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The Mountain View Whisman school board seats currently held by, from left, Chris Chiang, Laura Blakely and Laura Ramirez Berman will be up for a vote in the Nov. 5 election. Photos by Magali Gauthier.

Three seats on the Mountain View Whisman school board will be up for a vote this November, meaning that voters will get to pick who fills a majority of the spots on the five-member board.

The four-year terms of Chris Chiang, Laura Blakely and Laura Ramirez Berman are all set to expire this year. The board voted unanimously last week to formally call for an election to fill the three seats to be held on Nov. 5, as part of the presidential general election that day.

The window for prospective candidates to file to run is scheduled to open July 15 and end Aug. 9. If an incumbent doesn’t file to run, the window to file would be extended by five days for anyone other than the incumbent, according to the Santa Clara County Registrar of Voters website.

Chiang announced last month that he plans to leave the school board this summer, ahead of the end of his term. He plans to move to Redwood City, which would make him ineligible to continue serving on the board. Chiang’s fellow school board members are planning to leave his seat open until the election, rather than appointing someone to serve for potentially just a few months before the seat comes up for a vote.

The remaining two seats on the board are held by Bill Lambert and Devon Conley, whose terms don’t expire until 2026. However, Conley has announced plans to run for a seat on the Mountain View City Council this November. If elected, she has acknowledged that she would need to resign from her position on the school board, creating another opening.

The last time Mountain View Whisman school board seats came open two years ago, the race was uncontested, with only Conley and Lambert qualifying to run.

Zoe Morgan joined the Mountain View Voice in 2021, with a focus on covering local schools, youth and families. A Mountain View native, she previously worked as an education reporter at the Palo Alto Weekly...

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2 Comments

  1. I wish the Editor would report on: [*]
    The people who have already filed FPPC election Forms,
    *Blakely, incumbent 8 yr, 6/07/2024 (#470)
    *Berman, incumbent 4 yr, 6/4/2024 (#470)
    following (#501 &,or #410)
    *Case-Lo, Christine; community organizer for Special Education, 6/4-7/2024
    *Henry, Lisa; lawyer-mom, Bubb PTA++, 6/12/2024

    [*] I have a looooong press/politico relationship with the current MV Voice Editor. I am currently and have been ‘a subscriber’. Although I have been urging Kevin to OPEN UP about reporting ‘on official filers’, he has demurred and in a recent ‘subscriber newsletter’ explained why he doesn’t Do It {report on official filers}. He choses to keep his reporters Off A Story until the person/candidate wants to make-run-public.

    What Do You Think (letter to Editor@mv-voice.com)?
    I think, if a person is filing An Official Government FPPC Document, proclaiming under threat of perjury, that they are intending to run (and may be starting to solicit and raise and spend less-than $2,000) then – it IS Public News!

    Many of you, MOST of you do not inhabit The Politico World that I have partially inhabited since 1972. So – you can’t Really Find the info that I know how to scrounge up (Public Records / Santa Clara County Registrar of Voters databases). But Kevin, Zoe Morgan, and the other reporters of the MV Voice LIVE IN THAT WORLD! They know How to Dig. Sometimes they Really Dig Deep!

    -=- So Community Members / please write the Editor / if you would like him to Unleash the full Power of the Free Press, the ‘4th estate.’ on Election Candidate early Filings.

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