Santa Clara County Education Digest

Gov. Gavin Newsom and First Partner Jennifer Siebel Newsom recently joined the California Museum in announcing the 15th class of inductees into the California Hall of Fame. They join 138 Californians previously inducted for embodying the state’s innovative spirit.

A look back on the Bakke decision—the 1978 Supreme Court decision that ruled affirmative action was constitutional—as the Court gets ready to reexamine the matter.

The U.S. Centers for Disease Control decided to list COVID-19 among the vaccines it recommends for children, but each state decides whether to adopt those guidelines. It's unclear what California will do.

Ellen Fletcher Middle School is looking to institute a campus-wide focus on environmental sustainability and allow students from throughout Palo Alto Unified to apply to attend. The "Sustainability for All" initiative would be incorporated into the curriculum as well as after-school activities and community service opportunities.

Santa Clara County school board candidates zeroed in on student mental health and substance use at a recent community-hosted forum. Dozens of attendees turned out for a virtual forum last week organized by the African American Community Services Agency, SOMOS Mayfair, Vietnamese American Roundtable, Jewish Community Relations Council of Silicon Valley and Latinos United for...

Dozens of candidates are running for school board seats throughout Santa Clara County. In some districts, school board candidates are prioritizing the digital divide, staff retention, COVID-19 recovery and school safety. Potential board members are also highlighting fiscal responsibility.

San Jose voters are facing a large pool of school board candidates on the November ballot, with contenders jostling for seats in crowded races. The winners will juggle a host of critical issues, including COVID-19 recovery, access to early education, chronic absenteeism and staff shortages.

Four below-market units are readied for Los Gatos teachers who can’t afford to live in the city where they teach. So far 80 teachers have applied.

A throng of 500 people attended the Santa Clara County Board of Education candidate presentation. The hopefuls, who will supervise a 30-district system, spoke on problems of diversity and academic inequality.

SCOTUS is set to rule on race-based programs in college admissions. Since 1996, affirmative action in college admissions has been banned in California; an amicus brief filed by the University of California states that other efforts have failed to bring representative racial diversity to its student body.

Mountain View/Los Altos High School District Board candidate Carrol Titus-Zambre allegedly threatened an unnamed reporter for Los Altos High Talon with a lawsuit and military investigation.

Nature and educational center Hidden Villa hires executive director Elliot Wright, who says, “The chance to join Hidden Villa at this important time—two years before we celebrate 100 years of making a difference in the Bay Area—is an incredible opportunity.”

Palo Alto Board of Education candidates discuss the direction of local schools, including matters of mental health care, “de-laning,” gender and diversity.

Education fundamentals, bullying, the pandemic and mental health pressures discussed by candidates for the school board.

Stanford University’s Carolyn Bertozzi shares one third of the Nobel Prize for Chemistry for her work with “bioorthogonal chemistry,” a method to tag cells without interrupting their functions. Applications include treatments and diagnosis of cancer.

Even as fentanyl overdoses among young people have skyrocketed, health education remains optional in most California schools. “Prevention is not always prioritized,” says Dareen Khatib, co-chair of the California Health Education Community of Practice.

Mountain View-Los Altos School board candidate Carrol Titus-Zambre claims, without supporting evidence, that she was endorsed by two higher ups. Titus-Zambre also caught heat for calling masks for returning students “ridiculous.”

Thida Cornes, who is seeking a seat on the Mountain View Los Altos Union High School District's board, says, “I’m running for the board because I’m committed to ensuring that all our students feel connected, embrace challenges and thrive.”

Four candidates for the Palo Alto Unified Board of Education shared their opinions at an occasionally heated forum hosted by the Palo Alto Weekly/PaloAltoOnline.com.

The University of California is launching a new dual admissions program in fall 2023. High school graduates with at least a 3.0 grade point average but without all the required A-G courses would be given a conditional offer of admission to a specific UC campus, but will first need to go to community college.

Oak Creek Apartments, a large housing complex at 1600 Sand Hill Road, has been purchased by Stanford, the university announced. An unnamed affiliate acquired the leasehold on the 759-unit complex, which is located on university land adjacent to the main campus.

Awaiting Gov. Gavin Newsom’s signature is a bill that would mostly ban remedial math and English classes, which can’t transfer with credit to four-year universities. Once signed, the bill will affect more than 40 colleges.

Dual-language immersion programs, which teach all students in English and another language, are so much in demand that some school districts have been able to stop declining enrollment or even grow enrollment in a school by beginning a dual-language program.

Three seats on the Mountain View Los Altos Union High School District’s board are up for grabs, and candidate Jacquie Tanner hopes her background in business will appeal to voters.

Suraj Viswanathan is running to join the Milpitas Unified School District’s Board of Education. For the past four years, he has served on MUSD’s Citizens Bond Oversight Committee.

The sole incumbent on the Mountain View Los Altos Union High School District Board of Trustees who is running for reelection, Catherine Vonnegut is seeking to win one of three seats coming up for a vote this year. She will face five challengers.

Women’s athletics at Stanford University have come a long way since Title IX became federal law in 1972. In honor of the law’s 50th anniversary, Stanford Athletics has nominated its first all-female class of inductees to its Hall of Fame. They will officially join in September.

Kelly Yip-Chuan is again running for Milpitas Unified School District’s Board of Education. Yip-Chuan, who is currently president of the board, has served since 2018. “I recognized the Board can make a difference, and it’s increased my commitment,” Yip-Chuan said.

After two decades on the Mountain View Whisman School District's board, Ellen Wheeler has decided not to seek reelection in November. Fellow incumbent Devon Conley does plan to run again, and former board member Bill Lambert has his eye on one of the two open seats.

Assemblymember Ash Kalra has requested $25 million from the state Legislature to use land at the Santa Clara County Fairgrounds for the San Jose State University Speed City Legacy Center and Track and Field Training Facility. The 9-acre project will be a partnership with Santa Clara County and SJSU.

Startup founder Nicole Chiu-Wang will run for a seat on the Palo Alto Unified School District Board of Education this November. Board members Ken Dauber and Shounak Dharap are up for reelection; Dauber says he won’t run again but Dharap confirmed that he will seek reelection.

In Saratoga Union and Los Altos Elementary school districts, property taxes boost student funding and programs remain robust. In Alum Rock Union and Franklin-McKinley Elementary, music classes, coaches, robotics and counselors are reduced or cut.