A contingent of mostly Latino parents mobilized Tuesday night to prepare for tonight’s Shoreline Unified School District Board of Trustees meeting, at which they will demand the district hire a full-time principal for Tomales Elementary School. A public discussion of the principal position is slotted on the agenda and is anticipated to draw a vocal crowd of parents, teachers and other Shoreline community members. “This fills me with strength, seeing all of these parents here working to help their children,” said María Niggle, the chair of the West Marin Collaborative who led the meeting alongside the director of West Marin Community Service’s Resource Center, Socorro Romo. “Our children are the reason we’re here. It must be the reason we’re here.” About 20 women—mostly Latino parents—attended the special meeting of Abriendo Caminos, a biannual leadership training program meant to empower members of West Marin’s Latino community. Parents have increasingly called on trustees to tackle the issue of the principal position, which is now staffed part-time by longtime teacher and principal Jim Patterson. Many have rejected the notion that the school could continue to be supported by a part-time principal, citing increased instances of school bullying that go undisciplined and students punished for actions they did not commit due to a depleted staff’s inability to thoroughly investigate and address behavioral issues. “What we need to do is work together,” said Obdulia Hernandez, a parent at the school. “And the nucleus of what brings us together is the children. If we don’t speak up to defend our kids, who is going to?” Mr. Patterson stepped in to fill the principal position after the district placed Jane Realon—the school’s full-time principal for 17 years—on administrative leave in 2014. Since then, Mr. Patterson has only worked at the school three days a week, with eighth-grade teacher Eric Bellatore and Bodega Bay Elementary School Principal Nancy Wolf filling in on his off-days. And though parents, staff and trustees alike have roundly praised the job he has done, Mr. Patterson told the Light that he would need more support from the district in order to consider returning as principal next school year. “It’s stressful when I’m gone and worrying about it,” said Mr. Patterson, who has returned to work for the district four times since retiring in 2006. “That’s almost the worst part of it.”