Why Recall Trustee Conley?
She supported and approved millions in wasteful contracts.
Devon Conley voted to approve contract after contract that wasted taxpayer money on unnecessary and excessive expenditures. These included over $1,000,000 on executive coaching connected to the Superintendent’s personal network, $315,000 for “guided meditation” for administrators, $2,700,000 for superficial District Office renovations, over $9,000,000 on fences, locks and security cameras, and hundreds of thousands more on questionable consultants. Rather than investing in classrooms, teachers, or students, she prioritized spending that served the bureaucracy — not our kids.
She exercised zero fiscal oversight on the Superintendent's lavish credit-card spending.
While Superintendent Ayindé Rudolph racked up hundreds of thousands of dollars in travel, luxury hotels, fine dining, cigar bars and cable TV on his school district credit card, Trustee Conley paid no notice. As Board President, her duty was to ensure fiscal responsibility for the school district. Instead, she failed to ask basic questions or challenge inappropriate expenses, allowing the Superintendent’s abuse of the district credit card to continue over many years.
Incidentally: In 2009, MVWSD was warned by the Santa Clara County Civil Grand Jury of exactly this risk:
"There is a potential for abuse in K-8 and K-12 districts when those who report to superintendents approve credit card transactions and purchase orders made by the superintendent.”
“Credit card statements and a listing of disbursements should be provided to the Board for approval.”
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In response, MVWSD agreed that it is "advisable" for the Superintendent to submit monthly credit card statements to the Board of Trustees for approval. MVWSD also committed to have the Board review all Superintendent reimbursement requests prior to payment.
As Board President, Conley should have adhered to these best practices established by MVWSD in 2009, but she failed to do so.
Under her watch as President, the District is subject to an "Extraordinary Audit" for suspected fraud.
Due to serious concerns about financial mismanagement and potential fraud, the Santa Clara County Office of Education ordered an Extraordinary Audit of MVWSD — an extremely rare and serious step. This is not normal. It’s a direct result of fiscal negligence, lack of oversight, and poor leadership by Conley and the board majority she helped steer.
She routinely dismissed, ignored, or criticized the public when they brought concerns to her attention.
Parents and community members repeatedly raised concerns about spending, transparency, and district priorities — and were met with silence, deflection, or outright dismissal by Trustee Conley. Rather than engage with community members in good faith, she minimized legitimate concerns, downplayed waste as insignificant, and suggested critics simply didn’t understand how the system worked. Here are some examples of Trustee Conley’s deflection and gaslighting:
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After increased scrutiny over the $315,000 in “guided meditation” contracts she had approved, Conley commented that “I never checked the website....” and continued, “I’ll admit I was shocked by the website. Just as I wouldn’t invest in a chaplain, for the school district, for instance, I wouldn’t invest in sound and energy." Ignoring the fact that she did vote for the guided meditation contracts - 3 times over (Aug 2023, Nov 2023, June 2024).
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When challenged about the millions of dollars in professional coaching and meditation contracts, she tried to minimize the concern by responding that "all of our contracting together is 1.2% of the budget."
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When Superintendent Rudolph tried to force through an unpopular middle school schedule change (using dishonest justifications), and subsequently retracted the proposal due to community outrage, Conley defended the Superintendent’s actions as an “unforced error” - without acknowledging the immense stress and upset caused to the community by the Superintendent's authoritarian tactics.
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When parents upset about the middle school schedule proposal handed out flyers to encourage students and parents to attend and speak at Board meetings, Conley criticized parents for their outreach, with no acknowledgement of the reason for parents' frustration - the radical schedule change being forced through without community input.
She is one of the architects of the financially disastrous $140 Million staff housing project.
Trustee Conley is one of the most vocal proponents and supporters of the MVWSD staff housing project — a plan that was supposed to cost $56 Million and provide affordable housing for many teachers, which has now ballooned in cost to $140 Million and is accessible only to a small minority. While MVWSD gleefully promoted the Superintendent as a “thought leader in affordable housing,” the Board and Staff ignored feasibility guidelines and failed to do their homework on operating costs, rental rates, or staff eligibility. While many are responsible for this financial debacle, Conley bears responsibility as one of the main architects of the plan.
She supported the Superintendent's strong-arm confrontations with the City of Mountain View.
During Conley’s tenure as Board President, MVWSD became embroiled in hostile, public disputes with the City of Mountain View over joint management of parks and sharing of Shoreline tax revenue. Instead of seeking collaboration, Conley backed the Superintendent’s combative approach, leading to a breakdown in trust and cooperation with city leaders — the very people we rely on for shared community planning and support for our schools.
She championed early renewal of the Superintendent's contract and expanded his travel privileges, despite emerging evidence of fiscal abuse and public objections.
Even as community concerns mounted and evidence of waste piled up, Conley led the charge to renew the Superintendent’s contract 1 year early, including expansion of his travel privileges. This included allowing him to travel to far away conferences without Board approval — all while he was already under scrutiny. Her loyalty to Superintendent came at the expense of public trust and fiscal responsibility.
She put her name as author on an article written by others.
​Conley voted to approve $180,000 in public funds for Woodberry Associates, a Washington D.C. PR firm whose main job was to promote the Superintendent and district leadership. Instead of directing that money to improve classrooms or student programs, she supported using it for image and reputation management, including authoring an op-ed “glow piece” in the MV Voice (written by Woodberry/MVWSD, but with Conley’s name as author) that painted a misleading picture of success while real problems went unaddressed.
She has refused to take responsibility for her actions or acknowledge any mistakes.
Even in the face of overwhelming public concern and an audit for suspected fraud, Trustee Conley has refused to admit any mistakes. She has doubled down on failed decisions and never accepted responsibility for her role in the district’s financial dysfunction.
Accountability starts with humility — and so far, Conley has shown none.