Jeffrey Anderson

Experience and Education:

  • Senior Scientist, Section Head, NSF National Center for Atmospheric Research (NCAR), 2007-present
  • Lead Scientist Data Assimilation Initiative, NCAR, 2001-2007
  • Head of Experimental Prediction Group, NOAA Geophysical Fluid Dynamics Laboratory, 1995-2001
  • Adjunct Professor, Princeton University, 1995-2001
  • Meteorologist, NOAA Geophysical Fluid Dynamics Laboratory, 1992-1995.
  • PhD, Princeton University, Atmospheric and Oceanic Sciences
  • MS, University of California, Berkeley, Computer Science
  • BS, Computer Science and Meteorology, University of Utah

Q: Why are you running for School Board?

I believe that public education is one of the most important aspects of a strong democracy and I am deeply committed to supporting it. BVSD is now faced with a perfect storm of challenges: decreasing enrollment in many parts of the district but increases in others; budgets that are already too small with threats of further reduction; impacts of rapidly evolving artificial intelligence (AI) tools that can undermine the success of traditional instructional methods. I am running for school board because I have unique experience and expertise that can help BVSD to overcome these challenges and continue to provide great education to all our students. I am a data assimilation scientist with forty years of professional experience. I was the administrative manager of the NCAR AI group for the past two years and have published peer-reviewed research papers on the application of AI. For the past 24 years I have served on BVSD committees including school accountability committees at Fireside, Fairview and Boulder High and spent 8 years on the District Accountability Committee including a year as chair. Since 2022, I have served as co-chair of the BVSD Long Range Advisory Committee that develops recommendations to ensure sound long-term facility decisions including how to deal with declining enrollment. I have applied my expertise on data analysis on these committees and have gained extensive experience on budget, accountability, safety, and enrollment trend data. I believe that my professional expertise combined with decades of experience studying data about BVSD makes me uniquely qualified to help the district face novel challenges over the next four years.

Q: What do you consider your top policy-related priority to work on if you get elected, and why?

Proper use of technology is a priority focus for me. AI, cellphone use and the use of chrome books in the classroom are all issues that concern me. AI has already impacted almost all aspects of our lives, including education, and the rate of innovation is accelerating. Like many new technologies, AI can have powerful impacts for good, but it can also lead to significant harms if not carefully adopted. I believe that it is possible to craft policies that will allow our students and educators to master the appropriate use of AI while avoiding most of the undesirable impacts on the educational experience. I think AI can make our teachers even more effective while allowing our students to learn more and prepare for future success. The district needs to frequently, perhaps annually, review its policies on the use of technology over the next four years. It also needs to carefully monitor the uses and impacts of AI on students, instructional staff, and administration across all schools. The issues are extremely complex, but the BVSD community has broad expertise, and I would endorse establishing a committee to make recommendations on the proper use of AI and other technology.

Q: The new federal administration clearly has different ideas about the federal role in education than the past administration. What federal actions or proposals concern you the most (or please you the most) when it comes to their likely impact on BVSD?

There are so many concerning actions affecting education coming from the current federal administration that it is hard to pinpoint the most concerning. One of the key responsibilities of the Department of Education is to make sure that every student in the country has access to a quality public education. This includes students with disabilities, LGBTQ students, and all other students. The administration plan to gut the Department of Education could lead to demands that BVSD not honor our promise to support the best possible education for all students. It also has the potential to severely cut back our funding for programs and teachers that help close the achievement gap. The administration has signaled a desire to control curriculum, textbooks, and instruction in schools. This includes attempts to revise or ban instruction related to social and historical events of critical importance. The administration has attempted to intimidate states and districts, including here in Colorado, to implement some of these proposals. Local control of school districts is fundamental to Colorado, and I believe any attempt by the federal government to interfere with the wishes of our community should be opposed as much as possible.

BVSD District E

Q: The role of Artificial Intelligence (AI) in society is expanding rapidly. When it comes to BVSD, what sort of top-level concerns or benefits do you see regarding AI?

BVSD students, teachers and administrators are already using AI for many purposes. Studies have demonstrated that the appropriate use of AI can significantly enhance the effectiveness of education. AI tools can provide individualized quick feedback to students as they work to master concepts. The right tools used by trained teachers can help our educators to provide a more personalized experience to all students. AI is also able to provide students with rapid access to an unprecedented range of information about topics they are studying. There is evidence that the use of AI can help students to master complex concepts more readily. AI tools can significantly reduce the burden of administrative tasks for educators leaving more time to interact with students.

However, AI can also be a destructive force. It can help students to cheat leading to students who do not master content and compete unfairly with honest students. It can provide unreliable or misleading content if students are not trained to understand and detect these things. If students get overly attached to AI, it can lead to reduced human interaction which can cause serious emotional issues. We owe it to our students to teach them how to make productive and ethical use of AI so that it can benefit all aspects of their lives. We owe it to our teachers to give them tools that can amplify their effectiveness.

Q: With possible significant budget cutting on the table at both the State of Colorado and federal levels, do you foresee the need for additional BVSD sources of revenue? Do you think it might be necessary for BVSD to go to the voters in the near future?

I am very thankful that BVSD taxpayers have consistently voted to support all funding opportunities for the district. My conversations with members of the BVSD community suggest that they continue to believe adequate funding of our public schools is very important. Although BVSD is funding our schools above the state average, the cost of living in our area is very high and we are still far below the national average in school funding. If elected, I would work hard to ensure continued strong funding of the district by supporting the maximum mill levy overrides and appropriate bond issues. It is important to remember that the voters have the last word on all these opportunities. BVSD is very fortunate to have great partners like Impact on Education, the Arly Kruse Educational Foundation and Rise Against Suicide that make significant contributions to the district. While additional funding opportunities through grants and other mechanisms are limited, I do have extensive experience in acquiring external funding and would apply that to make sure BVSD competes for any available resources.

Q: It’s not impossible that there might be proposals to close certain BVSD schools during your term, or into the near-term future. What factors would be most important to you if you had to make a voting decision on closing a school? Do you believe BVSD has adequate guidelines in place now?

The BVSD board established a Long Range Advisory Committee (LRAC) in 2022 to develop recommendations to ensure sound long-term facility decisions including how to deal with declining enrollment. As co-chair of that committee, I have been actively involved in establishing BVSD’s current policies for addressing declining enrollment challenges. The policy adopted last year identifies elementary schools with insufficient enrollment to support an effective educational program. The policy works with the community and provides district support for schools that are facing enrollment challenges. The first school to be engaged by the policy was Heatherwood Elementary. I was involved in the process that led to Heatherwood adopting an Environmental STEAM focus with district resources to attract and retain students.

However, declines in enrollment during the next four years will require a broader, holistic response across BVSD schools and additional policies that support this. To maintain a quality educational experience for all students, we will need to identify other actions, and these will likely include a limited number of grade-level and school consolidations and the possibility of relocating some non-neighborhood schools. In support of LRAC, BVSD staff have acquired and published comprehensive data on current enrollment and projected trends. To continue excellent education for all students with the least disruption, I would use input from the community informed by that data to find solutions.

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

I believe that social media and direct communication is important. I currently maintain a website and a Facebook page and will continue to do so. I will welcome and respond to email from all members of the BVSD community. I will be available to talk before and after board meetings. In addition, I would like to begin a program of informal town halls that allow community members to share their thoughts with me directly. I also plan to attend School Accountability Committee meetings to hear about the challenges and celebrations happening in our schools. I am also hoping to continue meetings with city council in Boulder but also adding meetings with councils and trustees in Louisville, Lafayette, Broomfield and Superior to increase cooperation and collaboration between all the cities served by BVSD.

Q: There will be 2 state ballot measures in 2025 (Props LL and MM) which would a) let the state’s Healthy School Meals for All Program keep “excess” revenue above the TABOR cap, and b) expand the program’s funding by limiting tax deductions for those who earn more than $300,000 a year. What are your positions on the ballot measures, and your reasoning for the positions – with an eye on what they mean for BVSD?

I absolutely support both LL and MM and will do my best to encourage voters to support these measures. Providing all students the ability to eat a meal without payment reduces the stigma for children who are free and reduced lunch recipients. Because even families who do not qualify for reduced lunch prices may sometimes struggle to make ends meet, the ability to have a free meal at school is important. For our purposes in BVSD, I am hopeful that we will be able to maintain our lunch program for all students and may be able to begin our farm to table program that has lacked sufficient funding.

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