Carrol Titus-Zambre is running for a seat on the Mountain View Los Altos Union High School District's board, saying that she wants to give back to local public schools and bring a parent's perspective to the governing body. She has drawn controversy during her campaign for falsely claiming endorsements she did not receive and allegedly threatening a high school student last year.

Born and raised in Santa Clara County, Titus-Zambre has two children who graduated from Los Altos High School and a third who is currently a senior. She founded Golden Poppy Inc., an e-learning company that sells an augmented reality game meant to teach kids science, math and engineering concepts.

She is one of six candidates for three seats on the high school district's board this November.

Titus-Zambre received scrutiny for falsely telling the Los Altos Town Crier in an email that Superintendent Nellie Meyer had endorsed her campaign. At first, Titus-Zambre denied to the Voice that she had written an email with that claim, then said that this is her first time running for public office and she had misinterpreted what an endorsement meant.

Instead, she claimed that Meyer and others "suggested" that she run, which Meyer flatly denied in a text to the Voice. Superintendents report to the school board and typically do not endorse candidates.

Earlier this month, The Talon – Los Altos High School's student newspaper – reported that Titus-Zambre had allegedly threatened one of its student reporters last year over an article that quoted Titus-Zambre criticizing the district's response to the pandemic.

The Talon published a story in March 2021 about a school reopening protest that quoted Titus-Zambre as saying that she doesn't "know of any other industry where you're allowed to not work and still get paid," as well as stating that it would be "completely ridiculous" for students to return to campus with masks.

Upset over being named in the story, Titus-Zambre allegedly threatened to sue and told a student reporter that her husband was in the military and that she would have the student individually investigated.

Titus-Zambre did not respond to a request for comment from the Voice on The Talon's allegations. She also did not return a candidate questionnaire and did not attend an Oct. 13 candidate forum hosted by the Voice, emailing shortly before the event to say that she had a family emergency that prevented her participation.

On her campaign web page, Titus-Zambre lists priorities that include closing gaps in pandemic learning loss, supporting open access to AP and honors classes, and working on long-range planning for a third high school.

With more housing being constructed within the school district's attendance boundaries, particularly in Mountain View, there have been discussions in recent years about the potential for substantial enrollment growth and the resulting need for another high school.

When it comes to pandemic recovery, Titus-Zambre said in an August interview that she wants to tackle the problem in part by helping the district better integrate technology into the classroom, citing her experience building an e-learning company.

"I'm very involved in what it takes to have great curriculum and outcomes," Titus-Zambre said.

She has also pointed to her MBA from Santa Clara University and time working for companies including Cisco, Sun and Visa as evidence that she has the experience to help protect the district's financial health. Titus-Zambre also says she has volunteered to run youth volleyball clinics and served as a junior-varsity boys volleyball coach at Los Altos High School.