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The Mountain View Los Altos School District’s inaugural by-district election is in November. Only one of three district seats up for grabs will be contested.
Three spots on the five-member governing board will be on the ballot this fall, including Areas 1, 2 and 3. Areas 4 and 5, which largely cover Los Altos and Los Altos Hills and smaller portions of Mountain View, will be up for a vote in November 2028.
Nir Paz, a local engineer and father, is running uncontested for Area 1. Mountain View north of U.S. Highway 101 is situated in Area 1, including Monta Loma and part of the San Antonio neighborhoods.
City councilmember Ellen Kamei is also running uncontested for the Area 2 seat. Area 2 contains a northeastern portion of Mountain View, covering the Moffett Boulevard, North Whisman, Rex Manor, Slater, Stierlin Estates, Sylvan Park, Wagon Wheel and Whisman Station neighborhoods.
Trustee Esmeralda Ortiz, whose term ends this year, lives in Area 2. She told the Voice last month that she chose not to pursue another term on the board because of mounting career and familial responsibilities.
One contested race
Current trustees Thida Cornes and Catherine Vonnegut are vying for the Area 3 seat, along with former board member Sanjay Dave.
Area 3 encompasses an eastern portion of Mountain View south of Central Expressway, including the Cuesta Park, Old Mountain View and Shoreline West neighborhoods.
Thida Cornes
Thida Cornes was first elected to the board in 2022, just as the school district was emerging from the Covid-19 pandemic. She said that she’s running again because she would like to continue the work she’s been doing. That work, according to her website, includes encouraging students’ academic success, fostering an inclusive environment and promoting district-wide fiscal responsibility.
Cornes cited the district’s growth of co-taught classes, which allow students with disabilities to learn along with their peers, the implementation of Measure G funds for facility and classroom improvements, and the adoption of new social studies curriculum as some of her board successes.
Catherine Vonnegut
Vonnegut was first elected to the board in 2018, and again in 2022. Similar to Cornes, Vonnegut decided to run again because she wanted to continue implementing her priorities across the district. Vonnegut would like to continue improving school safety, student wellness, financial responsibility and rigorous academics, according to her website.
During her time on the board, she led the district through the Covid-19 pandemic and supported the expansion of the district’s dual enrollment program.
Sanjay Dave
Dave, a father of two graduates from the district, served on the board for eight years before he decided against a bid for reelection in 2024. If elected, he hopes to encourage academic equity and excellence across the district. He hopes to encourage the recruitment and retention of “great” teachers, according to his website, while also promoting students’ academic success and mental wellbeing.
During his time on the board, he focused on encouraging the implementation of multi-year student success metrics while also focusing on reducing the achievement gap.
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It is concerning that three candidates with no prior history of participation in district PTAs or school leadership, Vadim Katz, Alex Levich, and Nir Paz, came forward to run for school board only after Ethnic Studies was added to the curriculum. When Paz joins Katz and Levich on next year’s board, they will form a pro-Israel, Zionist majority on a board that previously was not affected by national or geopolitical alignments. At a time of rising antisemitism, the perception that organized pro-Israel groups are backing candidates to influence public school policy and intimidate staff will only fuel antisemitic tropes, deepening rather than healing division in our community.
Given our current context where our AIPAC-aligned County DA had to be recused from a politically motivated prosecution of Stanford peace activists, our Assemblymember Marc Berman and our State Senator Josh Becker helped push AB 715 through Sacramento, and the Trump administration works alongside murky online organizations like Canary Mission to attempt to deport students for exercising their First Amendment rights to voice support of a people facing genocide, it is completely understandable that many of our Muslim friends and neighbors feel targeted and unsafe.
I hope that our new school board understands that empathy is a two-way street. Pushing a narrative centered on the suffering of one group while censoring the suffering of others will ultimately backfire and undermine attempts to find a way for all of us to live together with peace and mutual respect.