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Volume ııı Number 47 | 75 cents Serving the entire San Mateo Coastside since ı898 www.hmbreview.com Editorial a 4A | Weather & Tides a 5A | Police Log a 5A | A&E a 2B | Sports a 7B | Real Estate a 1C | Classifieds a 3C [ play ball ] Mark Foyer / Review Sure sign of spring J.T. Lehane runs the bases while slapping hands with other Half Moon Bay Little League players on Saturday. The season’s opening cer- emonies had been delayed a week due to bad weather, but Smith Field is once again busy with the sights and sounds of baseball. See photos and story, Page 8B. PUBLIC WARY OF SCHOOL COUNSELING CUTS LAYOFFS COULD AFFECT GRADUATION RATES By Mark Noack [ [email protected] ] Eliminating the entire school counseling staff lies at the very bottom of a list of cuts approved by the Cabrillo Uni- fied School District, and that could make the district’s five full-time counselors the main bargaining chip as the district pursues either a parcel tax measure or major concessions from its employee unions. Students, parents, teachers, school officials and state ex- perts agree that eliminating all school counselors would be a recipe for disaster at Coastside schools. By multiple accounts, such a scenario would like- ly lead to an increase in drop- outs, scheduling errors, and unaddressed behavioral prob- lems, and a decrease in test scores, attendance and stu- dents advancing to colleges. “To me, it’s unconsciona- ble,” said David Kopperud, ed- ucation program consultant with the California Depart- Students chip in to save teachers Students at Farallone View Elementary under- stood pretty well what was going on last week when their teachers looked despondent. Fifth-grader Lia Liu didn’t know about the thorny issues of state politics or fiscal sol- vency, but she knew it meant her favorite edu- cators could lose their jobs. “These were some of the best teachers,” Lia said “I felt sad that they’re the ones who have to leave.” So Lia and her next- door neighbor, Lucas Wieser, a fourth-grad- er, decided to do some- thing. Recruiting her younger siblings, Lia and Lucas began go- ing door to door around their neighborhood on Sunday. They had their piggy banks with them Students rally for ‘Pink Protest’ By Mark Noack [ [email protected] ] On the day last week when Coastside schools issued about 100 pink slips to teachers and staff, scores of students, teach- ers and others rallied outside Half Moon Bay High School in support of educators. More than 100 people gath- ered early Friday morning along Lewis Foster Drive for a “Pink Protest,” a demonstra- tion focused on showing sup- port for the local public educa- tion system as it grapples with deepening budget troubles. The Friday event was part of a series of education ral- lies that have been assembled as the Cabrillo Unified School District faces a $2.5 million Lars Howlett / Review Students, teachers and administrators — including Half Moon Bay High School Principal Mary Streshly holding a sign reading, “Save Our School” — rally Friday in support of specific teachers who received pink slips as well as education generally. See CUTS a 6A See DONATE a 6A FRIDAY EVENT BRINGS OUT STUDENTS, TEACHERS, ADMINISTRATORS See PINK a 6A [ politics ] ‘Disenfranchised’ push for local election reform REPRESENTATION IS CHIEF CONCERN IN CHARTER REVIEW By Greg Thomas [ [email protected] ] The vast majority of San Mateo County inhabitants reside over the hill, and there is no Coastsider on the county Board of Supervisors. Consequently, some on the coast think their concerns are ignored on the bayside. “It can be intimidating for people to think that our city council is all the way over in Redwood City,” said Montara res- ident April Vargas, standing before the county Charter Review Committee at a meeting last week in Half Moon Bay. Vargas is among a handful of people run- ning for Supervisor Rich Gordon’s seat when it becomes available in November. It’s been four decades since there has been a Coastside presence on the coun- ty Board of Supervisors, and that is one reason many are talking about establish- ing district-based elections for county su- pervisors. San Mateo County is the only county in California still electing supervi- sors at-large. The committee, formed every eight years, is charged with reviewing the county’s constitution and recommend- ing improvements to the Board of Super- visors. The board could move to put con- troversial items on the November ballot and let voters make the final call. About 20 people sat in to watch the dis- cussion unfold Thursday night inside the multipurpose room at Cunha Interme- diate School. Roughly half of them, in- cluding a cohort of Midcoast Communi- ty Council members, offered their opin- ions. That is the greatest participation fa- cilitator Sean Foote said he’d seen in the committee’s first five meetings. Salmon season set to open — briefly FINAL CALL EXPECTED APRIL 15 By Greg Thomas [ [email protected] ] Eager at the prospect of breaking a two-year dry spell on hunting salmon, commercial fishermen in Cali- fornia are caught between a rock and a hard place. They can prep their gear for a brief window of highly restricted salmon fishing — one that could slam shut after about two weeks — or they can sit tight and wait for a larger, longer season opening that may not come. “It’s hard to say what’s gonna happen in the ocean this year because no one’s been out there looking,” said El Granada fisherman Duncan MacLean. As the Pacific Fishery Management Council considers the fate of West Coast salmon season this year, a provision bur- ied in the council’s adopted plans from last year virtually guarantees anglers in California at least a couple weeks to hook chinook salmon beginning in April. The season “will open this year on April 3 unless the council and the Department of Fish and Game take emergency action to close it,” said council Vice Chairman Dan Wolford. One possible cause for emergency would be the discovery of meager salmon populations in the Sacra- mento River delta, where the fish spawn, he said. But that pro- cess is “so cumbersome, and so unlikely, that there is no prac- tical way to bring a closure to the season before it starts,” he wrote in an e-mail to the Review. Such a determination could take about two weeks, Wolford said. Regulations for this year will come to light dur- ing a final series of council meetings between April 10 and April 15 in Portland, Ore. At those meetings, the council will review three options it approved Thursday for managing salmon fishing for the duration of the year. Two of the options allow for limited take of chinook of a certain size. The third alter- native forbids anglers from harvesting the fish altogether, which would mean a con- tinuation of a two-year ban on salmon fishing that has crippled the livelihoods of independent commercial fishermen up and down the state. A vote to close the fishery would take effect sometime in May, Wolford said. Biologists estimate 245,000 chinook salmon will return to the delta this fall to spawn, several times the num- ber from last year. Fishermen hope the spike signifies a resurgence in salmon populations that have been foundering for decades. Regulations in effect now allow California fishermen south of Eu- reka to take two salmon per day, excluding coho, at a minimum [ fishery ] See REFORM a 6A See SALMON a 9A Wednesday, March 17, 2010 OLYMPIC HONOR RELAY TEAM RECEIVES MEDALS FROM TWO-TIME OLYMPIAN, GRACE UPSHAW. 7B a n d p e s c a d e r o p e b b l e MOLLY BROWN HARD WORK GOES INTO HIGH SCHOOL MUSICAL. 1B
