Candidate: Alex Medler
Office: Boulder Valley School District Board of Education District C
Website: http://alexmedler.org/
QUESTIONS FOR CANDIDATES (200 words maximum for each response):
Are you the parent of a current or former BVSD student? Please let us know when your child attended BVSD.
“My children, now 21 and 22, attended public schools in the Table Mesa neighborhood from age 3 through high school graduation. They attended Community Montessori, Southern Hills, and Fairview.”
What motivated you to run for BVSD Board of Education?
“I am passionate about the promise of public education. I believe BVSD is a strong district, but there is more we can do to ensure all our young people thrive in school and are prepared for life after graduating. As a board member I will prioritize three issues:
- 1. I will prioritize student mental health, well-being, and sense of belonging. Too many young people struggle with depression, anxiety, and suicide. We must prioritize this at the district and school level, including responding to bullying. This includes LGBTQ students who report much higher rates of mental health challenges than their non-LGBTQ classmates.
- 2. I want to expand options for high school students, so all our students are engaged, challenged, and prepared for whatever path they choose after graduation. Students not pursuing selective colleges still deserve challenging content and support in preparing for their future. That includes more Career and Technical Education and increased access to post-secondary options.
- 3. I will work for student equity. For example, BVSD has used one-time money to support schools with higher proportions of low-income students, language learners, and students with disabilities. I want to make this approach permanent.”
What do you see as the major issue(s) facing the school district? Please list five issues in order of priority, and give a brief explanation of why the issue matters.
“1. Declining enrollment: We are experiencing serious declining enrollment. This will shrink budgets, leading to reductions in staffing and programming in critical areas like counseling, and other things that make school fun, like libraries, music, and art.
2. Student mental health, well-being, and sense of belonging: Too many students are struggling. Mental health support is literally lifesaving; and for young people struggling with depression and anxiety, learning and engaging in school is not possible until we take care of them as people.
3. Opportunity and achievement gaps: BVSD has struggled to address unacceptable differences in outcomes and opportunities between historically underserved groups and more privileged students.
4. Student safety is a primary responsibility of all schools. This includes challenges with school climate and culture in the building, as well as external threats. Our district policies must address both.
5. Ensuring all students feel welcome and included. This includes LGBTQ students and families, students with disabilities, students of color, English learners, and other historically underserved student groups. We must reduce and address all forms of bullying and protect and serve all students, while resisting extreme efforts to exclude or disparage students’ identities.”
Do you agree with BVSD’s decision to make a $32,500 settlement with a family who alleged that the district’s equitable discipline policies constitute discrimination against white students? Please explain why or why not.
“If elected, I would approach cases of conflict with a focus on the best interest of all students. The district should do more to ensure discipline policies help all our students feel safe and included, while reducing bullying and responding to it more effectively.
We should deepen our efforts to address disproportionate discipline and the implementation of school-level restorative justice programs. The district should also prioritize and support school-level efforts to improve school climate and culture. As we work on this, we should strive to engage parents as much as we can and support our staff as they adopt new practices.
Without all the information that the district used to make its decision on the recent settlement, I cannot evaluate the merits of their action. I assume the BVSD board made their decision based on advice from their legal counsel after considering all available information. I also suspect their decision was based on a comprehensive consideration of what was in the best interest of the district and its students.”
Emergency department visits for sexual violence among Boulder County teens doubled from 2020 to 2021, then again in 2022, according to data from Boulder County Public Health and reported in Boulder Weekly — do you agree with how BVSD has responded? Please explain why or why not.
“The district is addressing sexual violence now because of its serious shortcomings. The district has started to make progress because of student complaints and courageous advocacy by students. I am inspired by their advocacy and will insist we support them with concrete action — adults should step up to address misogyny and sexual violence.
I will advocate that the district continue implementing remedies that were prescribed during recent legal proceedings. We should not stop these programs just because they are no longer required by the courts.
BVSD can do more to stop sexual violence and to ensure all district personnel respond appropriately to reports of abuse. This is an issue that cannot be solved by one or two years of professional development.”
What BVSD policies would you change, and why?
“The district should do more to engage in dialogue with parents and other stakeholders. The district solicits plenty of input, but people want to hear more from the district about what it will do with their input. I will work to improve the way the district responds to input from parents and teachers.
In the past few months. I’ve heard from many parents and teachers who are frustrated. They feel that the district often solicits their input, but then they don’t hear anything more. Examples of this include parents of students with disabilities, particularly those with moderate to severe disabilities, and parents of students who are bullied. These parents express their frustration in compelling ways. Addressing all these concerns and solving every problem is impossible. But the district should do more to acknowledge the feedback they receive and increase transparency around what they can or will do.”
What BVSD policies do you support, and why?
“Boulder is a strong district. We shouldn’t forget what is working while focusing on emerging challenges.
· I support recent efforts to provide additional funding to schools based on the numbers of students from historically underserved groups, including English learners, students with disabilities, and students from low-income families.
· I support the expansion of Career and Technical and post-secondary education options to more students. We should offer all students challenging content and rich experiences that excite them about school and that prepare them for whatever path they choose after high school. This is especially needed for students uninterested in selective colleges — or in college at all.
· I support and will advocate for the expansion of our mental health programming. The district has begun to focus on mental health and student well-being, including by creating mental health centers that offer counseling in high schools.
· I support vaccines and believe we should not risk outbreaks of avoidable diseases among our students or our community. I also believe in science-based approaches to public health generally.”
How will you engage with community members?
“I am committed to seeking common ground and finding solutions that bring people together. I have always worked to understand the concerns, hopes, and perspectives of as many folks as possible who are affected by or involved in a shared concern. I have done this throughout my professional work and my previous public service, and I will continue to work this way if elected.
I am committed to authentic parent, teacher, and community engagement and I will work to increase the district’s transparency about what it is doing. I have three decades of professional experience building coalitions working on children’s policy. We must look for strategies that solicit input from all parents and address obstacles that prevent some families from engaging with schools and the district.”
What makes you the best candidate to serve on the BVSD Board of Education? Put simply: How do you stand out against other candidates?
“I will always act on what is best for our students, with a special focus on students who have not always received the attention and support they need. I am the product of public schools and I care passionately about the promise of public education.
I also have a great deal of experience and knowledge about schools and children’s policy, as well as a track record of building support for pragmatic solutions that address challenges young people face. I have more than 30 years of experience working on children’s policy, leading non-profits and governmental entities dedicated to improving public education and improving outcomes for children. In those roles, I strive to bring people together to work on complex problems, particularly addressing equity and quality of public schools.”
