Three members of the Santa Clara school board will return to their seats without appearing on the November ballot.

Trustees for the Santa Clara Unified School District (SCUSD) unanimously voted to certify the election results for unopposed board candidates. Those candidates are sitting trustees Vickie Fairchild, Jodi Muirhead and Andrew Ratermann.

The Oct. 8 certification is procedural. California Education Code requires Santa Clara County to cancel school board elections with only one candidate, and to appoint them instead. Doing so saves the county money, but the county was unable to calculate how much before the time of publication.

Competition for board seats ebbs and flows. Each returning trustee has faced challenging and uncontested elections before. Muirhead, who will enter her fourth term, ran competitively to represent Trustee Area 2 in 2014 and 2018. She then ran unopposed in 2022.

One school board race remains. Trustee Jim Canova is fending off a challenge from Kamal Yassin, a software developer who previously worked for Google. The two are running to represent Trustee Area 1. This election marks the first time Canova faces competition in more than a decade.

“I respect the service of the board,” Yassin wrote to the Voice, “but I also believe long-serving institutions benefit from fresh eyes. My opponent has served on the board since 1992. I think it is fair for voters to ask what a new voice can bring to the table.”

Yassin said he wants community members to engage with the board earlier in its decision-making processes — particularly as the district navigates a downward trend in property tax revenue. SCUSD’s teacher union endorses Yassin, who said layoffs should be a last-resort effort to solve the district’s financial issues.

Canova, who earned endorsements from state Rep. Ro Khanna and Assembly Member Alex Lee, touts his role in developing the Don Callejon Arts and Design School. In his candidate statement to the county, he wrote of his commitment to protecting the Alviso and First Street communities.

New Valley High School

Trustees shut down emerging conversations about New Valley High School, allowing plans for a new building on the Wilson Educational Options campus to move forward.

A district report shared the architectural and structural plans for the building are underway. But Teresa O’Neill, a former trustee, raised concerns during public comment about the project’s efficiency amid SCUSD’s declining enrollment.

Sitting trustees voted 5-2 to advance development on Wilson’s campus as planned, with Canova and Muirhead in opposition. They wanted to consider moving New Valley into Kathleen MacDonald High School, which faces a 305-seat vacancy this academic year.

“It’s just not reasonable to start fresh and push this down the road,” said Trustee Michele Ryan. “That’s what’s been happening for way too long, and it’s just not right for these students.”

New Valley is an alternative school that has operated out of portable classrooms behind the district office for more than two decades.The campus lacks amenities others in the district provide, such as student labs and a gymnasium.

When voters approved Measure BB in 2018, they authorized the district to seek bonds for new classrooms — some of which will fund construction on Wilson’s campus, where New Valley originally operated out of.

Trustees approved the district’s master plan for New Valley in January. SCUSD anticipates opening the new building in 2029.

Chris Ramirez is a California Local News Fellow.