Point Reyes Light - October 23, 2003
Lagunitas candidate says school board insensitive
By Ivan Gale
Candidates for the Lagunitas School District Board of Trustees agreed in last Wednesday’s debate that with enrollment still declining, finding creative ways to keep the district’s high standard of learning will be difficult.
Three candidates
The three candidates are challenger Doug Frazer, incumbent Richard Sloan, and incumbent Denise Bohman.
Sloan, a Woodacre contractor and a trustee for three decades, said he helped create the unorthodox district in the early 1970s. The district still uses the blueprint of "separate classrooms" offering a Montessori program, the Open Classroom, and Middle School programs to Valley students.
"This district is nationally famous, and certainly famous statewide for allowing parents options for their kids," Sloan said.
School board president Denise Bohman, mother of two children enrolled in the district, was first elected as a Trustee in 1999.
"I do things other trustees don’t want to do or don’t have time for," Bohman said.
Challenger Frazer said the trustees are not addressing the continuing decline in enrollment that has left the district strapped for cash. A stay-at-home dad, Frazer said he conducted a study which found 30 percent of Valley children were enrolled in schools in Fairfax, San Anselmo, and Ross.
Frazer’s own children, Tim, 6, and Ada, 9, are both enrolled in the Ross Valley School District. If elected, Frazer said he wouldn’t take his kids out of Ross Valley School District and return them to Lagunitas.
Needs not being met
"Their needs weren’t being met" Frazer said. "Many of these youths want to attend Lagunitas, but the district isn’t capable of including them."
Others agreed with Frazer that the district’s methods of teaching may be outmoded.
Woodacre resident Rachel Ellis said she took her daughter out of the district after the child was bullied in a playground without supervision. Lagunitas resident Norine Smith said creating a more traditional school environment and building new facilities like a gymnasium would persuade her to re-enroll her children in the district.
"The district needs to be at their doorsteps, asking ‘what can we do to meet the needs of what you want?’" Frazer said, accusing the current trustees of "giving up" on fixing the problem of declining enrollment.
Bohman said it was "presumptuous" for anyone who hasn’t attended school board meetings to assess the current trustee’s performance.
Sloan said the district has created brochures and has provided information forums to parents of preschoolers in order to recruit new students.
Finally, Sloan drew cheers from the audience when he spoke out against state standardized testing. He also reminded the audience that Lagunitas test scores were "through the roof" on the Education Task Force tests students take before enrolling at Tamalpais High School .
Supt. Mary Buttler said many students and parents did not care about the standardized tests.
Consequently, every year some parents opt to keep their children out of testing. Other students make designs with the answer sheet choices, lowering the average score, Buttler said.