BY AMELIA BISCARDI
Daily Post Staff Writer
The Las Lomitas Elementary School District board has hired former Menlo Park City Schools superintendent Erik Burmeister as its new leader following a cloud of controversy.
Burmeister, who is expected to start May 1, takes over a district where teachers went on strike last fall and parents blew the whistle on what they believed was misuse of district credit cards by Superintendent Beth Polito
He has been superintendent of the Fremont Unified School District since Feb. 25, 2025. He resigned a month ago.
Burmeister, 51, worked for the Menlo Park City School District for more than 10 years, five as the superintendent.
Las Lomitas Board President Paige Winikoff told the Post that she is enthusiastic about his expertise in connecting with parents and residents. She appreciates the fact that he already knows the area.
The Las Lomitas district serves parts of Menlo Park and Atherton, with two schools, Las Lomitas Elementary School and La Entrada Middle School.
The school board’s next step is to formally appoint Burmeister on April 16. If the appointment process goes through, he could begin on May 1.
After a three-day strike, a first for the district, that began on Oct. 23, the teachers received a 16% raise over three years and fully funded health insurance.
Superintendent Beth Polito’s role in the district went under scrutiny when during the October strike, parents went through district finances and found receipts she had submitted for stays at luxury hotels and expensive dinners. More than 1,000 parents and district employees signed an online petition expressing no confidence in Polito.
The board revoked Polito’s district credit cards on Dec. 18.
On Jan. 15, the board announced that Assistant Superintendent Valerie Park became Interim Superintendent and Polito was placed on leave. Still, the board did not clarify whether she was on paid or unpaid leave.
LL is in for a real surprise here. He resigned from MPCSD to “spend time with his family” only to start a company that didn’t make any money. Months later, he gets hired to run a district with nearly 30K kids, quits 8 months later after leaving the district with a budget mess. Nobody could believe her quit before the year was even over. Now he’s been free for 2 months and won’t start in LL until May. He’s a fierce self promoter with a penchant for quitting.