Sylvia Leong

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Sylvia Leong

Nonpartisan

Cupertino Union School District Board of Education At-large

Tenure

Present officeholder

Term ends

2028

Report an officeholder change

Elections and appointments

Last elected

November 5, 2024

Education

Bachelor's

University of California, Berkeley

Personal

Profession

Consultant

Contact

Campaign website

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Sylvia Leong is an at-large member of the Cupertino Union School District Board of Education in California. Her current term ends on December 8, 2028.

Leong ran for re-election for an at-large seat of the Cupertino Union School District Board of Education in California. She won in the general election on November 5, 2024.

Leong completed Ballotpedia's Candidate Connection survey in 2024. Click here to read the survey answers.

Biography

Sylvia Leong earned a bachelor's degree from the University of California, Berkeley. Her career experience includes working as a college admissions consultant.

Leong has been affiliated with the following organizations:

• Asian Pacific Islander School Boards Association
• Asian Pacific American Leadership Institute
• California School Boards Association
• Santa Clara County School Boards Association
• International China Concern
• Asian Women Empowered
• League of Women Voters
• Silicon Valley Asian Pacific American Democratic Party

Elections

2024

See also: Cupertino Union School District, California, elections (2024)

General election

General election for Cupertino Union School District Board of Education At-large (2 seats)

The following candidates ran in the general election for Cupertino Union School District Board of Education At-large on November 5, 2024.

		Candidate	%	Votes
✔		Sylvia Leong (Nonpartisan)	35.8	29,431
✔		Long Jiao (Nonpartisan)	21.1	17,316
		Lakshmi Sharma (Nonpartisan)	19.3	15,887
		Doug Kunz (Nonpartisan)	17.3	14,184
	Submit photo	Nisar Ali (Nonpartisan)	3.4	2,831
	Submit photo	Rimi Khan (Nonpartisan)	3.1	2,534

---

	Incumbents are bolded and underlined. The results have been certified. Source	Total votes: 82,183
= candidate completed the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection survey.
If you are a candidate and would like to tell readers and voters more about why they should vote for you, complete the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection Survey.
Do you want a spreadsheet of this type of data? Contact our sales team.

Endorsements

To view Leong's endorsements as published by their campaign, click here. Ballotpedia did not identify endorsements for Leong in this election.

2020

See also: Cupertino Union School District, California, elections (2020)

General election

General election for Cupertino Union School District Board of Education At-large (2 seats)

Incumbent Sylvia Leong and incumbent Phyllis Vogel defeated Sudha Kasamsetty and Wil Fluewelling in the general election for Cupertino Union School District Board of Education At-large on November 3, 2020.

		Candidate	%	Votes
✔		Sylvia Leong (Nonpartisan)	37.9	34,712
✔		Phyllis Vogel (Nonpartisan)	26.7	24,466
		Sudha Kasamsetty (Nonpartisan)	24.1	22,139
		Wil Fluewelling (Nonpartisan)	11.3	10,360

---

	Incumbents are bolded and underlined. The results have been certified. Source	Total votes: 91,677
= candidate completed the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection survey.
If you are a candidate and would like to tell readers and voters more about why they should vote for you, complete the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection Survey.
Do you want a spreadsheet of this type of data? Contact our sales team.

Endorsements

To view Leong's endorsements in the 2020 election, please click here.

Campaign themes

2024

Video for Ballotpedia

Video submitted to Ballotpedia Released September 13, 2024

Ballotpedia survey responses

See also: Ballotpedia's Candidate Connection

Sylvia Leong completed Ballotpedia's Candidate Connection survey in 2024. The survey questions appear in bold and are followed by Leong's responses. Candidates are asked three required questions for this survey, but they may answer additional optional questions as well.

Expand all | Collapse all

Who are you? Tell us about yourself.

Sylvia Leong has been serving on the CUSD board for the past six years, and served as Board President in 2023. She serves on multiple district committees, including the Budget Advisory Committee, Facilities Master Planning Committee, Enrollment Committee.

She earned her B.A. in Communications from U.C. Berkeley, and a Masters in Governance from the California School Board Association. Professionally, she has spent the majority of her career in education, with over 20 years professional experience in college admissions, working at USC, Carnegie Mellon University, and UC Berkeley. She also has classroom experience, teaching English as a Foreign Language in China, and working several years as a substitute teacher in CUSD. She brings these perspectives with her as she governs the district.

Ms. Leong is a long-time parent volunteer in CUSD and FUHSD schools, serving in roles like Walking School Bus, PTO President, Grad Committee Chair, and Athletic Boosters. She is a founding member of the Unhoused Students Advocacy Group through the County School Boards Association, where she is advocating for a consistent standard of care for all unhoused students i the county. Her service comes out of a deep knowledge and investment in CUSD students, teachers, parents and community.

In 2022, she was elected to the Board of Directors for the California School Boards Association, a state-wide advocacy organization for public education, where she helps drive policy and governance training.

Please list below 3 key messages of your campaign. What are the main points you want voters to remember about your goals for your time in office?

• HOLISTIC, FUTURE-MINDED EDUCATION: Ensure innovative, holistic education for our students - balancing our academic excellence with a strong social and emotional education for student success. Preparing our students to be critical thinkers, inclusive collaborators and creative innovators so they can thrive in a future that is changing quicker than we can imagine.
• STRONG FISCAL STEWARDSHIP: Maintain our district's financial health and ensure fiscal stability for future generations of students.
• COMMUNITY ENGAGEMENT & INCREASED COMMUNICATION: Continue fostering an engaged community with all stakeholders - increasing opportunities for communication and collaboration with parents, teachers, staff and students.

What areas of public policy are you personally passionate about?

I am passionate about student equity, making sure that each of our 13,500 students in 23 schools across 6 cities, all have equal access to education and opportunities. I've worked to balance resources across the district, adding middle school electives and music classes at each school site.

I'm also passionate about holistic education. We know that post-pandemic, students have suffered, and we need to balance our academics with social and emotional learning and mental health programs. Under my leadership, we have added more mental health counselors, and added a new priority focused on Creating a Sense of Belonging, highlighting student wellness as the foundation upon which effective learning can happen.

What qualities do you possess that you believe would make you a successful officeholder?

Being an inclusive listener who seeks to understand all sides of an issue, and who makes decisions with the interests of all students in mind. I always seek input from various stakeholders, and spend time researching and understanding issues before voting. A successful officeholder needs to be responsive to the needs and concerns of students, teachers, parents and community members. I'm known as a collaborative leader who works well with my fellow board colleagues and other local leaders to improve our communities.

What is the primary job of a school board member in your view?

A school board needs to provide Oversight - of the district, of finances; Insight - to stakeholder concerns - students, teachers, parents, community members, ensuring that the district's priorities are aligned with the community's values, and Foresight - providing direction and vision for the district, approving strategic priorities for the district.

What organizations or individuals have endorsed your campaign?

Cupertino Educators Association

Los Altos Town Crier
Santa Clara County Democratic Party

​Anna Eshoo, U.S. Congresswoman
Marc Berman, CA Assemblymember, D23
Evan Low, CA Assemblymember, D26
Alex Lee, CA Assemblymember, D24
Cindy Chavez, SCC Board of Supervisors
Otto Lee, SCC Board of Supervisors
Joe Simitian, SCC Board of Supervisors
Rosemary Kamei, Vice Mayor, San Jose
Charles "Chappie" Jones, Fmr. Vice Mayor
Sheila Mohan, Mayor, Cupertino
J.R. Fruen, Vice Mayor, Cupertino
Hung Wei, Councilmember, Cupertino
Yan Zhao, Mayor, Saratoga
Larry Klein, Mayor, Sunnyvale
Murali Srinivasan, Vice Mayor, Sunnyvale
Linda Sell, Councilmember, Sunnyvale

Richard Mehlinger, Councilmember, Sunnyvale

Note: Ballotpedia reserves the right to edit Candidate Connection survey responses. Any edits made by Ballotpedia will be clearly marked with [brackets] for the public. If the candidate disagrees with an edit, he or she may request the full removal of the survey response from Ballotpedia.org. Ballotpedia does not edit or correct typographical errors unless the candidate's campaign requests it.

2020

Video for Ballotpedia

Video submitted to Ballotpedia Released August 29, 2020

Sylvia Leong completed Ballotpedia's Candidate Connection survey in 2020. The survey questions appear in bold and are followed by Leong's responses. Candidates are asked three required questions for this survey, but they may answer additional optional questions as well.

Expand all | Collapse all

Who are you? Tell us about yourself.

Sylvia Leong was appointed to the CUSD school board in January 2019. She earned her B.A. in Communications from U.C. Berkeley, and a Masters in Governance from the California School Board Association. Professionally, she has spent the majority of her career in education. She taught English at Shandong University of Science and Technology, was Sr. Associate Director of Admissions at USC, Director of Admissions at Carnegie Mellon University Silicon Valley campus, and a freshman reader at U.C. Berkeley. She also worked for several years as a substitute teacher in CUSD. Ms. Leong has served on the Meyerholz PTA as a Walking School Bus leader, and on the Cupertino Language Immersion Program Community Organization (CLIPCO) as grade representative, graduation chair, after-school enrichment program coordinator, and president. Ms. Leong is also serving on the Lynbrook PTA as Aletheia parent advisor, and with the Lynbrook football and wrestling team as a tournament coordinator. She is on the advisory board of International China Concern. Her affiliations include the League of Women Voters-Cupertino-Sunnyvale, and Asian Pacific American Leadership Institute.

Please list below 3 key messages of your campaign. What are the main points you want voters to remember about your goals for your time in office?

• BUDGET: Maintain our district's financial health and ensure fiscal stability for future generations of students.
• HOLISTIC EDUCATION: Ensure innovative, holistic education for our students - balancing our academic excellence with a strong social and emotional education for student success.
• COMMUNICATION & COLLABORATION: Continue fostering an engaged community with all stakeholders - increasing opportunities for communication and collaboration with parents, teachers, staff and students.

What areas of public policy are you personally passionate about?

As your current School Board Trustee, it's my honor to provide leadership and direction for CUSD. As a long-time resident and dedicated CUSD/FUHSD parent leader and volunteer, my heart is with our community. I have spent the last 12 years serving in our schools and focused on making the district better - not just for my own children's benefit, but for the larger student body. In the 20 years I've worked in education and with students at USC, Carnegie Mellon, UC Berkeley, and most importantly, CUSD, I've seen first-hand the power of education to transform lives. I am committed to advocating for our 16,000 students because they deserve an education that is holistic, personal and equips them to fulfill this potential. Keeping our schools strong ensures that our communities grow even stronger. I respectfully ask for your vote to keep our schools successful and our students thriving.

Note: Ballotpedia reserves the right to edit Candidate Connection survey responses. Any edits made by Ballotpedia will be clearly marked with [brackets] for the public. If the candidate disagrees with an edit, he or she may request the full removal of the survey response from Ballotpedia.org. Ballotpedia does not edit or correct typographical errors unless the candidate's campaign requests it.

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