As one Cupertino Union School District candidate inches toward a win, alarm bells are sounding among LGBTQ+ advocates worried about his stance on inclusive curriculum.
Parent Long Jiao’s apparent second-place finish for one of the two open seats on the five-person school board has families worried about what it could mean for queer students and faculty. Jiao has about 21.1% of the vote as of Thursday, behind top vote-getter and sitting board member Sylvia Leong with about 35.9%. Lakshmi Sharma is trailing Jiao, with about 19.3% of the vote.
Votes are still being tallied, but some community members said Jiao’s lead is troubling because of his alignment with Curriculum Integrity — a parent group whose concerns over gender identity and queer topics in the classroom led to the investigation of a nonbinary transitional kindergarten teacher. The teacher, who San José Spotlight chose not to name over safety concerns, is on leave while the investigation determines whether they went beyond district-approved curriculum by having a poster with different pronouns and a book showing boys wearing skirts.