As the only incumbent in a field of six candidates running this November to serve on the Mountain View Los Altos Union High School District's board, Catherine Vonnegut has emphasized the value of retaining continuity in the district's leadership.

First elected in 2018, Vonnegut has pointed to accomplishments that the board made during her first term, including hiring Superintendent Nellie Meyer and leading the district through the COVID-19 pandemic.

"I would like to stay on the board for calm, consistent, collaborative leadership," Vonnegut said at an Oct. 13 candidate forum sponsored by the Mountain View Voice.

Vonnegut is currently serving as the school board's president, a position that generally rotates among the members. She is a retired software engineer whose son graduated from Mountain View High and now teaches high school chemistry. She has previously served as Mountain View High's PTA president, as well as being a board member on the county-wide PTA, according to her website. She is also a former volunteer EMT with the Red Cross.

If elected to another term, Vonnegut has said that one of her priorities will be continuing to improve the district's mental health system. She has pointed to progress that the district made during her first term, including creating a Wellness Coordinator position. However, Vonnegut believes that more coordination is needed and she wants to see a roadmap of how all the different pieces of the district's mental health supports work together.

"More and better communication about MVLA wellness services is necessary," Vonnegut wrote in a Voice candidate questionnaire.

She has also pointed out that COVID-19 led to a spike in students' mental health needs, a trend that has been seen nationwide. A particular concern for Vonnegut is the ways in which the pandemic delayed the social development of students by isolating them from peers and adults outside their immediate families.

As for the pandemic more broadly, Vonnegut has spoken positively about how the district managed things, including the technological demands of online learning, rolling out a testing program and putting safety measures in place on campuses.

"MVLA did an excellent job with COVID management, if I may say so," Vonnegut said. "We were calm, consistent and collaborative as a board, and with our administration and with our labor partners."

As was true of districts throughout the country, school closing and reopening decisions led to divergent opinions and reactions within the community, with some virtual school board meetings drawing large numbers of parents.

Vonnegut notes that students learning English and those from low-income families disproportionately suffered learning loss during the pandemic and says that the district has various support systems in place to help address these disparities.

When it comes to classes and curriculum, Vonnegut supports expanding alternative programs, including Career Technical Education and options like Foothill's Middle College, where high school students attend classes at the community college, which the board expanded during Vonnegut's first term.

Vonnegut has supported the district's ethnic studies pilot program that rolled out this year, but notes that the district developed its own curriculum, rather than going with the state framework. On the state level, ethnic studies will become a required course in the 2025-26 school year, but debate over what the curriculum should include has at times been heated.

Locally, Vonnegut said the board will get feedback from students and parents on this year's elective course. Next year, the district plans to make it a required class.

The district is also facing the prospect of growing enrollment as more housing is built locally and Vonnegut said she supports pursuing the creation of an additional high school.