← Election Series · Down-ballot coverage · California
No endorsement
The race
Los Gatos-Saratoga Union High School District elects its board by trustee area for the first time in 2026, after the board unanimously approved the switch from at-large elections (to avoid California Voting Rights Act litigation, and after parents said the board's handling of former Superintendent Bill W. Sanderson left them feeling unrepresented, per San José Spotlight). The board adopted Map 106c in spring 2026 after five public hearings, per The Saratoga Falcon. Three seats are on the November 3, 2026 ballot, per the Santa Clara County Registrar of Voters' Final Qualified List:
- Area 2 — contested. Sangeeta Balachandran Mallik vs. Ishaan Prasad.
- Area 3 — NOT a contest. Shawn K. Mortensen was the only qualified candidate and was appointed in lieu of election under Education Code §5328. No call is made.
- Area 4 — NOT a contest. Steven Chen, the incumbent board president, was the only qualified candidate and was appointed in lieu of election. No call is made.
Trustees Katherine Tseng and Theresa Bond remain on the board as at-large members until 2028 under the transition, per the Falcon.
The candidates
### Area 2
Sangeeta Balachandran Mallik — No campaign site, platform, questionnaire response, endorsement, or news mention was located for Mallik in this pass. Unproven; record insufficient (documented below).
Ishaan Prasad — No campaign site, platform, questionnaire response, endorsement, or news mention was located for Prasad in this pass. Unproven; record insufficient (documented below).
### Area 3 — appointed in lieu of election
Shawn K. Mortensen — Credit: Mortensen is a sitting trustee (he was on the board during the trustee-area transition, when the Falcon noted none of the then-current trustees — Steve Chen, Misty Davies, and Shawn Mortensen — would be pitted against each other in 2026). Dirt: None located. He takes the Area 3 seat without a vote because no opponent filed; no campaign platform was located or needed for an unopposed appointment.
### Area 4 — appointed in lieu of election
Steven Chen — Credit: Chen, the board president, is a retired Los Gatos High School mathematics teacher who was first elected in 2022 on a platform of "a balanced and educated perspective on all matters before the board," with a stated focus on support services, mental health, and alternative paths for struggling students, per The Saratoga Falcon's profile of the incoming board. As president he led the board through the unanimous trustee-area transition. Dirt: None located. He takes the Area 4 seat without a vote because no opponent filed.
Pros and cons
- Mallik — Pro: None documented. Con: No findable record — no positions on curriculum, the district's bond measure (a Los Gatos–Saratoga bond is on this same ballot, per the Registrar's notices), parental rights, or finances.
- Prasad — Pro: None documented. Con: No findable record.
- Mortensen (appointed) — Pro: Sitting trustee; continuity. Con: Never faced an opponent for this area seat.
- Chen (appointed) — Pro: Board president; a career educator from the district's own flagship school; led an orderly election-system transition. Con: Appointed in lieu — voters in Area 4 get no say this cycle.
Record gaps
Searches run for every candidate (October 25, 2026): Registrar's Final Qualified List and legal notices (roster; areas; appointed-in-lieu status; the district's bond notice); The Saratoga Falcon's map and board coverage (transition mechanics; Chen's and Mortensen's incumbency); San José Spotlight's West Valley election-process story (why the district switched; the Sanderson trust context); GoodParty.org pages; candidate-name web searches for Mallik and Prasad (campaign sites, questionnaires, endorsements, news) — both came up empty, and the Falcon's and Spotlight's 2026 coverage names no Area 2 campaign. The insufficient-record verdict for Area 2 is earned and documented: two candidates, zero published positions found anywhere we looked.
OUR CALL
Area 2 — no endorsement (insufficient record). Neither candidate published anything a voter can weigh. We do not endorse names we cannot source — and an Area 2 voter who wants a basis for choosing will have to get it from the candidates directly, because neither gave the public one in any source we could find.
Areas 3 and 4 — no call. Mortensen and Chen were appointed in lieu of election; there are no contests to decide.
For the complete Election 2026 breakdown — every race, claim by claim — see the full coverage on our website. Vote early. Research your candidates. Choose the best moderates, whatever their party — no extremism from either side. And encourage your friends and family to do the same. --- Sources — bulleted with URLs. - Santa Clara County Registrar of Voters — Final Qualified List of Local Eligible Candidates, Nov 3 2026 General Election — https://files.santaclaracounty.gov/exjcpb1296/2026-09/qualified-list-of-local-candidates-9-28-26.pdf?VersionId=CM6jbwAVTLFIjLakj6hJku2l9KPAIxli - The Saratoga Falcon — School board finalizes district map for new trustee elections (Map 106c; 2026 areas; Tseng/Bond holdover terms) — https://saratogafalcon.org/29547/news/school-board-finalizes-district-map-for-new-trustee-elections/ - San José Spotlight — West Valley school district changes election process (unanimous switch; Sanderson trust context) — https://sanjosespotlight.com/west-valley-school-district-changes-election-process/ - The Saratoga Falcon — Three newest district board members see potential for positive change (Chen profile) — https://saratogafalcon.org/17054/news/the-three-newest-district-board-members-see-potential-for-positive-change/ - GoodParty.org — Los Gatos-Saratoga Joint Union High School Board candidates — https://goodparty.org/elections/ca/los-gatos-saratoga-joint-union-school-district/position/local-school-board AI-assisted article — but the sources are human, and the facts are very real.