The change has been occurring slowly over many decades. The emergence of women as top executives running San Mateo County public school districts has become a long-running theme.
Today, with the 2025-26 academic year on the horizon in August, 15 of the county’s 23 districts are led by female superintendents, according to their authorized websites.
That’s a reversal of the same local education picture 30 years ago. The most pronounced example of this shift from male superintendents to females has occurred in the Jefferson Union High School District.
That district embraces four feeder elementary districts within its geographic boundaries just south of the border with San Francisco. They are: Bayshore, Brisbane, Jefferson and Pacifica.
All four of those districts are led by women as is the high school district itself. It has become an all-woman administrative operation in that area of the North County.
For that matter, the county’s Office of Education, the entity that oversees public education operations throughout the upper Peninsula and provides certain specialized services and personnel to districts that need them, is also helmed by a well-respected female.
A LETTER OF COMMENDATION: It’s not every day that a Peninsula denizen receives a letter of commendation from a representative of the British government.
Meredith Larsen of Belmont received such an official missive late last month. It came from the Right Honorable Sir Lindsay Hoyle, Member of Parliament and Speaker of the House of Commons.
The Speaker lauded Larsen for her focused work helping to research relatives of a U.S. Army Air Force B17 bomber crew that crashed on English soil in 1944 during World War II.
A poignant memorial has been created near the scene of the tragedy. Wrote Hoyle in his letter of praise and appreciation to Larsen, “thank you for keeping the memories of these people very much alive.”
Larsen’s grandfather-in-law, Lt. Ralph Munoz and his B17 crew mates were shot down over the Baltic Sea coast off Poland in 1945 and she has researched that incident as well.
A member of a family of former U.S. servicemen here on the Peninsula, she is also part of a Facebook group that seeks information on downed B17s and their crews from the World War II era.
SPORTS EVENT SOLD OUT: The June 26 Peninsula Sports Hall of Fame induction ceremony at the San Mateo County History Museum in downtown Redwood City has sold out. No tickets for the event remain for sale.
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The event begins with a reception at 5:30 p.m. The inductions will commence at 6:30 p.m. All proceeds benefit the work of the association. The individuals to be inducted are:
• Chuck Bommarito, a prep state sprint champion from now-closed Crestmoor High School.
• Henry Caruso, a U.S. National Team 3-on-3 basketball player from Serra High School.
• Paul Fanaika, a professional football lineman from Mills High School.
• Rachel McCann Henley, a softball/baseball player from El Camino High School.
• Alexandra Sickinger Oglesby, a baseball player from Oceana High School.
• Doug Williams, a baseball coach from Carlmont High School and College of San Mateo.
Founded in 1989, the Peninsula Sports Hall of Fame includes 300 Peninsula athletes, coaches, officials and other worthy individuals. Their plaques are on display at the museum.
For information about the Hall of Fame call the museum at (650) 299-0104.
TIME TO HOLSTER HIS CLIPPER: It’s the end of a tonsorial era on the Peninsula. On June 30, Lash Stevenson, a San Mateo barber, says he will put away his scissors, holster his electric clipper and head off into a well-deserved retirement after 49 years in business in these parts. He’s been trimming hair locally since 1976. He began to ply his personal grooming trade in his family’s garage as a teen in South California in the 1950s. His eclectic shop, Lash’s Place, is located on Palm Avenue in the Hayward Park neighborhood. The place has become an institution there. Lash’s presence will be missed.
A TERRIFIC OPENING ACT: Here’s a shout-out to Eryn McCoy Butcher. She’s the varsity softball coach at Hillsdale High School who guided her team to a Northern California Division III prep championship last week. A former standout Hillsdale pitcher herself a decade ago, she did so right out of the gate in her very first season running the Knights’ program. A great opening act for sure — and a tough one to top in the future.
John Horgan has been detailing the ins and outs of people, places and predicaments in San Mateo County since 1963, to the tune of 7 million words beginning at the long-gone Burlingame Advance Star newspaper. He can be contacted via email at johnhorganmedia@gmail.com.
(2) comments
Thanks for your column today, Mr. Horgan. Regarding public school districts being led now by more female superintendents after a 30 year “transition” does this mean we can draw a correlation between achievement scores trending lower? Student achievement has been stagnant or trending lower through the years. In 2024, it was reported that only 47% of CA kids met standards for English and only 36% for math. How does the trend look in San Mateo County under these superintendents? Regardless, maybe it is time to go back to basics and these superintendents, male and female, can lead the charge. For the kids.
Hi TBot, I have to agree with you on this one.
The difference between a DEI candidate and a "DEI candidate" is if the candidate is actually improving "Equity" for all children. "DEI candidates" stop doing good, when they get to power because they think THEY are the equity.
For example the very simple job of Danielle, Lisa and Nicole was to provide more Transportation Equity to North Fair Oaks. It's an Equity Focus Area and there are plenty of county guides and plans on what to do here - even if they lacked the necessary knowledge or understanding of DEI or weren't the brightest bulb in the box.
But all three decided that taking away safe infrastructure from children is totally fine, because they themselves are old, don't like children, don't bike or whatever reason.
But that decision - and violating some 15 city and county plans - tells us Lisa, Nicole and Danielle are merely "DEI candidates" with little interest in providing real equity for others. They think DEI is fixed because they themselves are there.
The fact that we celebrate that all these school districts now have female leadership is just a statistic. But the fact that these schools have enormous per-student funding, but have lowered the per-student spending and have managed to make outcomes for these kids even worse, tells us that ALL these statistics are meaningless. And all these candidates are just as useless as middle-aged white males would be. But at least we were allowed to call those guys out and make fun of them ...
Let's not forget, San Mateo and Redwood City are segregating their school districts on purpose and Nancy Magee and plenty of female board members and female Democrats are supporting this.
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