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With the polls now closed, initial returns show incumbents Devon Conley and Bill Lambert are leading in the race for two open seats on the Mountain View Whisman School District Board of Trustees. Newcomers Sundar Subbarayan and Quintin Riis have fallen behind.
Conley is leading with 35.06 % (4,577 votes) while Lambert follows close behind with 28.82% (3,763 votes), based on results released at 9:22 p.m. Tuesday.
Subbarayan is 8 percentage points behind Lambert, receiving 20.74% (2,708 votes). Riis trails behind with 15.36% (2,005 votes).
Conley told the Voice on election night that she was cautiously optimistic about the results.
“I am grateful for the support and confidence Mountain View voters have placed in me,” Conley told the Voice on election night. “And I am proud to have run a positive, student-centered campaign focused on the needs and success of our students.”
Two of the seats on the five-member board are up for election this year, with incumbents Lambert and Conley hoping to return for another term on the board, while newcomers Subbarayan and Riis vie to oust them. When all the votes are tallied, the top two finishers will each be elected to serve a four-year term on the governing body.
Whomever is elected will be tasked with leading the school district through a period of financial difficulty. The school board is planning to approve roughly $8 million in budget cuts by January, on top of $7.4 million in cuts that were already made earlier this year. Unlike the first round of cuts, which largely hit district office staffers and other behind-the-scenes positions, the next batch are expected to impact employees working directly with students.
The district has also seen leadership upheaval over the past several years, with the board announcing last month that it would pay $700,000 to settle claims from two administrators who alleged they were sexually harassed by former Superintendent Ayindé Rudolph.
The new board members will join Ana Reed, Lisa Henry and Charles DiFazio, whose terms all run for another two years.
Conley was first elected to the Mountain View Whisman School Board in 2018. During her current campaign, she has highlighted various oversight reforms that the board has put in place over the past several years and stressed the importance of prioritizing students during upcoming budget cut discussions.
Lambert first served on the school board from 2012-2016, and was then elected again in an uncontested race in 2022. He has focused his current campaign on rebuilding community trust and continuing to oversee the district’s financial situation.
Subbarayan has focused his campaign on ensuring the board provides strong oversight of the district, as well as improving students’ academic achievement and strengthening relationships with the community.
On election night, Subbarayan described himself as a “positive kind of guy” and said it’s still too early for him to come to the conclusion that he doesn’t have a shot at being elected.
“These are very early votes and these votes are probably mail-in ballots,” he said. “Fairly early on, where incumbents tend to have the advantage, anyways. But we’ll wait and see.”
After leading an unsuccessful recall effort against Conley last year, Riis decided to run for the board to challenge the incumbents, who he believes have failed to adequately oversee district leadership, particularly under Rudolph’s tenure.
