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Ahead of the new year, the Mountain View Los Altos High School District’s school board unanimously picked Thida Cornes as its president, Vadim Katz as vice president and Alex Levich as clerk at a Monday, Dec. 15, meeting.
Typically, the five trustees rotate through the officer positions each year, with the clerk moving into the vice presidency and the vice president becoming the president. This time, however, Levich, who has served as clerk for the last year, requested to stay in her position rather than transition to vice president.
“In a four-year term, it is beneficial for a board member to remain in the same administrative role for more than one year,” Levich wrote in an email to Voice following Monday’s meeting. “I requested to remain as clerk to ensure continuity this year and to take on additional responsibilities when the timing is appropriate.”
Levich and Katz were elected in 2024 and will be up for re-election in 2028.
As a result of Levich’s decision to maintain her current position, Katz told the board that he would like to “step up and act as a vice president.”
Outgoing board president Esmeralda Ortiz, whose current term runs through 2026, highlighted the value of switching roles and being able to learn from fellow trustees who have served in those officer positions before.
“I think it’s really important, having been the clerk, vice president, and president … that everyone on the board takes an opportunity to exercise some leadership,” Ortiz said.
When expressing her desire to become president of the board, Cornes highlighted that she already has experience with the position, given times she served as acting president while Ortiz was out on maternity leave earlier this year.
As president, a trustee is expected to lead meetings and work with the superintendent to create meeting agendas. However, they still have the same voting power as any other board member.
“I would like everyone to feel included and for us to continue to focus on student outcomes,” Cornes said to her fellow board members.
Following the board’s vote, Superintendent Eric Volta congratulated the newly appointed officers and commended Ortiz for her leadership this past year.
“I’d like to congratulate Esme on a successful year,” Volta said. “You had many opportunities to lead, and you did so quite admirably.”
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