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Incumbent Chris Thomsen, a Menlo Park resident and an elected member of the Sequoia Union High School District governing board, was the only candidate to file papers to run for the board seat he currently holds, according the San Mateo County Elections Office.
He was first elected to the board in 2009 and won a second term in 2013.
The Nov. 6 election is the first since the Sequoia board divided the school district into five voting areas. Thomsen lives in Trustee Area D, which includes some neighborhoods of central Menlo Park west of U.S. 101 as well as North Fair Oaks and parts of Atherton and Woodside.
Board members must live in the area they represent and are elected by the voters residing in that specific area.
Board member Allen Weiner, whose seat is not up for election this year, lives in Area C, which includes West Menlo Park, Ladera, Portola Valley and Woodside.
There is no one currently on the board who lives in the Belle Haven neighborhood of Menlo Park or in East Palo Alto. The first election for that area, Area E, is scheduled for 2020.
Voting by area
Previously, all voters in the district could vote to fill all five seats on the board. This at-large system tended to favor candidates with the resources to campaign districtwide for the seat.
The new system separates and concentrates voters into defined areas, increasing the likelihood that voters in an area that is heavily Hispanic, for example, will elect a Hispanic candidate to the board.
The new system also meets the requirements of the state’s Voting Rights Act and reduces the likelihood of lawsuits over claims of discrimination, as was threatened against the district by the Mexican American Legal Defense and Educational Fund.
With the board shifting from at-large elections to elections by voting area, the board went out of its way in 2016 to choose a district map that, in the opinion of the board majority, minimizes perceptions that link a board member living in a particular area to a particular school and school community.
At the time, several board members made comments to the effect that they were giving up at-large voting reluctantly, noting that they feel responsible for every student in the district.
By Dave Boyce
By Dave Boyce
By Dave Boyce