Not content with the amount of district time, goodwill and money he has already squandered, Nelson decides on a "whim" to enter the race. I'm looking forward to seeing him soundly defeated and hope that will be the last time I hear his name for many years to come.

So Steve has decided to try to bring his circus show to the MVLA Board. Sorry, Steve, we saw what you did on the MVWSD Board and have no appetite for a return showing!

Anyone thinking of voting for Steve should check out the Voice archive of articles covering his past behavior and watch videos of his outrageous behavior at MVWSD Board meetings. Make sure to read up on his censure by fellow Trustees and his own admission of improper behavior.

Steve, you have some good ideas, but no interpersonal skills. So sorry your vacation got cancelled and you decided to apply "on a whim".

Steve’s heart is in the right place. We don’t need complacency for complacency’s sake! Go Steve!

You go Steve -- "I'm looking forward to seeing him soundly defeated and hope that will be the last time I hear his name for many years to come."

As much as I want Nelson to defeated as well (I mean, who wants THAT nutjob in office?!?!?!), there will be no escaping him and his constant barrage of nonsense.

We'll all have to wait until he's six feet under before that happens...

He cannot work with others and throws the most irrational immature hissy fits when he does not get his way. Meetings would go into endless rat-holes when he was involved. Nothing got done except for other board members resigning, citing the impossible environment he tried to drag everyone into.
Putting this guy on another board would be a disaster...one we have already been through and can reference in abundance.

Because nothing screams "genuine commitment to Latino achievement and reducing the achievement gap" like a whimsical decision by a crazy codger to run for school board when your Hawaiian vacation is momentarily delayed.

Reporter Kevin. The statement you wrote about no North of El Camino MVLA Trustee "in a century" is a mishearing or misunderstanding of my point to you. "None in the 21st Century", which means, of course, none at least since 2000 (18 years not 100 years). All of the trustee since 2000 have lived South of El Camino, as far as I have requested MVLA public records data. They are unsure of "an Hispanic" on the board since 1980. (which brings up an interesting point - did President LBJ effectively represent the political and civil interests of MLK and others who identified with him)?

With the opening of a new Castro campus, and a new Stevenson campus and soon a new neighborhood school in the Whisman-Slater Quadrant of the MVWSD - that also represents a legacy of my years on the MVWSD. Doing things without involving the community first (anyone see SAVECOOPERPARK.Org green signs) is a very fine example of why a Trustee should get themselves directly involved. The (Cooper Park) neighborhood needed constituent discussions and park meetings, and neighbor survey on teacher housing- before the MVWSD Board & Administration spent $40,000 on a consultant without informing or listening! I do not apologize for warning them, the year before - that housing use of public property might be considered.

@ Steve,

The accomplishments you mention were achieved *despite* your presence.

Your legacy is better represented by the following Voice article and video covering your censure by your fellow trustees:
Web Link
Web Link

We have no desire to have you yell obscenities in the MVLA district office the way you did at MVWSD.

Former Superintendent of MVLA Barry Groves gave me this bit of district governance advice, after I had won my election for MVWSD. "The magic number in school board decisions is three." If you want to bother reviewing the official minutes of the MVWSD, especially for the critical board vote for 450 student neighborhood schools (not 650 at 'just some' schools), you will see that I often was the trustee making the motion, or second, and that I often was a crucial vote in a 3:2 majority to change the direction of the staff. Ellen Wheeler was extremely important in working with me on the 450 permanent student school votes.

The magic number is 3.
The School Board majority is responsible for making Public Policy in a legislative process.
The Administration is responsible for carrying out that Policy and running the schools.

And once again, Nelson has nothing to offer but yet more deflection.

Go away Steve, no one wants you sitting on ANY school board.

If Steve Nelson had not run, the 3 seats would have been uncontested and there would have been no discussion of anything - just more "fake news" about how outstanding these pretty average high schools have become.

Please Mr. Nelson times are stressful enough your behavior has most of us gouging our eyeballs with the thought of you on board. Please reconsider.

While Mr. Nelson is technically correct regarding MVLA Trustees living North of El Camino Real since 2000. I would like to inform him that I was a trustee of the Whisman School District before I was on the MVLA board. I am proud to say that my two sons both went to Monta Loma and Crittenden.

During my nine years on the MVLA school board, I prided myself on representing all of Mountsin View as well as all students in MVLA and I take offense to any implication otherwise.

And Mr. Williams, we all certainly expect that an elective representative, who had experience with Whisman District schools would in some ways be a very good representative of the interests of those students and families. AND would have the interests of the Mountain View District's students and of course all the MVLA students from the Los Altos District.

I hope you also well represented the particular interests of the particular schools in the areas where you resided. I too - would take "offense to any implication" that I had somehow favored my closest schools Bubb and Graham, when I was a trustee of the whole of MVWSD!

best to you!

@ Steve

Please just go away! You may think you were representing the whole of MVWSD, but all you were really doing was feeding your ego.

Does not play well with others. I'll leave it at that.

Steve is hoping that there will be enough voters who just kinda recognize his name and will vote for him based on that. After all, the oldest rule in the PR book is that 'there is no such thing as bad publicity!'

I honestly believe Steve would benefit from mental health evaluations and services. He does not belong on a school board, or any board, and does not behave as a rational person should. I am hopeful that voters will do a quick Google search on him and understand that his candidacy is not one that anyone should support. He is divisive and created a level of chaos that resulted in MVWSD school board meeting videos going viral on YouTube because of the spectacle he created. Please do not elect him. And Steve, if you truly love your community, please stop running for school boards.

@Am I being punked? -- Great post. Great points.

The one thing I would say, though, is regarding the last sentence in your post -- "And Steve, if you truly love your community, please stop running for school boards."

The thing is, he believes he loves his community. And in his view, the way he shows that love is through being on school boards. What he doesn't realize (yet)is that what he is doing is showing love for himself in a highly narcissistic way.

The dude definitely needs help.

I am personally glad that there is some competition and new thought at MVLA, finally.

Competition? Sure, lets throw a lunatic on the ballot simply for some competition.

When the choice is so clear to NOT vote for Nelson due to his MANY MANY documented flame-out,stomp off, petty, immature, actions, I don't see where any "competition" is had.
If anyone even scratches the surface of the articles vividly describing the factual actions of this man, you'll realize he's an abhorrent choice and a community embarrassment.

Hmmm. Narcissistic, petty, crude, unstable, profane, disruptive, makes important decisions on a whim? Sounds vaguely familiar....

How ironic. Steve Nelson is quoted saying "I don't think this represents a good legislative environment." How would he know? Here's a sampling of headlines from the 4 years Nelson disrupted and almost paralyzed the MV-Whisman elementary and middle school district:

"School board clashes over trustee's outreach efforts"
"Trustee clashes with district office over public records"
"Embattled board member gets censured"
"Trustee upset over school board agendas"
"Trustee comes under fire as parents grill school board"

And those are just the references that come up as headlines. To read the record of Steve Nelson as a trustee of that legislative body is to read of a bomb-throwing, disruptive, "jerk" (not my word alone, but also those of other observers published in here) who seemingly couldn't find common ground with anyone else. His volatile, self-aggrandizing and disrespectful temperament twisted the district's staff, board and parents in knots and only served to showcase one fact: Steve Nelson wouldn't know a "good legislative environment" anymore than a bully knows a "friend."

My wife and I put two kids through Mountain View High School, and are proud of the MVLA HS District's incredible academic environment that provides a world class education for our diverse student body. Voters, don't buy the vapid, empty, self-centered pablum from this snake-oil selling publicity seeker. MV-Whisman is only just pulling out of the chaos he sewed in his toxic tenure. Let's not infect the actual legislative environment of our HS District with his bile. Send Nelson back on his Maui vacation for good.

@Publius, (see Federalist Papers)

Thank you for your 'debatable' comments! There are those who called the MVWSD (2012-2016) Board dysfunctional - but the LASD Board is fully functional? BCS fights 5-10 yr ago, Bond planning/use? I think I got done the main Bond facilities goal that I promised to work on during the election season of 2012. Neighborhood equality.
For headlines, your choice is GREAT!
"clashes over ... outreach efforts" to Cooper School site neighbors,
([2018) SAVECOOPERPARK.org]
(2018) MV-LA stadium lights & outreach?
Web Link
"Trustee clashes with district office over public records" = math, (2017) TTO:Math "fiasco"
Web Link">Web Link
"board member gets censured" 1/2 of story is, First Amendment Coalition MVWSD's "policies are stupid"
Web Link">Web Link
"Trustee upset over school board agendas" you've heard the phrase: "Who sets the Agenda ..."

"Trustee comes under fire as parents grill school board" comes with elected office! (2018) Dave @MV-LA
'teachers condemn'
Web Link
& apology in LA Town Crier

The most important decisions of a person, family, organization, company, community, are usually not the easy ones, the ones without controversy.

Nice try Steve! Just because the district made huge mistakes (eg TTO) doesn't mean that you helped in any way. You didn't do anything to expose issues with TTO!

In fact, your presence on the board was responsible for making these these issues worse than they otherwise would have been. Your fellow board members had to deal with your antics and didn't have time for much else.

Now you want to bring your clown-show to MVLA?

You fooled people the first time around. It won't happen again! As Otto Maddox says above:

"Does not play well with others." What else do voters need to know?