Andrew Brandt announces candidacy for BVSD school board

Amy Bounds, Daily Camera, Boulder, Colo.
·2 min read

Aug. 1—Andrew Brandt has announced his candidacy for the Boulder Valley school board's District D seat in November's election.

Brandt, a Boulder-based cybersecurity researcher and malware investigator, plans to focus on three main issues: facilities and technology updates, declining enrollment, and achievement, funding and discipline gaps.

"Boulder Valley schools will face monumental challenges in the coming years, including a problem with declining enrollment in the district, which could have a drastic, negative impact on school budgets," Brandt wrote in a news release.

He said the area's high cost of living is forcing families with school-age children to seek out more affordable housing outside of the district, making it important to support local, county, and state leaders who take steps to push back against the inflated cost of living.

Lalenia Quinlan Aweida also is running for the District D seat. Incumbent Stacey Zis isn't running for a second term. School board members represent different geographic areas but are elected by voters throughout the entire district.

Brandt has worked in the cybersecurity industry since 2006, relocating to Boulder while he was working for Broomfield-based Webroot in 2008. He currently works for the UK-based Sophos as a principal researcher for the Sophos X-Ops team, writing about criminal activity for the X-Ops blog and presenting at conferences.

Prior to working in cybersecurity, he was an editor for PC World, covering privacy and computer security for the magazine for nearly a decade.

He plans to use his experiences in technology to address school district issues involving technology, including how the district should handle AI tools like Chat GPT and teaching cybersecurity, according to the press release.

"If we think it's wise to teach kids to look both ways before they cross the street, we should be teaching the same level of caution and risk-awareness to children when we give them technology," Brandt wrote in the press release. "Cyber-smart kids will build a safer internet in the future."

He has two teens who attend Boulder Valley schools. He volunteers at the University of Colorado Boulder's Media Archaeology Lab, a retro-technology laboratory and museum.

More information on his candidacy is available at BrandtforBVSD.co.