Four candidates running for three seats on the Palo Alto School Board

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Four candidates have entered the Palo Alto school board race, seeking three seats that will go undefended by incumbents.

Board member Jesse Ladomirak said in March that she isn’t going to run after a single term. Todd Collins and Jennifer DiBrienza do not plan to seek a third term.

The top three vote-getters in November will join Shana Segal and Shounak Dharap on the five-person board.

Others can still enter the race. Candidates have until Aug. 14 to file papers to run.

The four are Nicole Chiu-Wang, Christopher Colohan, Alison Kamhi and Josh Salcman.

Here’s a look at the four, presented in alphabetical order:

• Nicole Chiu-Wang, who was an unsuccessful candidate for the board in 2022, left her job at Google to lead a nonprofit called DreamCatchers that helps middle school students with their schoolwork.

“I am proud to be an Asian-American woman running for a seat on a board that hasn’t had an Asian-American woman board member in over a decade,” Chiu-Wang said in her announcement, pointing out that about 40% of the district is Asian.

Chiu-Wang said she wants to improve mental health and wellness and to change how student progress is measured.
“I am more committed than ever to promoting equity in education and closing the opportunity gap for our students,” Chiu-Wang said.

• Christopher Colohan, 50, of Palo Alto, was the first candidate to enter the race in March.

Colohan worked as a Google software engineer and manager for 10 years. He is now a PTA volunteer and a substitute teacher. He has a fifth grader at Duveneck Elementary School and a seventh grader at Greene Middle School.

Colohan said in an interview in March that his goal is to retain as many high-quality teachers as possible.

“If we have amazing teachers, it’s amazing for our students,” Colahan said.

• Alison Kamhi, 42, of Stanford, works as the legal program director for the Immigrant Legal Resource Center in San Francisco. She lives by Escondido Elementary School.

Kamhi has a bachelor’s degree from Stanford and a law degree from Harvard, and she speaks German and Spanish, her online bio says.

Kamhi said in an interview on Monday that her focus is physical safety – gun safety and bike safety in particular.

Kamhi is the co-chair of gun violence prevention for the Palo Alto Council of PTAs.

• Josh Salcman, 48, of Los Altos Hills, is a father of three who has been volunteering in the district for the past 10 years, according to his campaign website.

Salcman’s kids attend Gunn High School, Nixon Elementary School and a private school in Menlo Park called Synapse School, he said.
Salcman’s youngest son, a second grader at Nixon, is autistic and wears hearing aids, which has helped Salcman understand “both the challenges and opportunities associated with supporting every student.”

Salcman is the PTA board representative for special education and inclusion at Nixon. He founded a company called Virtual Nerd that gives video lessons on math, according to his social media. Salcman has also helped hire educators on a committee at Beth Am Synagogue in Los Altos Hills, he said.