Local trustees are flailing in the dark

Galatolo was placed on leave from his position in 2019. As the years rolled on, county investigations unearthed a list of 21 alleged improprieties relating to contractors involved with the district’s massive rebuilding program fueled by voter-approved bonds worth more than $1 billion when interest and fees are included.

That doesn’t include money paid to a whistleblower who left the district with a huge payout. Former Vice Chancellor Jose Nuñez agreed to testify against Galatolo last year in return for a reduction in felony charges.

And there’s more. Even as private attorneys now probe into this mess in an effort to recover an undetermined amount involved with reported favors and kickbacks, the district itself actually doesn’t know how much actual cash, if any, is actually at stake.

Asked in an email how much taxpayers’ money might be involved, Lisa Petrides, president of the district’s Board of Trustees responded: "The district does not have records that are responsive to your question. There is no firm dollar amount.”

In effect, the trustees, most of whom were not board members during Galatolo’s tenure as chancellor, are flailing around in the dark. The nightmare continues.

KEEP TRADITIONAL WOK COOKING: Is the banning of natural gas stoves potentially racist? Could be. It’s only speculation but, in the current woke environment, you can never be sure.

New laws, along with other pressures, are slowly putting the kibosh on those efficient appliances, not just here in California but in other parts of the country as well.

Not entirely surprisingly, more than a few Asian cooks are quite unhappy. Why? Their preferred cooking vessels (woks in particular) are best utilized with high heat/flames on demand generated by natural gas. Bring on the lawsuits.

We want our Singapore noodles done right, thank you very much.

HILLSDALE GIRLS GAVE IT A SHOT: Not every drought is over. It’s been 35 long years since a Central Coast Section public high school girls’ basketball won a California state championship. Burlingame High School achieved that goal in Division III way back in 1988.

There was hope that Hillsdale High School might be the school to end that depressing hoops reality this month. It was not to be. The Knights of San Mateo lost to private Menlo School in Division IV in a regional semifinal game last weekend, 51-48.

Hillsdale was the last CCS public school girls’ team left in the tournament. The section is one of 10 geographic designations governed by the California Interscholastic Federation.

NINE-DOLLAR SUDS, WHAT A BONANZA: We feel somehow impelled to note a recent San Francisco Giants’ economic decision in these inflationary times.

Faced with the undeniable fact that the regular $14 charge for certain brands of beer was, dare we say, rather excessive, they have had some second thoughts.

No wonder. They understand their customers aren’t all that thrilled with the professional baseball product on the field and cash is tight. Attendance at ballgames has been slipping.

Dropping the cost for some selected brews to $9 is one hoped-for solution to lure some of these skeptics back to the ballyard by the Bay.

That new “bargain” suds tab has been heavily touted as a response to tough fiscal times. Yippee. This Bud’s for me. Where’s my Visa card?

MR. AND MRS. BUBBLES CARRY ON: First the bad news: Mrs. Bubbles, a coin-friendly laundromat in Burlingame, suffered a damaging fire on Sunday evening.

Now the good news: Mr. Bubbles, a duplicate enterprise in downtown San Mateo, is still handling the washing and drying of your personal wearables with its usual efficiency.

The Bubbles “couple” has been providing laundry access for decades. Fortunately, the Burlingame outlet is located one block from a fire station. Damage appeared to be confined to the establishment’s interior and roof.

Email John Horgan at johnhorganmedia@gmail.com.