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Four candidates are running in the Palo Alto school board election, vying for three seats that incumbents will not defend.
Board member Jesse Radmiak said in March that he would not run for just one term, and board members Todd Collins and Jennifer DiBrienza are not seeking a third term.
The top three vote-getters on the November ballot will join Shanna Segal and Shaunak Darup on the five-member board.
Others are still eligible to run. Candidates have until Aug. 14 to file their candidacy.
The four are Nicole Chiu-wan, Christopher Colohan, Allison Kamhi and Josh Salkman.
Here are four, listed alphabetically.
• Nicole Chiu Wan, After losing a 2022 election for the company's board of directors, she left Google to run Dreamcatchers, a nonprofit that helps middle school students study.
“I am proud to be an Asian American woman running for a board seat that has not had an Asian American woman on the board in over a decade,” Chiu-wan said in a statement, noting that the district is about 40% Asian.
Chiu Wan said she wanted to improve mental health and wellbeing and change the way students' progress is measured.
“Now more than ever, I am committed to promoting equity in education and eliminating opportunity gaps for students,” Chiu Wang said.
• Christopher Colohan The 50-year-old Palo Alto resident was a first-time candidate who entered the race in March.
Colohan worked as a software engineer and manager at Google for 10 years. He currently works as a PTA volunteer and substitute teacher. His children are in 5th grade at Duveneck Elementary School and 7th grade at Green Middle School.
Colohan said in an interview in March that his goal is to retain as many high-quality teachers as possible.
“It's great for the students to have such great teachers,” Colahan said.
• Allison Kamhi The 42-year-old Stamford native works as the legal programs director at the Immigrant Legal Resource Center in San Francisco and lives near Escondido Elementary School.
Kamhi holds an undergraduate degree from Stanford University and a law degree from Harvard University, and speaks German and Spanish, according to her online profile.
Kamhi said in an interview Monday that her focus is on physical safety, specifically gun safety and bike safety.
Kamhi is co-chair of the Palo Alto PTA Council's Gun Violence Prevention initiative.
• Josh Salkman The 48-year-old Los Altos Hills resident is a father of three and has been volunteering in the district for the past 10 years, according to his campaign website.
Salkman's children attend Gunn High School, Nixon Elementary School and a private school called Synapse School in Menlo Park, he said.
Salkman's youngest son, a sophomore at Nixon High School, has autism and wears hearing aids, which helped her understand “both the challenges and opportunities that come with serving each individual student.”
Salkman serves on the Nixon School PTA board as the representative for special education and inclusion. He founded a company called Virtual Nerd, which offers video math lessons, and helped recruit educators for the Beth Am Synagogue committee in Los Altos Hills, according to his social media.
