Patch Asks: 'Who Are Your Best Opponents?'

With two week left in the election season, the race for the Mountain View Whisman School Board race continues to heat up.

There are three seats open and five candidates interested in sitting on the board to develop education policy for nearly 5,000 children from Kindergarten to 8th grade.

Mountain View Patch e-mailed a series of questions to all five candidates, asking each person for their own unique answers. Here are the responses we received from Chris Chiang, Bill Lambert and Peter Darrah:

Patch: What’s the number one reason voters should choose you in the election over another candidate?

Chris Chiang: I believe my experiences are unique from the other highly qualified candidates. I have taught for the last eight years, both in Cupertino where I was Teacher of the Year in 2010, New York City, where I helped start a school for at risk youth, and in Atherton, where I now teach sixth grade at the Sacred Heart Schools. I have a masters in teaching from Stanford (STEP) and a second masters in educational leadership from Columbia University. I am a Google Certified Teacher, Microsoft Innovative Educator, and UCSD certified Gifted and Talented Education teacher.

Bill Lambert: I represent the children in north Mountain View with a predominately Hispanic K-8 population.

Peter Darrah: The number one thing I bring to the MVWSD is experience in many different areas. I have district level experience from serving on the Budget Task Force and the Mountain View Educational Foundation. I have kids at Graham and my wife is a kindergarten teacher at Landels. I've seen education from the eyes of the kids and the teachers. I'm a manager at Advanced Micro Devices. I understand managing people, budgets, and getting things done. I also speak fluent Spanish from having lived in Latin America.

Patch: Of the five candidates, which three would you like to serve with and why?

Chiang: I will be voting for Lambert and Darrah. A board is about diverse talents, but also about working relationships. I believe Lambert and Darrah are effective team players. Unique to each, Lambert brings a commitment to serving all students and vision for whole after school programs that I am excited about. I appreciate his analytical approach that focuses on observing and listening, and withholding quick conclusions. Darrah brings a combined business and computer background that I believe reflects many in our community. Darrah’s fluency in Spanish is desperately needed on a school board serving 46% Latino students.

Lambert: I won’t answer this question.  Although it is important to me that those who are elected can work productively as a group.

Darrah: I recommend Jim Pollart, Bill Lambert, and myself - PB&J. We all have deep experience professionally, with the school, and the community.

Tuesday night, you can witness a gathering of the contenders during the first Spanish language candidate forum at Castro Elementary School at 7 p.m.

Mountain View Patch will be publish additional candidate responses as they are received.