Sausalito School Trustee Begins Jail Weekends- April 17, 1999 - San Francisco Chronicle - by Peter Fimrite

Sausalito School Trustee Begins Jail Weekends
Peter Fimrite, Chronicle Staff Writer

Saturday, April 17, 1999

(04-17) 04:00 PDT SAUSALITO -- Sausalito school trustee Cathomas Starbird, who admitted pummeling another woman during a sexual tryst, was taken into custody yesterday after a judge agreed to allow her to spend the next 45 weekends in jail.

The decision by Marin County Superior Court Judge Terrence Boren leaves Starbird free during the week to take care of her three children and, presumably, to attend school board meetings.

Her incarceration came one day after three board members called her presence at meetings a distraction and demanded that she resign.

Her refusal to do so, with the vocal backing of several Marin City residents, has created a volcano of discord that erupted again yesterday with talk of a recall campaign.

``We have no other recourse except a recall,'' said trustee Judy Johnson, who claims that several citizens told her they were collecting signatures. ``I am sure there

will be a recall involving people from both Marin City and Sausalito.''

Bill Hudson and Jane Colton are the other board members who urged Starbird to step down.

About 1,800 validated signatures would be needed to place a recall on the ballot. Just one year ago, Starbird and her colleagues on the current school board ran together in a successful campaign to recall the previous trustees.

Johnson, Starbird and Shirley Thornton were elected during the recall. Hudson and Colton were elected to their posts last fall.

Their organization, Project Homecoming, had a grand vision of uniting Sausalito and Marin City residents to overhaul the failing Sausalito School District. The district serves students from Sausalito, which is predominantly white, and Marin City, which has a mostly black population.

The conviction of Starbird on misdemeanor assault charges has fractured the alliance, prompting accusations of racism by supporters of Starbird, who is black, against the three white board members who want her to resign.

``Historically, African Americans are forgiving people,'' said Michael Tabb, who owns a bookstore in Marin City. ``Obviously, people of European descent aren't as quick to forgive and move on.''

Johnson, Hudson and Colton say credibility, not race, is the issue -- especially since Starbird ran on a platform to reduce violence in the schools. Starbird was accused of assaulting a woman on April 25, 1998, after the woman tried to back out of a sexual threesome with Starbird and her husband.

Starbird pleaded guilty to misdemeanor assault November 30. She was given a choice of spending a 90-day sentence in jail, or spending 15 days in jail and wearing an electronic bracelet the rest of the time. Starbird decided to forgo the bracelet yesterday when the judge granted her request to serve her time on weekends.

The fifth board member, Thornton, who is black, has steered clear of the current controversy.

Many parents in Sausalito and Marin City had hoped that Project Homecoming's success last year meant that the district's long-standing problems would finally be addressed. Despite per-student spending that is nearly three times the state average, the district has the lowest test scores in the county.

As many as 1,000 white Sausalito children now attend private schools, leaving the student population at Bayside/Martin Luther King elementary and Northbay Alternative with predominantly African American student bodies.

The Project Homecoming coalition argued that the schools' poor performance stems from a cultural bias that accepts less from minority students.