This article first ran in the Post’s 6/13 edition. Want to read all of the news first when it’s fresh? Pick up the Post at over 1,000 locations on the Mid-Peninsula.
BY BRADEN CARTWRIGHT
Daily Post Staff Writer
Parents in the Mountain View Whisman School District have announced they are trying to recall board member Devon Conley, who is accused of approving wasteful and excessive spending by former Superintendent Ayinde Rudolph.
“The deceit, fraud and grifting that has happened under your watch as board president is not acceptable. You have failed our parents, our taxpayers, our citizens and most importantly our children,” parent Quintin Riis said at the board meeting on Thursday night.
Riis listed a long list of expenses approved by Conley: $1 million for Rudolph to hire his former boss as his personal coach, $315,000 on a “master energy healer” for administrators, $2.7 million on unnecessary district office renovations, $180,000 for a PR firm to promote Rudolph and over $9 million on locks, fences and security cameras.
“Conley ignored public concerns, downplaying the costs as insignificant, while overlooking Rudolph’s spending of hundreds of thousands on travel, lavish hotels, meals, cable TV, and other personal luxuries,” Riis said, reading from the recall notice.
Conley championed Rudolph’s early contract renewal, expanded his travel privileges and agreed to pay him a $98,000 “golden parachute” to resign, Riis said.
Riis said he is part of a diverse group of parents that is prepared to spend the summer knocking on doors. Parents have the time and finances to ensure that Conley is recalled, he said.
The paperwork to recall Conley was signed by parent Mohan Gurunathan and former board member Steven Nelson on May 8.
Conley declined an interview yesterday.
“I do not have a comment at this time,” she said in an email.
Conley was elected to the school board in November 2018 and re-elected in 2022.
Parents started looking into budgets and contracts in May 2024 after Rudolph proposed reducing the number of class periods in middle school.
The board voted to give Rudolph a 5% raise and a three-year contract extension in June 2024, bringing his salary to $366,915 plus benefits.
Rudolph went on leave on Oct. 7, days after announcing state auditors were looking into the district for potential fraud.
He announced his resignation on Nov. 1 after 10 years with the district, and his first gig as a superintendent.
Voters on Nov. 5 elected three new board members: Charles DiFazio, Lisa Henry and Ana Reed, who have been trying to improve the board’s financial oversight. They hired Superintendent Jeff Baier to replace Rudolph.
Conley ran for Mountain View City Council in the fall but finished in sixth place, so she stayed on the school board.
Riis said he was serving Conley with a formal “notice of intent to circulate a recall petition.”
That notice needs to get 30 verifiable signatures in a week before the campaign can start gathering signatures to put a recall measure on the ballot.
The campaign would have 120 days to get roughly 7,400 signatures, which is 20% of the 36,956 registered voters in the district, the Santa Clara County Registrar of Voters said yesterday.
It’s disappointing and ridiculous that Conley ignored public concerns in recent years.
A district parent who’s the Head of Wellness at one of the big 5 tech companies said to me, “NO not even tech companies would ever pay $1000+/hr for meditation. That’s a waste of student education money”. And yet, after receiving national & international press for this misspending Board President Conley continued to defend these questionable contracts and supported district messaging that vilified parents who were lobbying the county for a forensic audit.
David Verdugo, the consultant who helped with the recent superintendent search importantly shared with parents that he’s never seen a board of trustees more cozy with a superintendent & district staff than what has been inappropriately occurring here. He also acknowledged 9 yrs of coaching for a superintendent is unheard of. The conflict of interest contracts that were obvious to parents are obvious to everyone else. Moving forward MVWSD needs high integrity fresh faces in its finance dept, trustees who represent the electorate, & a big change from the status quo.
Why did Conley look the other way as all of these questionable expenditures came before the board? Isn’t it the job of board members to question improper spending before approving a budget? If she can’t perform that task, she shouldn’t be on the school board. Recalling her isn’t a hard decision.
I would sign this petition.
I guess Braden and these parents don’t understand how Boards work. Everything goes for a vote. She’s one of 5 votes. Does she get credit for cleaning it up too? I mean she voted for all the changes. This is a distraction for a seat that’s going to be up for election in November of next year. SMH
I guess Michellel doesn’t understand how Boards work. They approve general proposals without a lot of specifics and let the superintendent fill in the details. Superintendents have a threshold under which they can approve expenditures without board approval. Board members can call out a superintendent who goes against their direction, or they can continually praise and thank him — as Devon Conley did at every meeting. No, not every expenditure goes before the board for approval. It doesn’t work like that, Michellel. Devon Conley could have been on the side of reform, but she enabled those who were corrupt in the district. We need to recall her. This will serve as a firm warning to others on these boards who tend to cozy up to a superintendent and allow corruption.