BY BRADEN CARTWRIGHT
Daily Post Staff Writer
Another advanced math advocate is throwing his hat in the ring to become a board member of the Palo Alto Unified School District.
John Craig, 46, registered a fundraising committee and launched a website that has the same design as candidate Avery Wang.
Craig said on April 2 that he hasn’t decided to run.
“Still just considering and talking to folks,” he said in an email.
Craig has spoken at board meetings in support of board member Rowena Chiu and against former Superintendent Don Austin, who agreed to resign on Feb. 20 with a $596,802 payout.
Advanced math push
Craig wants the district to offer Multivariable Calculus — the center of a debate on how far students should be allowed to get ahead academically.
At a meeting on March 17, Craig said neighboring districts offer Multivariable Calculus, and his daughter excels in math but also enjoys after-school activities such as drama.
“I would very much appreciate her being able to finish this (class) during the school day instead of having to do it afterwards,” Craig told the board.
Craig lives in the University South neighborhood and works as vice president of revenue and customer success at RIOS Intelligent Machines, an AI robotics company in Menlo Park.
Craig graduated from the University of Toronto in 2006 and received a Master of Business Administration from Western University in Ontario in 2009, according to his social media.
Three-candidate field
Craig is the third candidate to file papers for a campaign, joining Wang and pro-Israel activist Leor Melamedov.
Melamedov, 35, hasn’t launched a website nor answered any questions about a possible campaign. She is a frequent public commenter at board meetings, also in favor of Chiu and Multivariable Calculus. She has filed paperwork indicating she is not planning to run.
Wang, 60, has confirmed he’s running. He sued the district in June 2020 for allegedly holding his son back in high school math, in violation of the 2015 Math Placement Act that requires districts to have fair and transparent placement policies.
Wang is co-founder of Shazam, an app that identifies songs from a snippet of sound. Apple reportedly paid about $400 million to buy Shazam in 2018.
Exiting board members
Candidates are running to replace board members Shounak Dharap and Shana Segal. Dharap is termed out, and Segal is returning to teaching after one term on the board.
Dharap and Segal voted to uphold the Paly Education Council’s decision to not offer Multivaraible Calculus in the fall.
The class was proposed by Paly math teacher Daniel Nguyen to follow Advanced Placement Calculus in the course catalog.
But the council of teachers, counselors and administrators said offering the class “risks amplifying the already significant pressures on students.”
Related stories
• March 17 — School board won’t force schools to offer advanced math
• March 5 — Two advocates of advanced math, Leor Melamedov and Avery Wang, considering run for school board
• Dec. 18, 2025 — Advanced math class approved despite opposition from teachers
• Dec. 8, 2025 — Teachers oppose advanced math course
• March 25, 2023 — Lawsuit sparks debate over placement of math students in Palo Alto schools
• Feb. 16, 2023 — Judge faults PAUSD’s policy on math placement
Homeboy just wants to hear himself talk. The priority shouldn’t be having kids just to “level up” in calculus—meanwhile, kids are out here struggling and even unaliving themselves via caltrain. How about we maintain the bread and butter curriculum and do a better job teach life skills and resiliency.
Typical take from a Palo Atlan who lives in a bubble.
Maintaining the bread and butter curriculum and doing a better job teaching life skills and resiliency is wise advice. It’s a normal way to live.
Sincerely thank you!
Whichever of these people are elected it’s going to be an improvement. What’s a “bread and butter curriculum”?
Thank you for running! We need more accountability and education divested of politics.
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Apparently bread and butter does not involve advanced math. Try telling that to some of America’s allies and rivals on the world stage. Advanced math is key to our overall health, economic prosperity, and national security. We need citizens with advanced math skills any way you slice it. The fact that some students want to excel should not be seen as a threat in my opinion.
I can only speak from my own experience here. I tapped out at trigonometry although many of my friends went on to calculus in high school. My decision was not a blow to my self-esteem, nor were my parents overly concerned. They just wanted me to go to college (yes, I know times have changed).
My two children graduated from PAUSD and neither took “advanced” math classes, but they sure learned a lot of math. We let them chart their own course, which I believe boosted their self-confidence. Both did fine in college, and both are well adjusted, productive adults who can roll with the punches that life throws them.
Not everyone is a fan of Plato, but “Plato viewed mathematics as a vital intermediary between the physical world and the realm of eternal Forms, arguing that it forces the mind to reason about abstract truths rather than visible objects. He considered mathematical knowledge to be certain and universal, essential for training the soul, fostering philosophical thought, and understanding ultimate truth” (AI).
If Plato was right, then why deny young folks access to higher math? Taking multivariable calculus is a choice, and seemingly it is a good choice. Parents should not push students into such choices if they are not appropriate, and by the upper grades of high school, a student should have the skills to decide if such a choice is appropriate as well.
I know Palo Alto is a very competitive community, and there are a lot of pressures on students, but it is okay if your sons or daughters are not “the best” at a certain academic discipline. That is life. Learning when to accelerate and when to “put on the brakes” are valuable life skills. Holding students back who are willing and able to accelerate when there are the resources to accommodate them seems to be a disservice in my opinion.
I’m glad to see board candidates willing to advocate for advanced math. Clearly the community will decide if such candidates are worthy of their vote, and those who oppose offering multivariable calculus will have every opportunity to provide sound evidence as to why doing so is not a good idea. Democracy in action, and may the best candidate win.
Multivariable calculus won’t make or break a college entry, even at highly competitive colleges. An essay will. It gives the student an opportunity to show admissions who you are when similar academics, test scores and extracurricular activities are at play. Universities are looking for well-rounded students, not dime-a-dozen applicants. Too many parents and students don’t understand this.
These essays are increasing being written using AI.
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Any of these three candidates would be miles better than the two they would be replacing. Good riddance!
This whole issue about advanced math points up again the need for more choice in education. If a politically motive school board or teacher’s union wants to deprive you of the right to take a class that you want you should be able to take the money the district receives from the state and go to a school that does offer the class or classes if one is available. Just seems simple to me. The whole setup is designed to keep students and parents locked into a politically correct dumbed-down nanny state.
It is the District Steering Committee of each Department that decides the programs. Not Unions or the Board. If a course is not being approved at that level, then the Board would violate the bylaws it has agreed to if it intervened. That said, a clear reasoning for why, if the enrollment is there, and a credentialed instructor is there, and the course outline is there, would the course not be approved? What is missing?
Hal –
I suppose the union makes sure that those on the steering committee align with their views.
Once again, some folks find it prudent to exaggerate the power of the teacher’s union in Palo Alto. Why? One can only speculate. The union has little say in whether or not a course is offered, and to imply that all teachers march in lock step with some sort of harmful union agenda is disingenuous at best.
Millie,
Most union members won’t touch the Ed Councils because the pay is a joke, there is scant prep time, and the meetings are more sleep inducing than Ambien. If anything, the Ed.Council is a stepping stone into administration and Instructional Leaders, at least under Austin, were expected to tow the 25 Churchill party line as well as identify dissenting teachers to be subjected to 25 Churchill strong arm tactics. I know, I was both an Instructional Leader and a target of 25 Churchill harassment.
Thank you for stepping forward to serve. There is much work to be done.
The Palo Alto Unified School District has, over time, lost sight of its central mission. An increasingly bloated administrative structure has drifted away from prioritizing what matters most: students—their education, their well-being, and their future.
The ongoing controversy and saga around offering MVC (Multi Variable Calculus and Linear algebra) is not an isolated issue. It is a visible symptom of a broader, systemic problem that affects students across the district. In face, the data is clear that while all groups of students are harmed, our most vulnerable students, who depend most on the district for opportunity and support, have been disproportionately harmed by misguided policies around math placement, pathways, and support.
These issues begin early. Many students lack targeted support in elementary school when foundational skills matter most. In middle school, the move to a de-laned math program, intended to promote equity, has instead resulted in a system that serves neither struggling students nor advanced learners well. Placement practices further limit opportunities, preventing many qualified students from progressing. At the high school level, restricting MVC appears less about pedagogy and more about discouraging students from advancing.
This is not equity. It is a system that, in practice, constrains opportunity.
What we need now is not more rhetoric, but a reset in governance. That means leadership grounded in competence, honesty, and transparency. It means restoring respect for students and families as partners. And it means aligning decisions with evidence—following the science, not ideology.
Our students deserve better. The community is ready for change.