Jerry Hill, CA Senator, and Marc Berman, Assemblymember endorse Phil for MVLA!
Have you met Phil?
Phil's deep experience and knowledge benefit our local public schools.
Phil Faillace was first elected to the MVLA board in 1996, having served on the LASD board for 13 years.
Phil Faillace, Ph.D, Trustee MVLA
Phil's impressive background includes a B.A. in Mathematics from Princeton, a M.Sc. in Mathematics from Stanford, and a Ph.D. in Mathematical Logic from Oxford, where he was a Fulbright Scholar. He is a member of both the Phi Beta Kappa and Sigma XI honor societies and has been the recipient of several prestigious awards from NSF, NDEA and a Woodrow Wilson Fellowship.
Phil began his professional career teaching Math as a post-doc at Stanford. But was lured to Silicon Valley's tech industry with a consultancy at Intel to develop software and firmware for the world’s first floating-point numeric accelerator on a chip. He left Stanford to form his own company that provided both technical and management expertise in computer science for the next 25 years and led to a third career as an expert witness helping to resolve intellectual property disputes.
Phil is a founder of the Los Altos Educational Foundation and was a Los Altos School District trustee for 13 years, until he was elected to the Mountain View Los Altos High School District's governing board, on which he is serving his fifth term.
He currently serves as the board chair at CHAC in Mountain View, (Community Health Awareness Council). CHAC's mission is to improve lives and strengthen communities through access to comprehensive and culturally responsive mental health services in northern Santa Clara County.
Current public education challenges.
With the current challenges facing the district as it adapts to the new constraints of the coronavirus pandemic, we need Phil's expertise and knowledge more than ever.
As Phil said in a recent news article, "This is not the time for me to abandon the district I love,"
What is Phil's experience worth?
Phil's contributions are priceless
Here, Phil describes his continuing contributions and oversight of the MVLA district over six consecutive terms on the board of trustees and why he is running for his seventh:
- I am devoted to an unremitting commitment to equity, whereby all students get the support – emotional and intellectual as well as academic – they need to realize their full potential;
- That commitment, in turn translates to excellence in education and educational outcomes, giving our MVLA students a strong start in their post-secondary education and careers.
- I am committed to sustaining the strongest financial position and the highest credit rating possible for any school district in California, which in turn, translates to high property values in our District;
- I have overseen multiple MVLA school district bonds, major site improvements and investments in infrastructure;
- I continue to support expanded course offerings and programs from which students can customize their education to match their interests, career goals, ambitions; and appetite for challenging homework;
- I support and continue to advocate for the expansion and increasing enrollment and success of Latinx and socio-economically disadvantaged students in honors and Advanced Placement courses, as a result of focused support programs starting in 9th grade;
- I have championed an increased emphasis on emotional wellness and mental health counseling across our campuses, which is supported by a partnership with the non-profit Community Health Awareness Council (CHAC)*, and the creation of full-time positions for therapists, overseen by the recently created position of Wellness Director;
- I support programs that enable socio-economically disadvantaged students to acquire social capital through summer internships and shadowing days at high tech companies;
- I encourage the active, ongoing engagement of the Board and educators at each campus in sustaining and enhancing a culture of inclusion, to make all students, of all ethnicities and any other demographic characterization, feel at home and valued, with a strong sense of belonging;
- I support more programs to involve Latinx parents in the schooling of their children, including PIQE to empower them as their children’s advocates, and DELAC for them to advise the Board on how best to meet the educational needs of English language learners;
- I voted to support MVLA’s financial participation in County Supervisor Joe Simitian’s initiative to build teacher housing on county-owned land;
- I have also strongly supported a vast variety of extra-curricular activities, including school sports and community based club sports, athletics, and community service clubs;
My family has deep connections to all three local school districts, LASD, MVWSD and MVLA. Both of my daughters attended our local public elementary and high schools, which is what led to my involvement. I served on the LASD Board for thirteen years before my election to the MVLA Board. As a teacher, my wife Sheila taught at the MVWSD's Theuerkauf School for many years, giving me strong insights into the Mountain View Whisman School District.
I have invested over 37 years of active support and service to our local school districts, non-profits and educational foundations. The return has been so rewarding that I look forward hopefully to your allowing me to invest four more.
Thank you, Phil Faillace
