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Endorses Yassin

The race

This school board election is on the November 3, 2026 general-election ballot in Santa Clara Unified School District (Santa Clara County). Four trustee-area seats are involved, per the Registrar, but only one is a contest:

The whole board, appointees included, shares one recent documented decision: in 2025 the board voted 6–0 to appoint Dr. Damon Wright as superintendent on a roughly four-year contract at a $370,000 base salary, per Citizen Portal's meeting report; Muirhead seconded the motion, and Canova and Fairchild voted yes (Ratermann's consent-calendar votes with the same trustees are likewise recorded in the board's published minutes).

The candidates

### Trustee Area 1 (contested)

Jim Canova — incumbent. First elected to this board in 1992, per San José Spotlight's 2022 reporting, which noted he won that year's Area 1 seat unopposed; he currently serves as board vice president. He is running for a term that would extend a board tenure past three and a half decades. Credit: unmatched institutional knowledge of a 15,000-student district, and a documented willingness to dissent inside the boardroom — reporting on the board's 2020 leadership vote records him airing concerns about a colleague's conduct toward staff before voting his conscience. Dirt: the DSA guide claims Canova works as "an AI lobbyist" and says the district "should not have an AI lobbyist in its leadership ranks." That occupational claim appears in the DSA guide only; we found no independent confirmation of it in this pass, so it is unproven and not priced. What is proven is longevity itself: 34 years is not a scandal, but it is a fact voters are entitled to weigh, and no 2026 platform, questionnaire, or campaign site for Canova was found in this pass.

Kamal Yassin — challenger. His campaign site presents a district parent who volunteers as a Santa Clara PAL soccer coach and argues for drawing "on lessons from the past to craft a brighter future, one where every student has the freedom and the support to reach their full potential." Teachers quoted on his site call him "steady, practical, and collaborative"; parents quote his "energy, openness, and a willingness to hear directly from parents, teachers, staff, and students." He carries published labor backing (IBEW Local 332's guide and OE3's list name him for Area 1; the South Bay Labor Council's page also carries his name, confusingly filed under an Area 3 heading alongside Fairchild's, a listing error we note rather than rely on). Credit: an active, parent-facing campaign against a 34-year incumbent — he is showing up, which in this batch of races is not universal. Dirt: none found. First-time candidate — unproven, not a demerit.

### Appointed in lieu — compact files

Vickie Fairchild (Area 3). A sitting trustee, re-elected in 2022 for a second term per San José Spotlight. Both columns: Credit — she voted with the board to hire Superintendent Wright in 2025 and carries the South Bay Labor Council's open endorsement. Con — in the board's 2020 leadership debate, a fellow trustee stated on the record that she had "had to apologize" repeatedly for Fairchild's behavior toward staff, consultants and community members, and voted against her vice presidency on that ground; that is one colleague's stated account in a news report, printed here as such, not as an adjudicated finding. She takes her seat by appointment in lieu; there is no vote to call.

Andrew O'Dea Ratermann (Area 4). Board clerk in the current officer lineup, per the district's organizational-meeting report; his motions and seconds run through the board's 2026 consent minutes, voting with the 7–0 majority. No individual platform or controversy was found in this pass. He takes his seat by appointment in lieu; there is no vote to call.

Jodi Muirhead (Area 6). A multi-term trustee (San José Spotlight reported her winning a third term in 2022), former board president, and a CSBA Region 20 delegate in 2026. She seconded the motion to appoint Superintendent Wright. No individual platform or controversy was found in this pass. She takes her seat by appointment in lieu; there is no vote to call.

Pros and cons

Record gaps

Searches run: the Registrar's qualified list (roster, areas, appointed-in-lieu annotations); Yassin's campaign site (platform and endorsements as presented there); IBEW, OE3 and South Bay Labor Council endorsement lists (including the Labor Council's Area 3/Area 1 filing confusion, noted in text); San José Spotlight's 2022 Santa Clara Unified reporting (Canova's 1992 first election, Muirhead's terms, Fairchild's 2022 re-election); Citizen Portal's superintendent-appointment report (the 6–0 Wright vote and Muirhead's second); the board's published minutes via HighBond (Ratermann's clerk role and votes); the Santa Clara Mail's 2020 leadership-vote report (the Fairchild conduct account, attributed in text); the DSA guide's Santa Clara section (the "AI lobbyist" claim — uncorroborated and labeled unproven above). No campaign site or questionnaire was found for Canova, Fairchild, Ratermann or Muirhead, and no Palo Alto/Santa Clara newsroom profile of the 2026 Area 1 race was found beyond the endorsement lists.

OUR CALL

Trustee Area 1 — endorse Kamal Yassin. Unproven-but-aligned: a present, parent-facing challenger with named community support, against an incumbent whose file is a start date — 1992 — and no stated 2026 case for continuing. We do not price the DSA's unproven lobbyist claim; we do not need it. Rotation after 34 years is a voter's judgment this page is comfortable recommending on the documented record alone. Trustee Areas 3, 4 and 6 — no call. Fairchild, Ratermann and Muirhead are appointed in lieu of election; there is no contest for voters 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 - 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 - Kamal Yassin for SCUSD Area 1 Trustee, 2026 (campaign site) — https://vote4kamal.com/ - Citizen Portal — Santa Clara Unified names Dr. Damon Wright superintendent; board approves four-year contract — https://citizenportal.ai/articles/6260120/California/School-Districts/Santa-Clara-Unified/Santa-Clara-Unified-names-Dr-Damon-Wright-superintendent-board-approves-four-year-contract - San José Spotlight — Election 2022: Candidates vie for Santa Clara, Oak Grove school board seats (Canova, Muirhead, Fairchild history) — https://sanjosespotlight.com/election-2022-candidates-vy-for-santa-clara-oak-grove-school-board-seats/ - IBEW Local 332 — Voter Guide (Yassin endorsement) — https://www.ibew332.org/voter-guide - Silicon Valley DSA — 2026 November Voter Guide, Santa Clara Unified section ("AI lobbyist" claim, labeled unproven in text) — https://docs.google.com/document/u/1/d/e/2PACX-1vQAtAN3xtKSl7Pkx34nNpJyypPlm_Zga45PZHEYVk6jNpwxcp0GDBFrLsU9wjTjliya6ZP0OrMkljEt/pub

Election result — November 4, 2026

Result pending. No verified call (Associated Press or official) as of November 4, 2026. This page will be updated when the race is called or certified. The original article above is unchanged.

AI-assisted article — but the sources are human, and the facts are very real.

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