person who can listen with genuine respect to a wide range of opinions, both liberal and conservative. I believe that I can engage with parents who are leaving public schools and help regain their trust. I also bring an important science-based perspective to the table. In particular, I am knowledgeable about health and have done pro bono research for many years on the increasing rates of chronic health conditions and disabilities among children, which is an issue that is having a major impact on public schools. I have been endorsed by former school board members Shelly Benford and Donna Miers. A supporter recently told me, “It will be heartening to so many parents who want freedom for their children to have someone like you on the board.”

Q – Are there specific needs in your geographic district? 

At least two of the elementary schools in my district have consolidated from 3 classes per grade to 2 (or even 1 in the case of the kindergarten class). With this consolidation, class sizes have ballooned to over 30 students. Large class size was the biggest concern I heard from parents while walking my neighborhood gathering my petition signatures. Unfortunately, I think this problem is not unique to District C. My district also houses Fairview High School, which is renowned for excellence in academics, athletics, and the arts, but also has had its share of problems. It had a school shooting threat last year and has a new principal after years of being accused of fostering a school culture that turns a blind eye to sexual harassment by student athletes.

Q – How would you characterize BVSD’s current level of academic performance and your performance priorities?

Academic performance is high on my list of priorities and is an area where BVSD excels and generally ranks well compared to other districts in Colorado. I would like to see more attention to spelling and grammar. My high-school-age son recently told me that he didn’t really know what a preposition was! Also, schools don’t seem to teach the difference between number and amount, less and fewer, or nominative and objective case pronouns. I would also encourage a reduced dependence on Chromebooks. The heavy use and requirement of Chromebooks for turning in homework, for example, makes it difficult for parents to regulate screen time and also can be confusing for students in my experience.

Q – Do you believe BVSD has done a good job managing educational achievement gaps? If not, what can BVSD do to narrow the gaps?

The achievement gaps are large according to BVSD’s CMAS data from Spring 2023, which show that 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. BVSD to its credit has tried hard to address these gaps, but they are challenging and involve socioeconomic issues that are not entirely under the district’s control. Smaller class sizes and more individual attention for students who are struggling academically are a key strategy for closing these gaps.

Q – What is your take on the use of or reliance on standardized testing in today’s educational environment, and would you favor changes?

I think it is reasonable to have some formal standardized testing to provide benchmarks for schools to measure performance, as long as the test preparation doesn’t take too much time away from normal classroom learning.

Q – General thoughts on BVSD finance, including whether you could favor running a future ballot measure that would increase revenue for BVSD?

Smaller class sizes are my top priority for funding. Smaller classes allow for more individualized attention and are known to improve academic performance and help close achievement gaps. Another major funding need involves the critical shortage of paraeducators and special education teachers both nationwide and in BVSD. Para and special ed positions also have a high rate of turnover. At several BVSD-hosted meetings this spring, many parents voiced their concerns that BVSD is not able to meet the needs of all students, especially those who require one-on-one para support during part or all of the day. This is a growing problem as special education enrollment is increasing even as overall enrollment is declining in BVSD.

This is not just a district level issue, since federal and state governments provide extra funds for special education. (However, I have learned that at least 1 elementary school in my district pays for its paras through PTO money.) I also believe that schools need to start asking why the special ed population is growing and why chronic childhood diseases and disabilities are on the rise.

As for raising taxes again, at some point schools need to refocus on their core mission, which is to educate, not to fund a complete spectrum of social services for children. Other organizations can provide those services to those who want them, and not all parents want them at school.

Q – What are your thoughts about censorship in school districts, and what would your thought process include if there were calls to censor materials in BVSD? 

I oppose censorship on principle. Those seeking to ban books would need to meet a high standard for me to accede to their request, such as showing that a book contains flagrant child pornography. I’ll add that, while this question invokes images of conservative or religious groups seeking to ban material that offends them, it is important to acknowledge that the left is also guilty of advocating for censorship, especially in recent years. This includes the demotion or revision of beloved authors from past centuries, like Laura Ingalls Wilder and Roald Dahl, who are judged by 21st century standards. Even more concerning is the censorship of accurate information (e.g., the statement that SARS-CoV2 originated in a Chinese virology lab) and the Biden Administration’s role in pressuring social media companies to censor viewpoints (even if true) that contradict its policies. In a recent Pew poll, 55% of adults (and 70% of Democrats) said that government should take steps to limit “false information” online. This poll reinforces the need for BVSD to teach our students about the fundamental freedoms in the U.S. Constitution and Bill of Rights, of which freedom of speech is arguably the most important of all.

Q – Has BVSD done a good job managing pandemic-related learning loss, or does more work remain to be done? 

Thank you for including this question. The devastating effects of school shutdowns on students need to be acknowledged to avoid repeating the mistakes of the past, especially as we read about new mask mandates and even lockdowns in some schools nationwide and overseas. For a full year, BVSD students were either locked out of school altogether or only allowed back for part of the week. (The U.S. is alone among developed countries in shutting down its schools so long.) Then BVSD students were forced to wear masks for another full year. This despite the fact that the scientific literature prior to that time and since has shown no benefit of community masking for preventing the spread of a 100 nm virus (for which children have a 99.997% survival rate). Sweden neither shut down schools nor mandated masks and fared better than most European countries in its overall COVID toll while doing much less damage to its children. U.S. children experienced increased child abuse and suicide rates during the pandemic and are still suffering from anxiety and social and developmental delay. Some literature has raised the disturbing possibility that these delays are in part linked to physiological damage due to forced masking of children, due to trapping of respired CO2 to levels that can cause headaches, malaise, anxiety and worse.

With respect to academics, U.S. students are still many months behind, particularly in the case of lower income students. Furthermore racial achievement gaps are continuing to widen, according to recent federal data, as students struggle to recover from the aftermath of pandemic policies. BVSD’s own CMAS data suggest that white and Asian students appear to have caught up to pre-pandemic levels by spring 2023, but show widening proficiency gaps, particularly in reading for Latino students and math for black students.

Q – What are your thoughts about education related to diversity in BVSD?

I posed this question to my children, who felt that they have not been taught specifically about diversity at BVSD. The problem may be that the best way to understand diversity is to experience it firsthand, but BVSD is not particularly diverse, neither racially (the student body is 66% white, 20% Latino, 6% Asian and 1% black) nor 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 for schools to encourage all students to treat each other respectfully and to read about different cultures.

Q – Changing demographics within BVSD might mean there could be school closures or other changes. What factors would enter your thought process if closures are considered? 

According to data presented at a January 2023 school board meeting, BVSD’s declining enrollment problem is driven mainly (about 80%) by the decreasing birth rate in Boulder County. However, the decreased participation in public schools may account for 20% of the decline and in any case is the issue that school leaders can most directly influence. Only 89% of the children born 5 years prior in BoCo showed up in kindergarten in 2022-23 compared to the historic norm of 95% and the trend continues this year, with fewer young kids than expected showing up in elementary grades. Nationwide, well over a million students left public schools in the last 2 years. I think we need to engage with parents who have lost confidence in public schools and address their concerns, and that’s where I feel I can be an asset to this board. If children continue to leave public schools, I’m concerned that we’re headed for an increasingly fractured and divided society with diminished opportunities for all students.

With all that said, given Boulder’s declining birth rates, I think some school closures may be inevitable and the new board will face some difficult decisions. One out-of-the-box suggestion I heard while walking my neighborhood, was that schools could be converted partly to paid elder day care facilities while keeping part of the building open for children to still attend a walkable school within their neighborhood.

Q – How do you keep in touch with the thoughts of students and parents, and/or how do you plan to keep in touch if elected? 

I will read letters and email from constituents and listen to public testimony at school board meetings. I don’t have a good sense of how much correspondence school board members receive. I personally have written a number of letters and never received a response so it’s possible that the volume is overwhelming. In that case I will at minimum keep track of overall themes in the email I receive and try to address concerns during board communication, even if it is not possible to respond to each individual email.

Digital Information:

Website: cynthiaforbvsd.com
Email: cynthiadn@protonmail.com