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Devon Conley
Current board member | thidaformvla.com
Top priorities
- Improving student outcomes and opportunities
- Supporting teachers with resources and stability
- Building strong community partnerships
Public service
- Mountain View Whisman School Board (2018-present)
- Santa Clara County Human Rights Commission (2024-present)
- Mountain View Parks and Recreation Commission (2017-2018)
Community involvement
- California School Boards Association Region 20 director (Santa Clara County)
- SUCCESS Committee supporting unhoused students, Santa Clara County School Boards Association, co-founder and deputy chair
- Shoreline West Association of Neighbors president (2019 and 2025)
- Mistral Elementary PTA (2018-2024)
Devon Conley, in her second term on the Mountain View Whisman School Board, is running for a third because she said she wants to continue building community – both in the classroom and across Mountain View – and support student success.
Conley is one of four candidates running for two at-large seats on the five-member board. Her seat, as well as Bill Lambert’s, term-out this year. Conley, Lambert, and newcomers Quintin Riis and Sundar Subbarayan are all vying for one of the two open slots.
Conley has served two terms on the board; she joined the district in 2018 and was re-elected in 2022. She’s a former teacher who spent six years in the classroom and five years working on education policy research.
While serving as a board observer with the League of Women Voters, she learned that there was no one running for a position on the board with an education background – so she pulled nomination papers.
“I was working part time with different education organizations at that point, and I couldn’t not run, because I knew what was going on in the district,” she told the Voice in a recent interview.
Conley also unsuccessfully ran for a seat on the Mountain View City Council in 2024.
During her tenure, the district was embroiled in a number of controversies. When she joined the district in 2018, it was under the leadership of Superintendent Ayinde Rudolph. During her second term – which included a stint as board president – community members and Santa Clara County educational leaders scrutinized the district for its spending, including contracts for executive leadership coaching and meditation for district administrators.
“I’m running now because we’ve had a lot of change in the district in the last few years. I think it’s good change, but we’re in the middle of it,” Conley said. “We had some hard fiscal reforms that we made starting when I was board president in 2024, and we really tightened up the ship. And now I consider us turning the ship.”
Following what many said was misspending of district funds, a number of parents – including fellow candidate Quintin Riis – launched a recall effort against Conley. Riis announced the effort at a school board meeting in June 2025, but the recall did not appear on the ballot because organizers failed to accumulate sufficient signatures.
Since then, Conley said she and her fellow board members have been interested in strengthening how the board approaches spending and approving contracts, since she said that was where the district struggled. Since then, she said the vendor approval process has been tightened.
Currently, the Mountain View Whisman School board is in the process of making budget cuts, which should take effect in January 2027. Unlike $7.4 million the district trimmed from its budget this January, which included the elimination of a number of district office positions and nightly custodial services, the upcoming cuts will affect employees that directly work with students.
But Conley said she wants to know exactly what will be cut, and officials should come back in November with more information so that board members can make the right decisions.
“We need to know what programs are going to be affected, what the trade-offs are, to really be able to dig in, have an in-depth discussion about it, and then make some hard choices about how to move forward,” Conley said.
There is also merit in pursuing and strengthening partnerships, including with the city of Mountain View, Conley said. One of the things she would like to see is the city support the district’s state-funded preschool program.
“There’s a lot of opportunity there for how we can partner on programs and services that benefit our students and our families and our broader community,” she said.
Putting children first is one of Conley’s goals now and moving forward. While she doesn’t support a specific program for talented or excelling students, she said all students should be challenged in the classroom, together.
“My focus is on how we are differentiating for students in the classroom, so every child is being engaged and challenged and is developing a love of learning,” she said.
