And thanks to Seth once again for taking the time to check in with some more insight on this tough situation.

Chuck

As for your second question, there is a County Treasury Oversight Committee, appointed by the County Board of Supervisors. See the link to the investment policy here, which also mentions the role of the committee:
http://www.co.sanmateo.ca.us/bos.dir/BosAgendas/agendas2008/Agenda20080108/20080108_att_36.pdf

I also don’t have enough information to express a strong opinion on whether the Board of Supervisors and/or the Oversight Committee was asleep at the switch here, although I suspect they may have been.

The County Board of Supervisors has a meeting on November 4th to question the County Treasurer on the situation, but I have not yet heard a report as to what happened at the meeting or any likely outcome. It is my opinion, that at a minimum, the County Board of Supervisors needs to change the investment policy to minimize both industry exposure as well as indidivual issuer exposure (perhaps to 1% or 2% of the portfolio).

Is there an independent citizens oversight committee that oversees how effectively San Mateo county is investing funds?

I understand and agree that this news will dishearten a bunch of people. However, we do need to focus on what we can do about it now — of course one of these things is passing Measure S, a crucial parcel tax measure which will bring more local, sustainable money to the School District. In any case (and although I can’t speak for the whole School Board), I am confident that the District will continue to be proactive in communications around all of these issues, as well as see if we have any recourse with the County.

Thanks for taking the time to comment on this topic. First of all, I agree with you — kudos to Steve Mitrovich for getting the straight scoop out to the public in an expeditious manner. It’s tough to be the bearer of bad news, and he is no more responsible for what happened than anyone else in the general public. I met Steve on the first day of school at Brittan Acres, and he seems like a good guy and a very competent leader. Hopefully, nobody is “shooting the messenger” in this situation.

The anger and outrage that will ripple through the community, though, will be very real and raw. The loss of such a significant amount of money cannot be accounted for just monetarily. Much of the funds that had been raised to support San Carlos schools were the result of countless hours of volunteer efforts from hundreds of families, year after year.

The cash reserves that foundations such as SCEF accumulate normally don’t come from a few wealthy benefactors. It’s an aggregation of thousands of smaller donations and fund raising events at the various schools. As a very typical example, my family will be participating in our 10th straight Walk-a-Jog at Brittan Acres this year, and that’s just a drop in the bucket compared to what many other families have contributed to San Carlos in the form of sweat equity. Consequently, the instantaneous loss of such a tremendous amount of money certainly resonates deeply with many of the families who have dedicated their time to the cause – so nobody should be surprised if these families will question why should they work so hard in the future if their efforts can be squandered so quickly.

I’d greatly appreciate it if you could keep everyone posted on the progress of possible recourse. Whether it’s good news or bad news, I think the families in San Carlos just want the straight scoop.

Thanks again,

Chuck