{"id":492613,"date":"2026-10-11T12:54:07","date_gmt":"2026-10-11T12:54:07","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/492613\/"},"modified":"2026-10-11T12:54:07","modified_gmt":"2026-10-11T12:54:07","slug":"election-2026-san-jose-unified-school-board-candidates-aim-to-repair-communitys-broken-trust","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/492613\/","title":{"rendered":"Election 2026: San Jose Unified school board candidates aim to repair community’s broken trust"},"content":{"rendered":"

Families of San Jos\u00e9 Unified School District students were outraged this year when board members voted to close five elementary campuses<\/a>, setting up a battle for control of the board in this November\u2019s election.<\/p>\n

Now, several candidates are running for the five-member board\u2019s two open seats with a promise to restore the community\u2019s trust and stop additional campus closures. The board sets local policies, approves and monitors the district\u2019s budget and manages school facilities and resources, overseeing the public education of more than 24,000 students.<\/p>\n

The seats on the ballot represent neighborhoods<\/a> near Walter L. Bachrodt Elementary and Abraham Lincoln High in area 2 and those surrounding Canoas and Rachel Carson elementaries in area 4.<\/p>\n

The election comes less than a year after the district first announced plans to close or consolidate campuses<\/a> under the Schools of Tomorrow initiative, which was sparked by a 20% decline in student enrollment since 2019.<\/p>\n

The board voted 3-2 to approve the planned closure of Canoas, Empire Gardens, Gardner, Lowell and Terrell elementary schools, and the relocation of the Hammer Montessori magnet program at Galarza to Gardner Elementary, with board members Carla Collins, Teresa Castellanos and board president Jos\u00e9 Maga\u00f1a voting yes and members Brian Wheatley and Nicole Gribstad voting no.<\/p>\n

For months, families protested the closures<\/a>, arguing the fallout would disproportionately affect minority, low-income and special education students<\/a>. Many community members, including elected officials San Jos\u00e9 Mayor Matt Mahan and State Sen. Dave Cortese, voiced concerns about a lack of community input and urged the district to halt the closures.<\/p>\n

A Santa Clara County Civil Grand Jury report released in 2024<\/a> also called out the district\u2019s board for a lack of transparency and community engagement, particularly around public access to meetings. Despite community concern, the board voted unanimously to reject nearly all of the watchdog panel\u2019s findings.<\/a><\/p>\n

Area 4<\/p>\n

Trustee Wheatley announced his retirement in August, after 8 years on the board, which doesn\u2019t have term limits. The move set up a race for the seat between retired teacher Mary Grunthaner and Michael Melillo, a former trustee and data scientist. Both of whom, like Wheatley, oppose school closures.<\/p>\n

Grunthaner, who taught in San Jos\u00e9 Unified schools for 28 years, said the civil grand jury report inspired her to run \u2014 specifically critiques of accountability within the district and the school closures.<\/p>\n

\u201cThere are significant problems that need to be addressed and we need to pull together as a community to address them,\u201d Grunthaner said. \u201cThat\u2019s my major priority at this time, rebuilding that trust, rebuilding that relationship between families and the district leadership and the board.\u201d<\/p>\n

Her priorities include ensuring the safety of all students, staff and teachers, improving communication, holding district leadership accountable to the community and prioritizing students\u2019 mental health to ensure their academic success.<\/p>\n

Grunthaner is endorsed by the San Jos\u00e9 Teachers Association, the teachers union in the district, \u00a0the Santa Clara County Democratic Party and the Democrats for Public Education.<\/p>\n

Melillo has served on the board before; he was appointed in 2018 to fill a vacancy and lost re-election in 2018 to Wheatley. He said a gap in academic achievement is one of the reasons he is running.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019ve got some schools that are doing great, some schools in the middle and some schools that are below average again on the state dashboard,\u201d Melillo said. \u201cThose schools have not made any progress, despite the fact that they have been priorities for the district to improve the performance of those schools.\u201d<\/p>\n

Melillo said if elected, he would strengthen early literacy and math intervention, set measurable academic goals, regularly report progress to the community and prioritize special education programs.<\/p>\n

Like Grunthaner, he said he was disappointed by the rejection of the civil grand jury report and again by the Schools of Tomorrow process.<\/p>\n

\u201cThat didn\u2019t sit well with me that hundreds of children\u2019s lives this year were at stake for something that felt pretty arbitrary at the end,\u201d Melillo said.<\/p>\n

Melillo is endorsed by state assemblymembers Patrick Ahrens and Alex Lee. State Superintendent of Public Instruction candidate Richard Barrera also endorsed Melillo.<\/p>\n

Area 2<\/p>\n

Board president Maga\u00f1a faces Union School District special education teacher Tomara Hall and parent Carson Dance, who is president of the parent-teacher organization at Merritt Trace Elementary School. Maga\u00f1a voted for the school closures, which neither Hall or Dance support.<\/p>\n

Maga\u00f1a said that during his term, the board approved raises for teachers and staff, restricted student cellphone use and funded workforce housing for educators.<\/p>\n

He said that if reelected, he plans to prioritize improving students\u2019 academic achievement by raising 3rd grade reading rates, 8th grade math proficiency and college and career readiness across the district.<\/p>\n

Maga\u00f1a said the Schools of Tomorrow process \u201cwasn\u2019t as great as it could have been\u201d and that the board has worked to increase the community\u2019s voice in decision-making through forums and increasing feedback opportunities.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe know that there\u2019s always opportunities to get better,\u201d he said. \u201cOur hope is this\u2026 (will) also start to rebuild that trust from some of those folks who may have felt like the district didn\u2019t listen to them.\u201d<\/p>\n

Earlier this year, parents voiced concern over Maga\u00f1a\u2019s ties to charter schools. According to campaign finance records, he has received approximately $80,000 from pro-charter school groups over two election cycles, 2018 and 2022. He has also worked in charter schools.<\/p>\n

Maga\u00f1a said the donations don\u2019t dictate how he votes or prevent him from holding district-authorized charter schools accountable.<\/p>\n

\u201cI understand folks\u2019 concerns, but, as I\u2019ve said before, I stand on my record,\u201d Maga\u00f1a said.<\/p>\n

Maga\u00f1a is endorsed by San Jos\u00e9 Unified board members Carla Collins, Teresa Castellanos and Wheatley, as well as Superintendent of Public Instruction candidate Richard Barrera and state assemblymembers Patrick Ahrens and Alex Lee.<\/p>\n

Hall, who previously ran for the school board in 2020 and 2024, said she believes the board needs a teacher who understands the needs of students \u2014 especially low-income students, students with disabilities and English language learners.<\/p>\n

She said the five schools picked for closure disproportionately impacted those student groups and the district should have conducted an equity analysis on how the closures would have affected minority students.<\/p>\n

The district conducted an equity review when considering which campuses to close, but it focused on potential impacts to special education students, English learners, foster youth and low-income students eligible for free meals \u2014 not on racial demographics.<\/p>\n

\u201cI don\u2019t want to see any more schools closed,\u201d Hall said.\u201dMy hope is that people will vote for me as someone who will champion educational equity, who will fight for what students need and find the resources necessary to keep schools open.\u201d<\/p>\n

Hall said her top priorities include improving student success through mental health support, early intervention and small group instruction, advocating for additional school funding through state programs and repairing community trust by increasing transparency, improving communication and pushing for community input in decision-making. She said the board needs to make a stronger effort to include the families \u201cmost disenfranchised,\u201d \u2014 including low-income, minority and English-language learners.<\/p>\n

Hall is endorsed by several current and former school officials, including Santa Clara County Board of Education trustee Raeena Lari and former trustee Claudia Rossi.<\/p>\n

The parent running for the seat, Dance said the district hasn\u2019t met the community\u2019s expectations in recent years. As PTO president, she said she\u2019s helped solve problems on Merritt Trace\u2019s campus with funding, food service, transportation and other resources \u2014 all of which she said felt like problems created by district policies and priorities.<\/p>\n

She said the district\u2019s recent school closures and the 2024 civil grand jury report reveal the board\u2019s failure to include the community in important decision-making.<\/p>\n

\u201cI want people to feel like they are going to elect someone who can listen to them,\u201d Dance said. \u201cIt doesn\u2019t feel to me like we have trustees that are interested in being part of representative democracy.\u201d<\/p>\n

Dance said if elected, she would prioritize improving students\u2019 academic skills and closing the achievement gap, growing special programs, including multilingual programs and arts programs, fully staffing classrooms, focusing on reducing student absenteeism, re-evaluating technology in the classroom \u2014 especially for the district\u2019s youngest students \u2014 and ensuring community involvement in decisions.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Families of San Jos\u00e9 Unified School District students were outraged this year when board members voted to close…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":492614,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[29],"tags":[1400,184,7,8,400,15,204,4730,181,23,205,100,13,88,90,89,198,200],"class_list":["post-492613","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-san-jose","tag-2026-elections","tag-bay-area","tag-california","tag-california-news","tag-california-politics","tag-education","tag-election","tag-k-12-education","tag-latest-headlines","tag-local-news","tag-local-politics","tag-news","tag-politics","tag-san-jose","tag-san-jose-headlines","tag-san-jose-news","tag-santa-clara-county","tag-south-bay"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/492613","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=492613"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/492613\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/492614"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=492613"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=492613"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=492613"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}