Small class sizes are often prized by parents who hope for more personalized attention for their kids, but how small is too small? That question was on the minds of many of the 40 or so parents who convened Tuesday for a Bolinas-Stinson Union School District meeting, co-hosted by superintendent John Carroll and principal Jason Richardson, to discuss changes in the community and how they affect the school. Recent major shifts in Bolinas—a boom in the purchase of second (or third or fourth) homes and the conversion of homes to short-term rentals—has created an unusual situation. School enrollment is low—there are 99 kids in kindergarten through eighth grade—but revenues are healthy and even rising, because much of the district’s funding is based on property tax revenue. “Unlike a lot of schools, decreasing enrollment does not mean funds go down… It can mean the opposite,” Mr. Carroll said. The objective of the meeting was to gather input to help the school board begin developing a new strategic plan. Parents, teachers and other attendees wrote thoughts and concerns on Post-it notes and plastered them to one wall of the Quesada building: “Feeling hollowed,” one read. “Without solving the housing crisis how can the school be saved?” said another. In small groups, attendees continued to share their concerns. One parent, Laura Lenze–Fontan, noted that her son was the only boy in his class of six students. “He doesn’t seem to mind too much. He says the girls are nice,” she said, but added that many of his best friends have moved away. Sarah McDonald, a teacher and parent, worried that too few students can lead to fewer ideas and “less sharing with each other, because there’s less of each other.” In bigger schools, with multiple classes per grade, students typically have different peers each year, even when class sizes are small. But at Bolinas, the cohort remains the same, save for kids moving in and out of the district. A parent who identified herself as Coach Kelly said she didn’t necessarily disagree, but she praised the tight bond between students in the small classes; teachers can be more creative with lesson planning when there are fewer kids to handle, she said. The meeting focused more on the issues than potential solutions, but some wondered if eventually the district would move to multi-grade classes to address the concern.