First-time school board candidate raises $17,000 for campaign, more than two competitors

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BY BRADEN CARTWRIGHT
Daily Post Staff Writer

A teacher’s aide is leading two advanced math advocates in fundraising for the Palo Alto school board.

Linda Henigin raised $17,620 from 49 donors through June 30, campaign finance forms show.

Henigin is followed by parent Avery Wang with $14,322 from 43 donors and John Craig with $9,917 from 32 donors.

Wang and Craig are running against Henigin for two open seats. They’ve donated $1,000 to each other’s campaign and both received $100 from board member Rowena Chiu, who has often voted in the minority since she was elected in November 2024.

Wang and Craig reported donations from several critics of the district’s direction — Edith Cohen ($500), who is suing the district for paying Superintendent Don Austin $596,802 to resign; Shailo Rao ($107), who attempted to recall board member Shounak Dharap; Brian Conrad ($106), a Stanford professor who wants to make math classes more rigorous; and Allyson Rosen ($104), a VA psychologist who has urged the district to discuss depression more.

Donor’s history

Rosen has been at odds with two of Henigin’s donors: former school board member Jennifer DiBrienza ($500) and parent Nana Chancellor ($500).

DiBrienza and Chancellor advised Councilwoman Julie Lythcott-Haims against appointing Rosen’s to the city’s Human Relations Commission in October.

“She is one of the math acceleration people. She is very unsympathetic toward Gaza,” DiBrienza said in a group chat.

“She is the worst!!” Chancellor declared.

Henegin’s donors

Henigin received donations from mental health advocates, including Stanford pediatric psychiatry professor Shashank Joshi ($100) and Youth Community Services Executive Director Mora Oomen ($100).

Santa Clara County Board of Education member Jessica Speiser ($500), 2024 candidate Chris Colohan ($1,000) and Human Relations Commissioner Mary Stimmler ($500) also donated to Henigin’s campaign.

Wang’s donors

Wang has seen a boost from the tech world, with donations from several engineers: Lexiang Ye ($100), Luby Gao ($106), Dan Shi ($106), Cheng Zhou ($100), Nishant Deshpande ($100), Sandeep Mirchandani ($100), Kun Zhang ($100), Shrileckha Chaithanya ($106) and Vish Ponnampalam ($211).

Wang founded Shazam and now works at Apple.

Wang also received donations from donations from Ethnic Studies critic Leor Melamedov ($180) and Marek Albostza ($1,000), who successfully sued the district for holding students back in math.