With four committed and highly qualified candidates running for two open spots, the race for Palo Alto School Board was bound to be very close. And indeed as of Wednesday, November 5th, the final tally is still incomplete. Here’s a recap:
Ken Dauber has secured one seat on the Palo Alto School Board, winning about 30% of the vote. An engineer at google with a PhD in sociology, Ken is a strong advocate for social emotional support for students and for using data to drive decision-making. He has been an outspoken critic of the District’s handling of cases brought forth from the Office of Civil Rights (OCR), and made the OCR issues a cornerstone of his campaign. This is Ken’s second campaign for school board and his first win.
For the second open seat on the School Board, it is still too close to call between Terry Godfrey and Catherine Crystal Foster. Terry, a seasoned community volunteer with a focus on student-centered decision making and accountability, has a small lead but not enough to close out the counting. Catherine, a policy and evaluation expert who has worked on education and social justice issues throughout her career, was a leader in the effort to pass the most recent parcel tax and the Strong Schools Bond. Both candidates gained just over 26% of the vote with a small number of votes separating them.
Gina Dalma, an education expert and advocate for Common Core curriculum implementation, came in fourth with about 14% of the vote. Jay Cabrera, a fifth candidate, won about 2% of the vote.
Palo Alto Pulse will post an update as soon as the race is determined. Palo Alto Unified School District is fortunate to have such talented and knowledgable candidates vying for this second seat and both Terry and Catherine bring many talents and skills to the role of school board member.
