When students at College of San Mateo return from winter break, they’ll have a post-holiday present waiting for them: a new student services building in the center of campus. The project is part of a $900 million transformation taking place on the three campuses within the San Mateo County Community College District. Read More

Eskinder Yosef has been taking free English as a second language classes at San Mateo Adult School for the past four months. Come January, however, Yosef and his classmates will have to pay $30 per semester for the same schooling in order to help the program make up for some of the $1.2 million cut from the adult school budget for the San Mateo Union High School District last year. Read More

San Mateo — A plan to demolish a Kmart building and replace it with a mixed-use development featuring homes, office space, stores and park land will go before the city’s Planning Commission this month. The proposed development on South Delaware Street, called Station Park Green, could be open for public review in early 2010 if San Mateo officials’ concerns are allayed by then. Read More

In the event of an emergency such as a school shooting or an earthquake, parents would hope to get information from their child’s school as soon as possible. When a former student set off pipe bombs at Hillsdale High School in San Mateo in late August, parents were notified about the incident and told where to pick up their children within minutes, according to district officials. The messages went out by phone through a program called Blackboard Connect. Read More