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We like to keep track of who’s who at BHS (and SMUSHD) since there has been some controversy over how the high school has been administered in the past. BHS (and Mills) are key elements in the community spirit of our little city. Per the DJ:


Peter Alvarez and Lauren Kelly were named as the new principals for Aragon and Burlingame high schools, respectively, by the San Mateo Union High School District Board of Trustees at its meeting last week.

Kelly served as the vice principal of McDonald High School and the principal of Cabrillo Middle School in the Santa Clara Unified School District since 2023. Prior to that she served as the principal at Freedom High School in Oakley from 2021-23; the assistant director of educational services and the K12 pathway coordinator at Eden Area ROP in Hayward from 2018-21; and the principal of Evergreen Valley High School in San Jose from 2013-18. Kelly has also served as the athletic director and PE teacher at Milken Community School in Los Angeles; and as a math and science teacher in the Los Angeles Unified School District.

The district also recently announced that Chad Slife was named as vice principal of Burlingame High School. He has more than 23 years of experience in public education and currently works at the San Mateo County Office of Education. Born and raised in Riverside, Slife began his career as a Teach For America Corps Member and has since served as a teacher, a founding assistant principal of a charter middle school, and an elementary school principal for seven years.

Welcome aboard Lauren and Chad. We wish you well in maintaining and improving the school’s reputation.

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2 responses to “BHS: New principal and vice principal arrive”

  1. Joe

    The new principals have their work cut out for them.

    On Tuesday, hundreds of faculty members from the University of California (UC) system signed an open letter demanding that the university system return to standardized math testing during college admissions. The reason: students attempting to enter college cannot do basic math.

    Over 550 Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics (STEM) professors signed the letter, addressed to the university president, Board of Regents, and the academic Senate. They described failure of students in math subjects, and warned of “preparation gaps so severe that instructors must re-teach middle school mathematics.”

  2. Joe

    John Horgan at the DJ is keeping an eye on BHS as well. He writes:

    ENROLLMENT SURGE CONTINUES: It hasn’t been entirely smooth sailing for Burlingame High School during its century-plus existence. On at least two occasions since its founding early in the 1920s, it has been threatened with closure due to declining enrollment. Those dismal days are in the rearview mirror today. With the 2026-27 academic year on the immediate horizon next month. Burlingame’s student body is projected to edge up to 1,700 young adults, according to a school official. That would be an all-time peak and more than double what it was in the first half of the 1980s when closure was avoided by a single vote on the then Board of Trustees of the San Mateo Union High School District. The current surge in pupil numbers has forced the school to use portable classrooms located on tennis courts, among other moves to address the historic teen influx. The enrollment boom will not go on forever, though; it is expected to taper off in coming years.
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    I’m not so sure enrollment will taper off unless he means just the growth rate and not the absolute numbers. With all of the stack-and-pack building in the pipeline, BHS better keep those portables handy.

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