Thank you Kevin for the great article introducing all of the candidates. I would like to add that I am currently on the Parcel Tax Oversight Committee, the Student Areas Attendance Task Force, and member of the Huff PTA. I am so excited to be a part of this race and hope to bring new energy to the MVWSD School Board.

Anyone interested to learn more about me can go to: wilson4schools.org

I'm excited that Tamara Wilson is running for school board! She cares passionately about the kids of Mountain View and is always looking for ways to make the world a better place for kids. A former teacher turned accomplished scientist, she is also an author, tutor, and volunteer for kids.

Knowing her personally, this woman never ceases to amaze me. She is a smart, sharp woman. Her willingness to listen, her ability to digest people's values & concerns, and her strength to make solid decisions are all part of what makes her a great leader. She will bring sharp questions, innovative ideas, and much needed fresh energy to the board. MVWSD would be lucky to have her on the school board.

Finally! An election where instead of voting to avoid a bad candidate, I get to voice my support for my favorites among a field full of qualified candidates who all seem like they would do a good job.

Are the candidates planning on visiting neighborhoods for formal or informal talks with residents?

Four people for three seats. If Coladonoto gets elected to the City Council then do all four of these people get on the School Board?

Blakely, Darrah, Wilson

A clean slate.

Awesome folks.

do you really want slate politics in Mountain View are all the people running willing to state their own ideas and talk about their individual approach to schools maybe the "slate" ought to be broken rather than encouraged

does Gutierrez have his own mind and ideas does he come with any advantage that the other three do not

As Colonel Jessup would say, we live in a city with vast socio-economic differences with the vast majority of lower class and poor performing students being Latino. Who's gonna stand up for their rights and their education? You, Peter Darrah, speaking a few words of Spanish? You, Tamara Wilson worried about the quality of hot lunches or where to go next in the world for vacation? You, Laura Blakley with two kids in college that the poor Latino students currently have only slim chance to attend? How will any of you truly represent or inspire these students? Jose GutierreX has a greater responsibility and commitment to Latino children in the district than any of you could possibly fathom. The upper classes in Mountain View weep for the poor underachievers, and yet curse rent control. You have that luxury. You have the luxury of not knowing what Jose GutierreX knows or the time and energy he is willing to invest to help out all children in the district, and especially those struggling the most. That the low progress of socio-economic Latino students that make up over 40% of the student population, while challenging and incomprehensible to you, actually might be by design. Sili-Con Valley needs a steady supply of under-the-table, low-wage worker that the Latino families and places like the Day Worker Center provide. You don't want the truth because deep down in places you don't talk about, like at Mountain View Educational Foundation parties, you want Jose GutierreX on the board. You need Jose GutierrXx on the board. Jose GutierreX uses words like achievement gap, diversity, and inclusive representation. He uses these words as the backbone of a commitment to helping out both his and the entire community. The rest of the candidates use them as a punchline. I have neither the time nor the inclination to vote for any other candidate that benefits from the low-paying wages in the service industry that the parents of many Latino parents toil in to keep Sili-Con Valley going; whose children toil, go hungry and even homeless under the shadow of the incredible wealth, opportunity and innovation that Sili-Con Valley non-Latinos enjoy and which the other three candidates indirectly benefit from. I would rather you all just said thank you to the poor Latino families that clean our houses, our dishes in restaurants, and mow our lawns, and be on your way to private school boards you can all really afford. Otherwise, I suggest you pick up a mop in a bathroom, a scrub brush in the back kitchen of a Castro Street restaurant or a shovel in a Los Alto Hills garden, and stand a post. Either way, I don't give a damn what any other candidate claims to have ready to offer to fix the deplorable, embarrassing and above all shameful achievement gap among Latino students that has been allowed to perpetuate in the district for years. Jose GuiterreX is the only one really committed to help pull the poor Latino children out of poverty and an almost guaranteed life of servitude to the real power in Sili-Con Valley.

Feel the Bern! Jose Guiterrex for School Board!

I guess GuiterreX has some supporters with 'burn' or Bern

Nice parody of A Few Good Men, but beyond that, I'm not sure you know what you are talking about. Peter Darrah and Laura Blakely have done more good for this district than most people in support of improving educational outcomes for all children. Both are wonderful people, committed to helping all Mountain View kids.

Jose I have spoken with a couple of times, and he seems genuinely interested in helping all children as well. Tamara Wilson I have never met, and my kids will never attend Huff so I probably won't ever meet her, but without knowing her I have no reason to make bad assumptions about her.

I understand your frustration with a school board that seems to not represent the full demographic of Mountain View (have Theuerkauf, Monta Loma or Castro ever had representation on the board?) But your stereotypical rant about Laura and Peter is dead wrong.

Credential shouldn't be the priority. I'm looking at good listeners, good judgment with a focus on the students.
A few candidates have ties with PACT and only want to further their political agenda . At the cost of our kids.

I agree with @Colonel Jessup: "Peter Darrah and Laura Blakely have done more good for this district than most people in support of improving educational outcomes for all children. Both are wonderful people, committed to helping all Mountain View kids" I have known both of them for years and have watched their children grow up while volunteering at Landels Elementary… They both have my vote… I urge you to vote for them too1

To "Colonel Jessup"

"As Colonel Jessup would say,..."

Aside from misspelling "Jose Gutierrez" in your ... interesting rant, you were a bit entertaining and I will admit you touched on a few facts, but these are all pretty well known already and the way you put them was pointlessly belligerent and divisive. Have we not seen enough divisive politics in the MVWSD Board in recent years already?

So I'm confused as to what your goal was or who's votes you intended to sway with your post?

I am also confused by your apparent dislike of the MVEF. By all accounts they are well respected around the district and do a great job for all our schools. The money from the MVEF comes from those who can afford to donate and then gets spread around to all our schools. So, what's your beef with them?

I was personally quite happy when Jose Gutierrez was appointed and still support him today.
I feel pretty good about Peter Darrah as well, he's more than earned our trust with his prior and continuing service to our district.
I've heard nothing but good things about Laura Blakely, though I have not spoken to her personally, I feel she is a good choice too.

I know so little about Tamara Wilson I would not give an opinion about her.

Rent control? How exactly is that relevant to the MVWSD Board election?

To "Parent of Cuesta Park"

"Credential shouldn't be the priority."

It's not like we have 11 candidates, like we had for the Trustee appointment meeting last year, to choose from. We have 4 people for 3 seats and if Greg C. wins his elevation to the city counsel, then we will have another seat to fill. So, basically, your division line politics is irrelevant since we have so few candidates that stepped-up.

"I'm looking at good listeners, good judgment with a focus on the students."

Where were you in the prior 2 elections?
People like that were running, but instead the voters gave us a total mean-spirited circus to suffer through.

"A few candidates have ties with PACT"

I'm not aware that ANY of the 4 candidates has any sort of ties with Stevenson presently nor in the past with PACT@Castro nor PACT@Slater.
Whom are you talking about?
Which "few" of the 4 candidates do you mean?

"and only want to further their political agenda ."

The ONLY "agenda" I am aware of that the Stevenson families have had in recent years was to prevent Stevenson from being closed at the expense of all the 400 kids from all over the district that attend Stevenson.

The Stevenson families were always supportive of Whisman/Slater getting a new school, as long as it did not require the closing of Stevenson or ANY other existing school.

I have consistently written and said that a 9th school should be opened in WH/SL, but should be done carefully, not recklessly and not by robbing one group of families to pay another.

"At the cost of our kids."

You seem to think the 400 Stevenson kids are aliens, not part of "our kids" and are not really part of this district and that nobody in the district should be allowed to have a choice of what public school to attend.

Where is your rant against Mistral?

And again, WHICH "few" of the 4 candidates do you claim have "ties" to PACT?
And what do YOU claim is their "agenda"?

FYI, "few" usually means 3 or more.

I have met Jose Gutierrez a few times and spoken at great length about his views on the MVWSD. He seems very knowledgeable about the issues facing the district and very committed to helping solve them. As a Mathematics Educator, I found his views on the issues surrounding mathematics in the district to be spot on. I hope he will continue to be part of the solution to help more students achieve in the MVWSD.

You will not find a more dedicated school board candidate than Tamara Wilson. With a background in education and science, as well as a child currently attending a local elementary school, she truly cares about the education of all children. She has the intelligence and passion to make major improvements for our city!

@Colonel Jessup,

"...You, Peter Darrah, speaking a few words of Spanish? You, Tamara Wilson worried about the quality of hot lunches or where to go next in the world for vacation? You, Laura Blakley with two kids in college that the poor Latino students currently have only slim chance to attend?..."

What an incredibly rude and inappropriate thing to say about these three candidates! Peter Darrah is a very sincere and involved parent, I don't know Tamara Wilson but have read great things about her, and the statement about Laura Blakely is plain wrong. She has one child in college, and she has helped to raise many thousands of dollars for all MVWSD students through her work with PTA's, MVEF and the Shoreline tax money.

There are plenty of hardworking Latino students who go to college, and plenty of low-income students who get financial assistance to go to college. While MV has many low-income Latinos, it's a Trumpism to put a label on ALL Latinos.

It sounds like we have 4 highly qualified candidates for just three positions, which is unfortunate.

Colonel Jessup, you owe an apology to Peter, Tamara and Laura, and to Jose Gutierrez for dragging him into your rant.

@Robin Iwai

Latinos, at more than 15 million in the state, have the lowest educational attainment rates in the community, with only 12 percent of adults between the ages of 25 and 64 having at least a bachelor’s degree compared with 23 percent of blacks, 42 percent of whites and 53 percent of Asians. In addition, only 29 percent of 12th-grade Latino graduates completed all of their coursework to make them eligible for UC or Cal State entrance, compared with 47 percent of white students and 65 percent of Asian students.

In fact, Latinos are underrepresented in every segment of higher education from California community colleges to state universities to private nonprofit colleges. Among current Latino undergraduates, 65 percent attend a California community college but only 39 percent will earn a degree, certificate or transfer within six years — in comparison with 53 percent of whites and the statewide average of 48 percent.

When one in two children under the age of 18 in California is Latino, the future of our economy and the state will rise or fall on the educational success of Latinos. To secure the economic future of California, we need to significantly increase the number of Latino students who are prepared for, enroll in and graduate from college.

The obstacles Latinos face are many. A good number are low-income, they are often the first generation in their family to go to college and many attend low-performing schools that do not adequately prepare them for college. They are grappling with these challenges as students today share a greater burden in funding their education than before in light of a decline in state contributions.

And all of the above doesn't even mention how Latinos who do make it to college will be able to afford it or even pay off massive student debt if they end up borrowing.

Regardless of their not being Latino, Laura Blakely and Peter Darrah have been looking out for all of our kids including those in lower economic circumstances whether that is Latino or otherwise. The choice you make for a candidate should not be based on their race, economic status, or cultural background--- but on whether or not you think the person will be the most effective person for the job. Will that person do a job that will take ALL constituents into consideration when he/ she votes in an issue? That is the most important question you should ask yourself when voting in November and looking at track records here-- we have some fine candidates to choose from this year-- THANK GOODNESS!! I, for one am so grateful that we have such a fine roster of folks to choose from and only hope that the one of the 3 who is not chosen in November -- continues to find a way to contribute to our community in another way until the next election comes around. We are so fortunate to not have another Steve Jensen running this year. Thank you all for stepping up and being willing to spend your time and energy advocating for all of the children in our fine city.

Dear Peter Darrah -- if you're running for School Board, and you do not have anyone on your team capable of catching "Endorsment" before your spendy glossy flyer goes to print, then goes out to voters... you don't deserve the votes.

Jose Gutierrez has been the only candidate to stop by my HOUSE to ask if I had any questions.
This was not in a creepy way, as he would have cleared my driveway quickly if I asked, but I appreciated him coming to one of the "poorer" areas to introduce himself and offer himself up to questions.
It would be great to see other candidates do so in a public setting. It shows a lot of transparency.

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