The Bolinas-Stinson Union School District Board of Trustees voted Tuesday to allow Stinson Beach Preschool to continue operating on district grounds, as it has for the past several years. The decision to grant a one-year lease renewal came at the end of a lengthy meeting in which Principal Leo Kostelnik offered a comprehensive plan to transform the Stinson Beach campus into a pre-K facility and relocate the existing grade levels to two new classrooms at the Bolinas campus. The plan also proposes the construction of a gymnasium, stage and science lab, and renovated art shops at the Bolinas campus.
The board has grappled for weeks over how to best mitigate increased classroom congestion while avoiding evicting the privately operated preschool. “Simple, direct solutions are often the most effective,” Kostelnik said. “Rather than officially serving K-8 students while dabbling piecemeal in pre-K as exemplified by this lease of space to one preschool, I suggest broadening our mission to encompass preschool programs, too.”