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Students and schools across Colorado are preparing for the 2024-2025 school year. Experts from ��ƷSM����ӰƬ 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.

• Read: “Women of color disproportionately targeted by book bans, study finds”

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.

• Read: “What the SCOTUS ruling on affirmative action means for American higher ed”

Bilingualism & school “resegregation”

Kim Strong is an assistant research professor in the BUENO Center for Multicultural Education in the School of Education at ��ƷSM����ӰƬ. 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. ��

• Read:

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.

• Read: “From 'Don’t Say Gay' to bathrooms and sports: How debates over LGBTQ+ rights impact kids”

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.��

• ��𲹻�:��Heat waves are more dangerous than you think. Here’s why, and how to stay safe

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.

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