Teachers Win Lottery

From the Sacramento Bee:

Shasta Lake School staffers hit SuperLotto jackpot
menkoji@sacbee.com
Published Wednesday, Feb. 11, 2009

SHASTA LAKE – It's the stuff of Hollywood screenplays: Small, rural school district struck by impossible budget cuts that can be resolved only with a pile of pink slips. Then, another slip of paper – a lottery ticket – brings a wave of fortune and new possibilities that could save the day.
That's the plot playing out in Gateway Unified School District in this small town just north of Redding.

"It's just disbelief," said Alicia Newman, an eighth-grade algebra teacher at Shasta Lake School.
Newman and 14 other teachers and administrators hit a $76 million SuperLotto Plus jackpot Saturday with a ticket they bought at the local Circle K.

The winning numbers – the same ones the educators have been playing for seven years – were announced Saturday night. The winners didn't realize that until Monday, and word didn't trickle out until Tuesday.

In the meantime, the town of Shasta Lake and its 10,000 residents have been abuzz with the mystery of who had purchased the $76 million ticket.

"I'm happy to say every person who won is at work today," said Helen Herd, principal of Shasta Lake School – and one of the new millionaires.

Read more:
http://www.sacbee.com/topstories/v-print/story/1615318.html