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Editor’s note: Shawn Dormishian told the Voice on Oct. 18 that he intends to suspend his campaign for school board.
Shawn Dormishian is running for a Mountain View Whisman school board seat on a platform of bringing greater accountability to the district and ensuring parent viewpoints are heard.
The current board isn’t listening to parents’ opinions or holding the district to the standard parents believe it should be held to, Dormishian told the Voice.
“It got to a point where there’s so many scandals and news articles and stuff that’s come out … that it’s time for people to run for office that essentially are willing to do something about that,” Dormishian said.
The district has in recent months faced controversy on multiple fronts, including the approval of six-figure contracts to pay for meditation services for district leaders, executive leadership coaching and an external public relations firm. Dormishian wants to do a “comprehensive audit” of the school district, in which any parent or employee could contribute information and perspectives.
Dormishian told the Voice that other parents encouraged him to run, because they believed he would be an advocate for students, including those in the special education program, as well as teachers.
“They knew I’ve stood up to the district before and I’m somebody who’s actually willing to make tough decisions,” Dormishian said.
Dormishian recorded a video of a masking dispute involving his son that went viral online in 2022. In the video, Theuerkauf Elementary School’s then-principal tells Dormishian that his son needs to wear a mask and can be seen walking the child out of class. A police officer was ultimately called to campus and can be seen in the video discussing the mask rule with Dormishian.
Superintendent Ayindé Rudolph has said that he and the principal in the video received death threats in the aftermath of it being posted online.
Dormishian told the Voice that he had tried to work with the school district for roughly a month before the video was posted, and that his son already had accessibility accommodations at doctors’ offices. He noted that there wasn’t a state or county mask mandate at the time.
It got to a point, Dormishian said, where he didn’t want to slowly deal with the court process and instead wanted to expose the district. He said that he didn’t agree with anyone sending death threats.
“I’m really apologetic that had to happen to people, but I’m not sorry about standing up for myself,” Dormishian said.
At the time the video went viral, Dormishian gave media interviews, including going on Fox News with his attorney Tracy Henderson. Henderson founded California Parents Union and California Parents United, two groups aimed at promoting “parental rights” in education
California Parents United’s website instructs parents, “Do NOT comply. Do not participate in the lying. Do not accept that there are more than two genders. Stop the over sexualization of our kids.” The group has also previously opposed COVID-19 testing, quarantining and masking.
Asked whether he shares the views espoused by Henderson and her organizations, Dormishian said that he hired Henderson because of her experience as a civil rights attorney and doesn’t necessarily align with all of her beliefs. He added that he supports California Parents Union because he said it isn’t backed by special interests and is focused on parents’ rights.
Dormishian wants the district to notify parents if their child accesses any “controversial” material, such as checking out certain books from school libraries. When asked what materials he would consider controversial, he didn’t provide criteria, but instead said he would want to reach a “collaborative definition” with parents.
He also said that he doesn’t want “pornographic” materials to be accessible at the elementary or middle school level. Asked if he believes local schools currently stock pornographic material, he said that he didn’t know.
If elected, Dormishian said his top three priorities as a school board member would be cutting back “all egregious spending,” redirecting the money to students and teachers, and then redirecting it to school sites and support staff.
Dormishian believes his current job in public safety technology sales would be an asset as he looks to cut back district spending, because he has experience reviewing requests for proposals. If elected, he’s interested in implementing a competitive bidding process for more of the school district’s contracts.
Dormishian opposes the district’s parcel tax measure on the November ballot. Given recent “frivolous spending,” the district needs to demonstrate they can be good stewards of their funds before more are granted, Dormishian said.
He also wanted the school district to accept a three-year deal that the city of Mountain View has put on the table to share revenue from the Shoreline special tax district. The district had declined to sign the deal at the time of Dormishian’s interview with the Voice. The school board subsequently approved the deal at an Oct. 17 meeting.
Dormishian blamed the school district for the breakdown in its relationship with the city. The district doesn’t have leverage and yet continues to antagonize the city, Dormishian said.
He also believes the district’s current leadership is ineffective and opposes the school board’s June decision to give the superintendent a multi-year contract extension and raises. He wants to conduct a “full employee evaluation” of the superintendent, who has since taken a leave of absence, and make it more transparent and public. The school board’s evaluations of the superintendent are currently conducted in closed session, which is normal practice for school districts.
Social media posts
In August, Dormishian posted a Facebook comment on a Mercury News post linking to an article about the real estate market, in which he wrote “my complex used to be working class families and now half is people who don’t speak any English and have no discernible jobs.”
Asked about the post, Dormishian said that as a child of immigrants who arrived not speaking English and had to build their lives from scratch, he was curious how much public spending was going to support people who had moved into his apartment complex. In a follow up email to the Voice, Dormishian said that he is “simply astounded” with how much economic support is being offered, in comparison to his parents’ experience.
Several years ago, when comedian Dave Chappelle was facing controversy for comments he made about transgender people in a Netflix special, Dormishian posted a comment underneath a Facebook post on the topic, in which he wrote “You they’s/it’s don’t even know what bathroom to use.”
Dormishian defended the comment as a joke. When asked how he would respond to those who feel it is transphobic, he said that he has transgender friends and has supervised transgender people at work.
