dsc_7679
SAN GERONIMO VALLEY: Two San Geronimo Valley residents, Richard Sloan and Aneice Taylor, received the Edie Robinson Community Service Award on Monday. Mr. Sloan, the 2014 recipient, has served as a trustee at the Lagunitas School District since 1971; as a foreman, he built and renovated the school’s playground and other facilities numerous times. Ms. Taylor, the 2015 recipient, is the founder of In Spirit, a nonprofit that provides financial assistance to quadriplegics.   David Briggs

Several West Marin educators were honored last week with the county’s Golden Bell Awards, which are given annually for outstanding service to local education. Two educators were presented with top awards: Richard Sloan, a longtime trustee of the Lagunitas School District, who was named a “Co-Trustee of the Year,” and Dolores Gonzalez of Shoreline Unified School District, who was named “Classified Employee of the Year.” Mr. Sloan was elected to his district’s Board of Trustees in 1971 by a group of civil rights and anti-war activists who wanted an alternative-education option for their children. The result was the district’s Open Classroom program, which encourages students to develop their own style and pace of learning and is run by parents, teachers and alumni who make decisions based on consensus. Unlike the conventional setting of walled classrooms and desks in rows, the program’s open space—in which students in kindergarten through sixth grade commingle daily—allows for the spontaneous and personalized learning promoted by psychologist Jean Piaget, a pioneer of cognitive child development theory; educator John Holt, a school reformer whose work greatly influenced homeschooling; and the English Infant Schools model, which encourages children’s choice. “What works best in education is the partnership between the home and the school,” said Mr. Sloan, who has been reelected nine times to the board. “I work to maximize the partnership and to eliminate the obstacles to it.” For her part, Ms. Gonzalez has worn many different hats for her district. Since arriving in 1992, she has worked as an assistant teacher, physical education teacher, librarian, Spanish translator and cafeteria server, and offers indispensable volunteer outreach to the district’s majority Latino community. “I feel so honored to have this reward. I feel like giving back to my community because I know how hard it is to know English as a second language.” Other teachers awarded Golden Bells include Robert Hoge of Bolinas-Stinson Union School District; Nathan Murray and Laurie Riley of Lagunitas; and Loretta Smith, Ben Demsher, Dominic Sacheli and Sue Gonzalez of Shoreline.