Michael Dekshenieks, a candidate for the District Board of Trustees on the Nov. 3 ballot, is running unopposed. In Area D, incumbent Trustee Sathvik Nori dropped out in August and endorsed Dekshenieks, his opponent, though Nori’s name will remain on the ballot.
Area D includes central Menlo Park, North Fair Oaks, Atherton, and a part of Redwood City.
Dekshenieks is a Navy veteran, a tech executive at software engineering company EPAM Systems, and a longtime Menlo Park resident who had two children graduate from M-A. He volunteers as an assistant coach for the M-A girls lacrosse team, where his daughter played, and is involved in Students First, a parent group pushing to restore honors courses. In addition to Nori, State Sen. Josh Becker, San Mateo County Supervisor Ray Mueller, and Trustee Rich Ginn have endorsed Dekshenieks.
On his campaign website, Dekshenieks lists five priorities: student safety, academic excellence and opportunity, responsible financial leadership, data-driven policymaking, and community engagement.
In an interview with the M-A Chronicle, Dekshenieks explained that he wants trustees to question financial staff more openly, including about why the District reports a structural deficit while its property tax revenue rises and enrollment falls. “My biggest concern is I don’t see, at least publicly, a lot of questions being asked,” he said. He hopes to facilitate more open conversation among trustees to work through these concerns.
Dekshenieks emphasized productive communication with the public as well. “If we’re going to ask for the input, let’s make sure we work it into the policies and the decisions that get made, not just ask for their input and then ignore it,” he said.
Just as Nori is a proponent of tracking and AS honors classes, Dekshenieks also supports bringing back discontinued honors courses to promote uniformity across the District.
Carlmont is currently the only school in the District that offers tracked English classes in freshman year. Dekshenieks wants to reintroduce the honors freshman English that the other SUHSD campuses, including M-A, dropped. In alignment with his volunteer work with the Students First platform, he also seeks to restore honors science and world language offerings, in addition to the current AP classes for those subjects. “I think that what we should be looking for is consistency throughout the District,” he said.
He also rejected the argument that mixed classes are necessary to bring students from different backgrounds together. “I don’t think that forcing a curriculum track on students is the right way to build the community,” he said. “Because you’re basically saying that that’s more important than education.” Instead, he claims that extracurriculars and other non-academic activities should foster connection among school communities.
As a former Navy officer, Dekshenieks believes he would bring leadership skills and empathy to the Board. “[My military position] was a great foundation for understanding people and understanding where people come from, and then how do you motivate them to be part of a team,” he said.
Dekshenieks has combined these skills with an interest to help students by coaching lacrosse. After almost stepping down from coaching once his children graduated M-A, he was asked at the last minute to help preserve the team. “The kids make it motivating, and you get to walk on campus and see the energy, and see all the things going on, and you see the level of engagement,” he said. “That’s inspiring.”
While it’s unclear whether Dekshenieks will continue coaching if he assumes a position on the Board, he feels as though his connection to the community was part of his decision to run in the first place. “I’ve been involved as a parent and as a coach, and just a member of the community for almost 10 years now, and I just felt like it was time to potentially come in and help,” he said.
Dekshenieks, despite being the only candidate actually seeking a position on the Board, must still win the popular vote against Nori to be elected.
