From the archives

confidence in principal

Teachers at the troubled Parkway Heights Middle School in South San Francisco took a vote of no confidence in their principal the week of May 25, 2007 after a decision was made to fire or transfer approximately one-third of the staff.

Teachers believed Principal Jay Rowley was "rather incompetent” and was creating a poor working environment at the middle school, which was entering its fifth year in the federal program improvement plan. South San Francisco Unified School District officials claimed Rowley was being blamed for changes that were beyond his control.

The school suffered with low test scores for the prior four years, just barely missing the mark to pull itself out of the No Child Left Behind program improvement plan. That plan required school districts to follow certain procedures if one of its schools didn’t meet performance standards.

In Parkway’s case, the district this year had the option to make it either a charter school, outsource school management, reorganize the staff or introduce a new governance model. Changing to a charter school and outsourcing management were not realistic options for the district and the district instead chose to restructure its staff by transferring one-third of the school’s 35 teachers.

School cuts inevitable

Burlingame schools faced $360,000 to more than $1.3 million in cuts to its budget to restore the district-mandated 7 percent reserve, it was announced the week of May 25, 2007.

Ideas of areas that might be reduced were first introduced to the Burlingame Elementary School Board of Trustees during a special study session that week. Some possibilities called for a cap on unused money for that year’s budget such as $80,000 for the immersion program and $55,900 for substitute costs. Others would affect summer school, physical education possibilities for students, special education, class sizes, reading and curriculum.

Bay Meadows in limbo

A decision to end horse racing at Bay Meadows was set for reconsideration by the California Horse Racing Board, it was announced the week of May 25, 2007.

The board met that week to discuss Bay Meadows race track and Northern California race schedules. The board ultimately decided it would place Bay Meadows’ request for 2008 racing dates as an action item at its June meeting.

Bay Meadows was denied 2008 race dates earlier that year because it refused to install synthetic turf, thought by many to be safer for horses and jockeys. However, Bay Meadows felt it unnecessary to spend $8 million to $10 million when the facility was slated for demolition and renovation in two years. The board denied a request by Bay Meadows officials for a two-year extension in March 2007. The board also denied the race track any 2008 dates, leaving the last scheduled race for Nov. 4, 2007.

‘Gilligan’ delays plea to wife’s murder

Robert Lomas reportedly told authorities he did everything for his wife: cooked, cleaned, even painted her toenails.

But after years of marriage to a woman beset by medical issues and a bevy of boyfriends, Lomas did something else to 50-year-old Linda Jackson Lomas, according to prosecutors — he stabbed her 12 times with a kitchen knife inside her North Fair Oaks home.

Lomas, 51, reportedly confessed to the murder and a string of bank robberies including five for which his floppy fisherman hat nicknamed him "Gilligan” after the television character. But at his first court appearance the week of May 25, 2007, Lomas delayed a plea to one count of murder and seven counts of robbery until after meeting with a court-appointed attorney.

From the archives highlights stories originally printed five years ago this week. It appears in the Thursday edition of the Daily Journal.