Marin IJ Readers’ Forum for Feb. 22, 2026
Plan to improve scores should be part of RVSD tax campaign
In her Marin Voice commentary published Feb. 3 with the headline “Ross Valley’s investment in public education matters,” Rachel Litwack, president of the Ross Valley School District Board of Trustees, argued for an increased parcel tax. I would summarize her message this way: RVSD schools are great, but they need the tax to increase teachers’ salaries and maintain class sizes.
The 2025 California Assessment of Student Performance and Progress results for RVSD’s economically disadvantaged students show that 51% are below grade proficiency for English arts and 65% are below grade proficiency for math. For all students in math, 18% of third and fourth graders were below grade-level proficiency. That figure jumps to almost 33% for fifth graders and increases for each grade through the eighth grade.
Annually over the last 10 years, one-fourth of all RVSD students were not proficient in reading and one-third were not proficient in math. That isn’t great.
RVSD should promote its tax with a plan for improving student success. Last summer, it adopted a K-5 English language program based on phonics. Other states have seen significant improvements in reading when phonics teaching is supported with additional resources for students needing it and accountability for results.
The teachers union contract does not authorize compensation changes from the agreed-upon fixed schedule. State law imposes multi-year delays and litigation costs making it financially unrealistic to terminate a tenured teacher.
Passing the tax will allow RVSD to amend contracts and increase salaries. I suggest that increases should be paired with accountability to incentivize and reward teacher performance. Hold administrators responsible for implementing plans and rewarding results. Then annually, for each school, publish the California assessment performance results (as shown above) directly to the community. Show the taxpayers that Ross Valley schools provide incentives and accountability that produce results if the tax passes.
— M. David Minnick, Kentfield
MarinHealth must do more to support its nurses
On Wednesday, nurses at MarinHealth Medical Center walked out into the rain to protest working without a contract since June of last year. I agree with the perspective of the nurses, that it appears the administration doesn’t want to do more for the health insurance of the nurses. That’s upsetting. After all, many of these same nurses selflessly cared for Marin residents through the COVID-19 pandemic.
The administration should do more to address the nurses’ concerns about safe staffing levels. It appears the hospital is doing well financially, so it should step up.
I urge everyone to support our nurses. This impacts the health care of most people in Marin.
— Catherine Chute, Mill Valley
Appeals of San Rafael housing plan should be dismissed
A month ago, the San Rafael Planning Commission approved construction of a 200-unit building at 700 Irwin St. This decision should have been a cause for celebration – a recognition that, after years of burying its head in the sand about the housing crisis plaguing the entire Bay Area, San Rafael leaders were finally confronting the problem.
Instead, the project was immediately hit with appeals. I worry they could, depending on the decisions made by the City Council, throw a permanent wrench into the development.
I think the purpose of these appeals is evident: to delay the project as much as possible until the developers step away in frustration.
The project seems uncontroversial in my view. It will replace an unused office building with much-needed housing. Downtown businesses will get a boost from the increased foot traffic. It would also be a five-minute walk away from the San Rafael Transit Center, and just off the ramp to Highway 101.
Yet, the project’s detractors focus on the height of the building as sufficient reason to block the entire project. This opposition appears to be entirely aesthetic, even though ideas about beauty are entirely in the eyes of the beholder. I, for one, believe that the neighborhood would be greatly improved, not just economically, but aesthetically as well, with the addition of this structure.
As these arguments about aesthetics drag on, the housing crisis gets worse. The traffic on the Richmond-San Rafael Bridge seems to be more congested by the day. I suspect this is in part due to service workers commuting into the county.
The housing situation is unsustainable. The first step to alleviating this is for the City Council to oppose these frivolous appeals against the project.
— Aniruddha Gupta, Ross