BY ADRIANA HERNANDEZ
Daily Post Staff Writer
The same school district where a former superintendent charged a $160 birthday cake to taxpayers is now considering a tax increase.
The Las Lomitas Elementary School District, which serves parts of Menlo Park and Atherton, has reduced a $4.5 million deficit to $2 million, and now the board is considering whether to go to voters with a parcel tax.
The tax is one of the options the board will consider on Jan. 14. Superintendent Erik Burmeister will ask the board whether they want to bring in a consultant on a potential parcel tax. The tax would appear on the November ballot.
Other options the board will consider include eliminating positions and classes or raising revenue by leasing property and sharing a campus, according to Burmeister.
An assistant principal position has been eliminated, Burmeister said. There are classes with low enrollment, he said. For example, the district may decide to cut one class of the three in the foreign language program, according to Burmeister.
Burmeister was hired in May, taking over the job previously held by Beth Polito.
An audit by the San Mateo County Office of Education found that the $160 birthday cake Polito charged to a district credit card in 2022 was one example of a potentially inappropriate gift of public funds. She also charged $4,039 to the district credit card for retirement parties and $325 for gift cards, according to the audit.
The auditors found insufficient evidence to indicate fraud, misappropriation of funds or other illegal practices occurred. But the audit said the district’s record-keeping for credit card purchases is lacking, making it more likely that fraud could occur.
The new superintendent is looking at ways of saving money. For instance, a change in the middle school bell schedule would allow the district to replace full-time employees with part-timers.
The district has two schools, La Entrada Middle School in Menlo Park and Las Lomitas Elementary in Atherton, which have a combined enrollment of 1,161 students in 2023-24.
When teachers struck for three days in 2024 for higher pay, parents began to look into the district’s finances. That led to the investigation by the county Office of Education and now an investigation by District Attorney Steve Wagstaffe. The strike ended when the teachers’ union accepted a contract for a 16% raise over three years and fully-funded health insurance.
A headline highlighting a “$160 cake” is an interesting word choice. Without any context, it is perhaps inflammatory and sloppy journalism. Daily Post needs to do better.
Some questions:
– who was the bday cake for?
– was it at his home, or at a public event?
– how many people were there?
A 1/4 sheet cake from Menlo Park’s Susie’s Cake costs $155, before taxes. If he purchased this for his family at his home, that’s one thing. If he purchased it for a staff bday, it’s a totally different thing.
Adriana, please provide us the answers to the above.
Tomás
Tomas, you might go back and look at earlier stories in the Post that provided those details. The story on November 5, which is online, deals with that in detail. You accuse the paper of bad journalism but that’s not fair since they’ve already reported the information you want. Must the paper repeat all the details for people who don’t keep up with the news?
Tomas put down the wrong name. It should be Beth.
Before voting, I’d like to know how they’re going to stop this from happening again. One of my kids was at M-A when Burmeister was there, and I can tell you that he’s an idiot. The district needs somebody to make sure they’re not robbed blind, again.
Erik Burmeister Isn’t an *idiot*. He’s got a room temperature IQ.