|
Getting your Trinity Audio player ready...
|
Bill Lambert
Current board member | blambert2026.com
Top priorities
- Focusing on students
- Managing the budget with students in mind
- Building community trust and communication
Public service
- Mountain View Whisman School Board (2012-2016 and 2018-present)
- Day Worker Center of Mountain View Board of Directors (2010-2020)
Community involvement
- Friends of Mountain View Parks (2019-present)
- After School Chemistry at Crittenden
- Mountain View Chamber of Commerce Business Issues and Public Policy Committee, member
- Los Altos Mountain View League of Women Voters, board secretary
Bill Lambert, in his second term on the Mountain View Whisman School Board, is hopeful for a third because he said there is still work to be done.
Lambert is one of four candidates running for two at-large seats on the five-member board. His seat, as well as Devon Conley’s, term-out this year. Lambert, Conley and newcomers Quintin Riis and Sundar Subbarayan are all vying for one of the two open slots.
If re-elected, it would be Lambert’s third term on the school board. He served previously from 2012-2016, and he was re-elected in 2022. Before rejoining the board in 2022, between his first and second terms, he said he was active in the district and attending school board meetings.
Between his board terms, Lambert was part of the community push to keep the Monta Loma multi-use field from being fenced off to the public. What inspired him to run again, uncontested, in 2022 was the feeling that the district wasn’t moving in the right direction.
“I just felt that the school district was sort of going in a wrong direction, and there was something just wasn’t right about it,” Lambert told the Voice. “And I didn’t know what that was, but I thought I could contribute to sort of changing things. So that’s why I ran again.”
He cited issues in the district related to direction and leadership: When he joined the board in 2022, the district was under the leadership of former Superintendent Ayinde Rudolph. Rudolph and the district were embroiled in controversies almost two years into Lambert’s second term, mostly related to district spending. Community members and county-wide educational leaders scrutinized contracts, from executive leadership coaching and meditation for district administrators.
While Lambert said he understood why some residents of the district may be hesitant to re-elect any trustee who was on the board at that turbulent time, he said he would continue to focus on rebuilding community trust in the district.
“We really have to develop or re-establish trust in our school district that the board, and the senior staff, and really everybody, is doing the best for their kids,” Lambert said. “When you lose trust, it takes time to re-establish it.”
He wants to get families – especially those with English-learning students or those from socioeconomically challenged families – to be more involved, not only with the board and what’s going on at the district-level, but with their students and their education.
“We need to get those engaged, not just go to a few meetings and things like that, but just be there all the time for the kids and help us actually educate their kids,” he said.
He also wants the district to spend taxpayer money wisely. One of Lambert’s goals is fiscal stewardship. He said students should be the district’s priority when it comes to spending money.
“We know certain things are increasing in cost, like the special ed programs, and we have to accommodate all of those,” Lambert said. “We have English-language learners that need extra help to learn English as soon as possible.”
Retaining excellent teachers is a priority for Lambert. He said that could be done by paying them well and providing annual pay increases. Among the board accomplishments he was most proud of were the acquisition of the land where the housing for district employees is located and the sale of 50 units to the Foothill-De Anza Community College District because he said it was done correctly.
“That really took a tremendous amount of effort over a year, and wasn’t in the board meetings so much, but it was a lot in closed session,” Lambert said.
But he acknowledged that the district’s budget is tight and must be handled carefully. He said he supported how the district was navigating the current budget-cutting process, which is being handled differently from the cuts the board approved in January. In the current budget-trimming process, the board will base how much is cut based on the number of students, and their specific needs, at each school – and this time around, the district will be looking at cutting student-facing employees.
“The way I see it, and the way (Superintendent) Jeffrey Baier is framing it, is what does our school district need to be doing? And that is educating our kids,” Lambert said.The budget cuts are expected to be voted on in January. “That is what an education, public education, is about.”
Most Popular
Mountain View seeks community input for new pickleball courts near SunnyvaleOctober 14, 2026 11:34 am
