BY BRADEN CARTWRIGHT
Daily Post Staff Writer
A candidate challenging the status quo at the Los Altos School District has accused three incumbents of being unwilling to meet with teachers without the superintendent.
“That’s no way to provide effective oversight. It has to be possible for our teachers to raise concerns without their boss in the room,” candidate David Poll said at a debate on Tuesday (Oct. 13).
Poll’s opponents in the race — Bryan Johnson, Brandon Stroy and Vaishali Sirkay – defended their records at the debate, and Stroy in particular pushed back on Poll’s criticism.
The four candidates are running for three open seats.
Stroy said board members don’t meet with union leaders without Superintendent Sandra McGonagle because those are the parties in labor negotiations.
“The board takes great pains to make sure that we are abiding by good governance standards,” Stroy said. “But in terms of the board being willing to meet with teachers and hear their con-cerns, our doors are always open for that.”
Poll said Stroy’s assertion that there is no problem doesn’t address the problem.
“I’ve been speaking quite a bit with our teachers and with quite a few families, and there is a real sense of not being heard at the district and board level,” Poll said.
Poll pointed out that he is the only candidate endorsed by the teachers’ union, led by president Allison White.
Stroy countered with his own endorsements from the Santa Clara County Democratic Party, Mayor Sally Meadows and several past board members.
“I’m not sure how the teachers’ union decided on how to make its endorsements,” Stroy said. “But I know what it didn’t do, and that’s reach out and talk to me and ask me about what I thought.”
In light of Poll’s comments, Johnson acknowledged that board members should take a look at how they communicate with employees and families.
Johnson said he’s had office hours and met with neighborhood groups in the past.
“Maybe it’s time to take a look at doing those things again, since it sounds like there’s a need,” Johnson said.
Poll also differentiated himself from his opponents as the only parent with children who will be enrolled in the district throughout the four-year term.
Stroy has a student in eighth grade at Blach Intermediate School, and Johnson and Sirkay’s children are older.
Johnson was first elected in 2016, and Sirkay was elected in 2018. They voted to appoint Stroy over Poll in March to fill a vacancy.
Poll works as senior director of engineering at GitHub and spent a decade at Google before that. Stroy is an attorney, PTA co-president and basketball coach at Blach.
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