Lagunitas School sidestepped any major changes to its elementary programs, opting to weather another year of declining enrollment with both Montessori and Open Classrooms intact. A group of parents concerned about dwindling class sizes had spurred the school board to consider merging the progressive programs in the fall. The parents urged a swift decision, while defenders of the Open Classroom pushed back and trustees pointed out a host of obstacles.
At a forum on Monday, Superintendent John Carroll, whose days as the district’s top administrator are numbered since he won last week’s race for Marin County Superintendent of Schools, recommended keeping the programs separate for at least another year.
Mr. Carroll described his recommendation as the logical answer to an impasse: Parents needed a firm, clear choice, but teachers weren’t ready to consolidate or move classrooms. “People wanted a decision to be made soon so they could begin to make plans,” Mr. Carroll told the board. “This is not without controversy, but the idea of combining programs or moving one or the other right at this moment doesn’t seem like it can be done.”
At the close of the forum, Principal Laura Shain suggested the board convene an ad hoc committee to address the issues of school unity that informed the merger discussion. The group could consider parents’ ideas for how to strengthen bonds between programs next year without outright combining or moving the classes. A group of parents suggested a schoolwide play, a comprehensive shared music program or art space, and a monthly parent gathering.
A shrinking student body has no straightforward financial impact on the Lagunitas School District, which is funded by property taxes, not per-pupil state dollars. A budget presentation from Marin County Assistant Superintendent Kate Lane showed the district’s tax base is growing with ballooning property values, painting a hopeful picture of surplus funding in years to come. Lagunitas had been facing future deficits because of a burdensome and unpredictable bill from Ross Valley Charter School for 16 transfer students, but the surplus would rescue the district from dire straits.
Money is not the only consideration, however. Particularly in the 50-year-old Open Classroom program, which has dropped from 85 students in 2019 to a projected 35 next year, age distribution is uneven, and some parents say their kids are feeling socially isolated even as the physical isolation of the pandemic has ended. Some teachers echoed those concerns.
In a letter to the board, middle school teacher Katherine Sanford said the two programs were “wonderful idea factories” but that the demographics of the San Geronimo Valley had changed. “We no longer have the numbers to support two programs,” she wrote. “It is a painful reality.” If the programs were streamlined, she wrote, Lagunitas could devote more money to much-needed counseling services and a middle school art teacher.
Board president Amos Klausner said he felt that holding off on the decision could be a mistake, and he suggested that combining the programs would have budgetary benefits. “I have a hard time, as somebody who’s responsible for money that’s provided by the community, keeping classrooms going with only eight students,” he told the board.
Mr. Klausner told the Light he was troubled that the board had agreed to hold a community forum to accept more input on the decision, only to have a subcommittee decide that the board would vote on Mr. Carroll’s recommendation at the same June 13 meeting. “To me, that’s not a forum, that’s a fait accompli,” he said.
Between Mr. Carroll’s impending departure and a high teacher turnover, this spring would be a good time to merge the programs, Mr. Klausner suggested. One Montessori teacher, Pauline Hope, has rescinded her resignation, but Lagunitas is still searching for candidates to replace two Open Classroom teachers, Olga Khaykin and Peter Eldredge, and combining the classrooms could have obviated the need for one of them.
Hiring has been a struggle, Mr. Klausner said, in part because the district has let go of several teachers who didn’t meet its high educational standards.
“We’ve got a bad rap,” he said. “We’ve gone through this cycle of getting rid of teachers because we’re always going to get a better teacher.”
With local housing essentially inaccessible on a teacher’s salary, the pool of applicants is small.
As the board moved to maintain the two programs and form a unity committee, several advocates for the Open Classroom suggested methods for boosting enrollment. Open Classroom teacher Anita Collison suggested allowing out-of-district transfer students for the first time; the district could accept students from Shoreline Unified School District, which doesn’t offer anything like the Open Classroom, she said. Shoreline is also a basic aid district and wouldn’t lose funds by losing students. Veteran trustee Richard Sloan, who helped found the program, suggested recruiting students from over the hill.
Mr. Sloan, the board’s strongest proponent of keeping the two elementary programs separate, worried that strengthening the bonds between them would threaten the Open Classroom’s own strength. The program’s art teacher, Kristy Arroyo, tried to reassure him.
“I am a strong advocate for Open Classroom,” Ms. Arroyo said, “but I’m also feeling really energized by all of the conversations that people have been having about how we can work together.”
Mr. Sloan eventually voted with the unanimous board to form a unity
committee.