By Khalida Sarwari
Campbell voters elected two incumbents and two newcomers to the elementary and high school district governing boards on election night.
Michael Snyder, a 42-year-old third-grade teacher at Ellis Elementary School in Sunnyvale, and Juliet Tiffany-Morales, a 41-year-old research analyst and board member since 2008, garnered the most votes for two spots on the Campbell Union School District.
Snyder received 11,178 votes (or 41 percent of the vote) and Tiffany-Morales received 8,291 votes (30 percent). Incumbent Leah Read failed to win re- election.
Diane Gordon, a 51-year-old insurance professional, was re-elected to the Campbell Union High School District for a third term. She received 17,633 votes (24 percent).
“I’m pleased to have been re-elected to serve the people of our community, although the reality is I would have continued to work with the community anyway,” said Gordon, who added that this would be her final term.
Among her immediate goals, Gordon said, is establishing a foundation to raise money for the school district and finding ways to strengthening and expanding the district’s Advancement Via Individual Determination program, a college readiness system for underserved students.
“It’s been very instrumental in helping a lot of kids get into college,” Gordon said.
The second vacant spot on the board went to newcomer Kalen Gallagher, a 29-year-old former teacher and education entrepreneur. He garnered 21,901 votes (30 percent).
Gordon and Gallagher edged out Linda Goytia and incumbent Rick Costanzo for the two open positions on the board.
“I think the community stood up and showed how serious they were about tackling the issues that we talked about in the campaign,” Gallagher said. “I’m excited to get started.”
Gallagher said he plans to tap into the district’s alumni network, as well as the network of neighbors and parents in the community to begin implementing programs that address some of those issues, such as high dropout rates, low test scores and outdated technology in classrooms.
“As I went around door-to-door for the past three months, those are the issues that came up a lot,” he said.
There was no election held for the members of the Campbell City Council that were up for re-election this year as the two vacant seats were uncontested. In August, Mayor Mike Kotowski and Councilman Jason Baker were appointed to serve another four years on the council, saving the city $51,000 it would have spent on a formal election process.
Both Kotowski, 71, and Baker, 40, were seeking their second and final four-year terms.
Gordon, Gallagher top Costanzo, Goytia in race for Campbell high school board seats
