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Vadim Katz is running for a seat on the Mountain View Los Altos High School District’s board to bring his passion for education to the governing body at a time when two longtime members are departing.
After growing up in the Soviet Union, Katz said that he came to the United States with only two things: a high school education and supportive parents.
“I have a lot of appreciation for how good education, high school education, can set somebody up for long-term success,” he said.
His own daughter is in her freshman year at Mountain View High School and his son is in eighth grade.
If elected, Katz said he wants to continue the legacies of board members Phil Faillace and Sanjay Dave, who aren’t running for reelection. Faillace has served on the school board for over 25 years, since first being elected in 1996. Dave has served for eight years. The district also has a new superintendent. Katz is interested in helping the district navigate this transition.
Asked what his top three priorities would be if elected to the board, Katz said he would focus on the physical and emotional safety of students, ensuring all students experience growth and making sure teachers feel supported.
Unless students are safe, nothing else can function, Katz said. He wants to make sure roads around schools are safe, including for those biking and parking near campus. In terms of emotional safety, Katz wants to make sure all students feel safe and included, regardless of their beliefs, and that kids learn good habits around using social media.
When it comes to growth, Katz wants all high schoolers to learn new skills and feel that they are better than they were before.
“(From) students who need improvement to students who are very successful, I want everybody to be challenged in school,” Katz said.
Part of supporting students is making sure that their teachers feel supported, so that they can be an adult who their students can rely upon, Katz said. In addition to teacher compensation, Katz also wants to make sure the district is an environment that makes teachers want to come to work.
When it comes to the district’s ethnic studies course, Katz said he favors it as a way to highlight the contributions of minority and marginalized communities to the history of the United States. At the same time, he opposes curriculum that uses an “oppressor/oppressed” framework, which he said divides students and creates a simplified version of the world. His daughter is in the class now and he said that he hasn’t run into any major concerns thus far. At the same time, he said other districts have had “egregious examples” of material being covered that Katz feels inappropriately influences students’ beliefs.
Katz was part of opposition last year to the district’s hiring of Acosta Educational Partnership to train ethnic studies teachers. Katz and others alleged that the group had a history of antisemitism. Some district teachers defended Acosta’s work, but the school board ended its contract with the group. Katz said that while he appreciated the board’s ultimate decision, he was surprised by their initial lack of oversight.
Mental health is an area of focus for Katz. He wants the district to teach students to be kind to themselves, and understand that it’s okay for them to stumble and make mistakes.
He also wants to provide additional resources for students from low-income families, so that they have support to succeed in school.
