Just before the start of the new school year, a controversy over kindergarten placement brought dozens of people to a Mill Valley School District board meeting, hoping for a short-term relief from schoolwork that they say is a burden on families.

About two dozen people had registered for public comment at the Mill Valley School District board meeting on August 8, but the meeting was adjourned because a special session was scheduled to approve a response to a Marin County Civil Court grand jury report on special education.

Committee Chair Sharon Nakatani said the district was notified several days earlier that a response was due Sept. 6, which was too late to put on the Aug. 8 agenda. The next committee meeting is Sept. 11. She said the Marin County Office of Education gave the committee permission to add the special meeting, and the committee did not want to miss the deadline.

Elizabeth Kaufman, the district’s superintendent, said it’s rare for a special meeting to be inserted in the middle of a regular board meeting. “This is the first time I’ve seen anything like this in my 28 years in education,” she said.

Commenters were limited to 90 seconds per person, instead of the usual two or three minutes. “Our board charter allows us to reduce the time for public comment,” Nakatani said this week.

The parent, Jessica Ilse, said she contacted the Marin County District Attorney’s Office after the meeting. She said she viewed the interruption of the regular session for the board’s special meeting and the shortening of public speaking time as intentional and a violation of the Ralph M. Brown Act, California’s open meetings law.

“I think the tactics MVSD uses to suppress free speech should be addressed,” Ilse said. “They are elected government officials and are subject to laws that protect the rights of individual citizens and should respect those laws.”

Salma Tijero, chief investigator in the Brown Act Violations Unit of the Marin County District Attorney’s Office, declined to comment.

The issue of kindergarten placement was of paramount importance to at least a dozen families in Tamalpais Valley and Homestead Valley who were denied kindergarten placement at Tam Valley Elementary School.

The families were assigned to Strawberry Point Elementary School, which they said is the farthest from their homes of the district’s five elementary schools. The Mill Valley School District has about 2,400 students at five elementary schools and Mill Valley Middle School.

Parents said they have no hard feelings toward Strawberry Point, but pointed out that in some cases the campus is twice as far from their homes as Tam Valley. The move also means their children will be separated from a community of neighborhood friends.

“Many parents are stuck in this predicament and in a system that has failed them, with no transparency in the selection process,” said father Frank Rey de Perea.

Several parents asked the board to consider adding a third kindergarten class at the Tam Valley school.

“We are asking you to add another kindergarten class in Tam Valley,” said parent Ben Schooler, who said he and his wife, Liz Hatch, were “shocked” that there was no school bus service to Strawberry Point.

For Michelle Paitich of Homestead Valley, it will be “difficult” to drive to Strawberry Point and take her child to kindergarten there, “because there is no preschool care there and we are a working family with two parents,” she said.

Ilse said she fears the placement could continue through fifth grade, even though her son is on the waiting list for Tam Valley.

“That’s six years that our child will no longer be in our community,” said Ilse. “Aren’t you getting the message that we are upset?”

Nakatani said at the start of the meeting that the board would remain firm in its placement decisions.

“We follow our placement policies and processes and it has worked for 90% of families,” Nakatani said.

“We are aware of the community’s concerns and plan to look at the guidelines and regulations,” she added. “However, it is unlikely that everyone will get exactly what they want in a placement process.”

Originally published: 16 August 2024 at 19:09