Marin IJ Readers’ Forum for March 26, 2025
Board was right to pull controversial resolution
As a retired educator and parent of San Rafael High School alumni, I would like to thank the parents, community members, school staff, district union leaders and San Rafael City Schools Trustee Maureen “Mo” de Nieva-Marsh for their unequivocal opposition to what I consider to be a sexist, tone-deaf and insulting resolution on the board meeting agenda (“San Rafael schools trustee pulls ‘toxic masculinity’ resolution,” March 12).
Young people are fortunate that the efforts of the community in opposition to this resolution resulted in it being removed from consideration. Hopefully, this is a reminder for our community that, even in complex, turbulent and frustrating times, our voices can make a difference. We must speak out when needed and not give in to apathetic despair. I also hope this serves as a reminder that not all requests need to be agendized.
— David Sondheim, San Rafael
County superintendent not treating MVSD fairly
Why is Marin County Office of Education Superintendent of Schools John Carroll loudly threatening the Mill Valley School District for not offering transitional kindergarten? Mill Valley is not the only basic-aid district in Marin not offering TK — Ross and Larkspur-Corte Madera skip it too. According to a recent article in the IJ (“Mill Valley parents get closer to funding goal for transitional kindergarten,” March 23), Carroll says he is targeting MVSD because officials plan to “eliminate” it (where the others have never had it). That explanation makes no sense
The MVSD Board of Trustees cannot manufacture money. For several years, it has offered transitional kindergarten with federal COVID-19 pandemic relief funds. But that money has run out and the Trump administration does not appear ready to replace it. I worry that, should Mill Valley be forced to support TK, it will have to lay off teachers from kindergarten through eighth grade. I doubt that’s what Carroll wants.
School district boards have difficult decisions to make as new federal funding is nonexistent and state funding is threatened by budgetary problems. I completely understand why Mill Valley parents of young children want TK, and they have every right to advocate for it. Admirably, groups are now fundraising to support their position. All of this is proper and appropriate, and perhaps a solution can be found.
The Marin County Office of Education appears to be misusing its authority and engaging in disparate treatment when it loudly threatens litigation against the Mill Valley School District, but is silent about other districts doing the same thing.
— Jim Parrinello, Mill Valley
Oak Hill financing plan is not risky for districts
Everyone agrees that housing affordability is one of Marin’s biggest problems. That is, everyone agrees that housing affordability is one of Marin’s biggest problems until a project is identified and plans become available. At that point, opponents identify at least one “fatal flaw,” which typically results in endless hearings until the developers, almost always, pull out.
Such is the case with the Oak Hill workforce housing project proposed for state-owned land on East Sir Francis Drake Boulevard. The project will provide 135 units of housing for teachers and county employees. The project has already secured approvals and construction permits are expected this spring. Once built, it will be publicly owned by the Marin County Public Financing Authority and will be affordable in perpetuity.
What could possibly be the problem with a project that will make it easier for our school districts to attract the best possible educators? The developer, working with MCPFA, is implementing a bond-financing model to advance the construction process. However, since that model was first envisioned, interest rates have increased.
A solution to the resulting increase in costs has been identified — a program which will allow a balanced budget. Under the program, larger school districts, the Marin County Office of Education (on behalf of smaller districts), the College of Marin and Marin County are each being asked to guarantee occupancy of a small number of units (“Marin worker housing plan faces budget shortfall,” Feb. 18).
With recent surveys estimating that 1,400 educators in Marin would be interested in housing at affordable rates, full occupancy should be easily obtained. In a recent Marin Voice, author Mary Stompe, after acknowledging that building affordable housing is essential, called the risk (which I consider small) implicit in making these guarantees “unacceptable.” I suggest that it is not only acceptable, but that it is critically important to move forward with this project without delay so that our teachers can live where they work.
— Ron Brown, San Rafael
Terrorism must be part of student discussion
The proposed deportation of the activist Mahmoud Khalil for activities related to pro-Palestinian protests at Columbia University is being debated as a free-speech controversy. I believe a bigger issue goes beyond what legal experts think about Khalil.
Hamas, Hezbollah and Iran are deeply unpopular among the majority of Americans. The U.S. State Department designates the first two as terror groups, and Iran is a terror jihadi state. Many agree that they have Israel and the Sunni states in their cross-hairs for destruction. Protests in support of Palestine at universities were also unpopular among most Americans, as were the efforts to disrupt traffic on the Golden Gate Bridge and the Thanksgiving Day parade in New York City.
I think Republican Party leadership is squarely confronting this behavior. From my perspective, many Democrats have been ambivalent or pandered to anti-Israel protesters. Proposing resolutions to disarm Israel by Democratic progressive elected officials has not helped to reassure that all members of the Democratic Party understand the nature and danger of Hamas, Hezbollah or Iran. If the Democrats want any chance of winning elections, they must be clear about whose side they are on. Khalil is yet another symbol of this tension.
Sen. John Fetterman, a Democrat from Pennsylvania, is one resolute voice. Many other Democrats, including Rep. Jared Huffman, our elected official in the House, appear to be virtue signaling by trying to placate both sides.
The bottom line is that the Khalil case is now a political issue. The legal decision will play out in the courts. Public opinion will play out in the votes.
— Jeff Saperstein, Mill Valley
Bear-hunting bill needs to be rejected
As executive assistant for Bear Education Aversion and Response League (a nonprofit working to help people coexist with bears in the Tahoe Basin), I want to share my opposition to the Assembly Bill 1038 proposal. The plan would legalize bear hunting with hounds equipped with GPS collars.
Our group is concerned that allowing this would lead to packs of dogs chasing a bear until it climbs a tree, therefore allowing hunters to easily shoot the bear down. When the bear falls through branches to the ground in this kind of inhumane hunt, it is often finished off by the dogs.
As someone who grew up in Mill Valley and now lives in the Tahoe community of Homewood, I want all to know that the BEAR League considers this practice unethical, at best. It opens the door to further cruelty, including mistreatment of the hounds and torture of their victims.
Assemblymember Heather Hadwick is the author. One of her arguments for the bill is that it would reduce human-bear conflict by making bears fear humans and dogs. However, hunting with hounds would only be allowed in wilderness areas — where bears belong — not in human-inhabited areas where conflicts occur.
Our group believes that hunting, especially by this method, pushes bears into urban areas where they feel safer. Not only is this bill deeply unethical, we think it is based on false claims. California’s black bear population has been stable for the past decade. The real issue of wildfire danger and habitat loss calls for a focus on coexistence, not culling.
— Devon Barone, Homewood (Placer County)