Legal problems grow for schools trustee - Marin IJ 04/22/06

Legal problems grow for schools trustee
Don Speich

Marin IJ 04/22/2006

A Sausalito Marin City schools trustee is facing a raft of legal troubles, including an arrest warrant for his failure to appear in court for not paying child support and a trial next month on domestic violence charges.
Additionally, Robert Fisher, 59, of Marin City, who was appointed to the school board in August 2005, was sentenced in Marin Superior Court this week to six months of probation and 88 hours of community service for driving with a suspended driver's license.

An Independent Journal check of his background found no evidence he earned a bachelor's degree in engineering from San Jose State University, as he stated in his application for the seat on the school board.

There is no record of a Robert E. Fisher born on March 22, 1947 - his name and birth date listed in court and voter registration files - who received an engineering degree, said San Jose State spokeswoman Pat Lopes Harris. There was, she said, a Robert E. Fisher who was born on a different date and received a degree in a different discipline. She could provide no additional details, citing privacy considerations.

Fisher declined to comment.

Contacted Friday, George Stratigos, president of the Board of Trustees, said, "Since his appointment last August, Robert Fisher has been a helpful addition to the Board of Trustees. Where we go from here regarding these various issues is something I will have to discuss with my fellow board members and our new superintendent before I comment further."

In early January, Fisher was ordered by Marin Superior Court Commissioner William Hochman to pay child support in the amount of $423 per month, according to court records. Fisher had told the court he could not work because he had diabetes.

The child support case dates back to 1999. That year, it was referred to a county family support case worker, VaDonna Danesi. She stated in a court document that on Dec. 9, 1999, Fisher failed to show up for a court-ordered meeting where he was supposed to hand over his medical records.

At a subsequent meeting on Dec. 20, 1999, Fisher did appear but was able only to give the name and not the address of one physician, and neither the name nor any other information about another, Danesi stated in a court document.

On Jan. 12 of this year, Hochman, besides ordering child support, ordered Fisher "to seek and maintain employment," keep track of his efforts and record all hours worked and the gross and net income he received.

On April 6, Fisher failed to appear in court but called,according to records, to say he was in Chicago. Hochman issued a $35,000 bench warrant for his arrest.

During the period Fisher said he was in Chicago, three of the district's trustees - Stratigos, Tom Clark and Shirley Thornton - along with new Superintendent Debra Bradley, were in Chicago attending a National School Boards Association convention. Fisher, who apparently planned to attend, backed out at the last moment, according to district officials, forcing the district to forfeit a $650 registration fee.

Stratigos said Fisher had canceled to be with his elderly mother with whom he lives.

The misdemeanor domestic violence incident, according to court records, stems from a Nov. 11, 2005, arrest by Novato police on charges of "battery on a non-cohabitating former spouse or partner and dissuading a witness or victim from reporting an alleged crime." A protective order for the victim was issued Jan. 12. A trial is to begin May 10.

Fisher's attorney, Deputy Public Defender Michele Berrong, said she could not comment on the case because it is still under investigation.

Fisher won a seat last November on the Marin City Community Services District board, even though the district and the school district of which he is a trustee occasionally deal with issues affecting both. It raised the question of the potential for conflict of interest. He recently resigned from the CSD board. Fisher ran unsuccessfully for the CSD board in 2001.

Fisher is elusive about his past.

A biography online by the League of Women Voters prior to the November election reported he was born in San Antonio, Texas, in 1947 and "moved to Marin City at the age of 1 year old to live with his grandmother. Robert has maintained his permanent residence in Marin City for 54 years."

The biography offers a list of jobs, most of them vague in terms of dates and company names. For example, it said Fisher has been "chief estimator and field engineer for several Bay Area heavy construction firms, president of a construction equipment leasing firm, president of a computer manufacturing and repair firm, math teacher and dean of boys in an Oakland religious school, engineer to design review boards, planning commissions, and city councils."

ACLU Meeting on School District Drug Dog Policy with George Stratigos - Minutes of April 17, 2006 Meeting

ACLU Marin Chapter
Board of Directors
Convened at the West End Cafι
Meeting of April 17, 2006

Meeting called to order at 7:35.

Present: Art Duffy, Coleman Persily, George Pegelow, June Swan, Art Duffy,
Bob Harmon (secretary), Aref Ahmadia (chairman), Jerry Ellersdorfer, Arnie
Scher (treasurer), Rico Hurvich

Guests Present: Mary Gomes, George Stratigos (pres., Sausalito School
Dist.), Drina Brooke, Jack Beggs.

Approval of agenda. Play (“Muzzled in America”) under new business, George
Stratigos to speak before chair's report. M/S as amended.

George Stratigos, chair of the Sausalito School District Board, invited by
Rico Hurvich to speak. Could not understand why he is "on other side of the
fence" from ACLU on the dog drug searches. Trying to change the reputation
of a predominantly-African-American school district. Quite offensive spin;
furor, "lynch mob" mentality.

Arnie Scher: we didn't know how this happened; this being handled by
ACLU-NC.

George Stratigos: this allowed press to exploit the racial aspects the
district has grown far beyond. Most of comments not by parents in district.
District seeking to dispel reputation for drug-dealing, the stigma as well
as any real drugs. Want to be a 900 API district. Put dog policy in effect
in November, in unoccupied areas of campus. Gave notice to parents; also
showed dogs to students in assembly. African-American students will go on to
high school in Mill Valley and subjected to disparate treatment in drug
searches; need to inform them of this kind of enforcement. "Individualized
suspicion" is part of policy, do not sniff individuals, search unoccupied
areas. Blown into a major issue. Looked like ACLU had false information;
looks like a publicity stunt. Public has provided overwhelming support; fact
and perception of drugs a major problem for the school board and ACLU-NC
wasn't helpful. Now headlines are, e.g., "Troubled School District Hires New
Superintendent," etc. We got sideswiped and want to understand.

George Pegelow: understand parents got truncated notice; parents told on a
Friday and students searched on a Monday. Calls made to Marin Human rights
Roundtable; complaints by students and parents. Parents concerned, some
preliminary publicity; some students media request, via Whitney Hoyt, and
students not heard by school board. Perception that school board not
interested. District can search unoccupied areas; possibly ACLU-NC has wrong
information. (Stratigos) ACLU sent letter to us and to the press. (Pegelow)
This problem was significant before. Also, this school only has 38 students.
Community -- not ACLU -- felt that other ways of addressing issues are
needed. Will communicate this to ACLU-NC on Thursday; feel that letter did
not have all facts.

(Stratigos) the First dog-sniffing mention was not agendized at the first
meeting. Put it on agenda later, of 200 people only 3 parents were present.
Want to send message of no tolerance of drugs. Want to integrate kids with
society. SSD has burden of showing Marin. Don't want to pre-label kids; dog
issue is minor. Someone out there is using this district to show it "a
museum of racism" and everyone has role expectations.

(Jerry Ellersdorfer) Urged Stratigos to write ACLU-NC directly since they
originated the letter. Also, remember we're very sensitive to search &
seizure, even going in on a mass basis without reasonable cause is what
we're concerned with. ACLU is generally sensitive to this.

(Stratigos) we are sensitive to unreasonable search & seizure issue. But
have real facts of concern to us, 30 arrests for drugs within a few blocks
of our school. 17 days before the public hearing, a child did bring some
marijuana onto campus; felt that press had given them impunity.

(June Swan) Would it be helpful if we wrote letter to editor? (Pegelow)
Should come from ACLU-NC. (others) Chapter Board learned of letter from
papers. Our board usually tries to deal with issues informally and defuse
issues. (Stratigos) whoever called ACLU-NC also called NAACP. Agenda.

(Aref) Asked George Pegelow to raise the issue at ACLU-NC. Stratigos gave
Pegelow a copy of the district policy. Also SSD has called focus groups and
place for parents to talk in privacy, and talk with kids about getting rid
of drugs. Dogs were just a tool, not an objective. We do have people who
want to sell us drug programs.

(June Swan) Mentioned someone who founded a "Good for the Hood" program in
Marin city. (George P.) Try to make sure people know your concern, nothing
surreptitious, less emotional, need to encourage community to attend more
board meetings and not just the controversial ones.

(Bill King) Noted that he was a former Novato SD member, had similar
controversy, considerable denial about the drug problem in Marin, not many
drug education programs in Marin because of controversy. People felt concern
about dogs; need to explain how dogs are used; never to be used against a
person but against lockers and cars. Some of us who were in the civil rights
movement in 1960s have memories of police dogs, Bull Connor &c.

(Art Duffy) Thanked George Stratigos for his comments. (Stratigos) In Marin
city and Sausalito are strange relationships between various groups and the
School Board; taking strong stand to be center of community, moving middle
school and SSD offices into Marin City, $12M school bldg and
performance-driven (not poverty-driven) programs.

IJ Editorial - A Good Choice to Lead School District

A good choice to lead school district
Marin Independent Journal April 17,2006
Opinion Section Editorial Page B7


THE Sausalito Marin City School District is a mystery. The best-funded school district in Marin is among the poorest performing.
This is a school district that is crying out for strong leadership, direction and community support.

Hiring Debra Bradley as the district's new superintendent appears to be a move in the right direction.

The school board is hoping she will help the district fulfill its "Vision 900" goals of improving student test scores to among the best in California. That's a lofty goal, and one that will take committed leadership, dedicated and talented teachers and widespread community support to achieve.

Bradley is no stranger to such challenges. She was superintendent of the 11,000-student Lompoc Unified School District in Santa Barbara County. She succeeded at turning around test scores in that district, where enrollment is about 62 percent Latino.

Over the past two years, she has worked for the state Department of Education as an academic troubleshooter focused on improving student performance in the Los Angeles Unified School District.

The Sausalito Marin City School District is far smaller, with 280 students, but some of the complex issues are the same.

She will team up with a local school board that has committed
itself to rebuilding enrollment and community confidence - in both Marin City and Sausalito - in the district's three schools.

The school board could use some of Bradley's veteran leadership after missteps that include the decision to use drug-sniffing dogs on the middle school campus before working to make sure that parents and the community were aware of and fully supported such a drastic measure.

The board also faces lingering criticism for its sudden dismissal of Bradley's predecessor, Rose Marie Roberson, who had made some progress in improving test scores and building community support.

There is much more of that mountain that needs to be scaled to attain the goals of "Vision 900."

But Bradley appears to have the talent and experience that will be needed to help the district achieve the academic gains it seeks and create the environment for learning that the Sausalito Marin City School District students deserve.

We wish her swift success.

Letter to District Parents Announce New Superintendent - by George Stratigos

April 17, 2006

Dear Parents and Neighbors:

I’m excited to announce that starting today a new superintendent has taken over the leadership of our public school district. Debra Bradley, who previously served as the superintendent of Lompoc Unified School District in Southern California, comes to our district with over thirty years of experience in education, beginning as a middle school teacher. For the last two years she has served as a consultant to both the California Department of Education and the Los Angeles County of Education/Division of School Improvement. In that role she provided expertise on instruction, assessment, professional development, school culture, and fiscal support to help raise the API scores of schools.

Superintendent Bradley will play a critical role in moving us toward our long-stated goal of Vision 900. She has proven throughout her career in education that academic success is the most critical aspect of school performance.

In the coming months and years, you will find that Debra Bradley is a hands-on leader. She is determined to meet staff, parents and community members during the coming weeks. Help her to do that by introducing yourself when you have the opportunity.

Interim Superintendent Mary Buttler, who will remain on at the district office on a part-time basis until July, has played an essential role in allowing us to make a seamless transition from one district administration to the next. As trustee Robert Fisher said. “Her good work and open heart kept us on track, both academically and in preparing our community for Measure I bond improvements. She deserves our deepest appreciation.”
Today, our pre-construction planning for a new middle school and a new K-1 pod are moving ahead of schedule and on budget because of her careful oversight.

Priority number one for the new superintendent is to assist the board in completing the search for a new principal who will replace Bayside and MLK’s retiring principal, Ruby Wilson. In the past five years we have seen our student test scores double. Our district is the second most improved in the entire state of California. Our new principal will have to play a vital role in seeing that our schools keep moving forward.

We still have a long way to go to reach the mandate we set for our district in Vision 900. When that goal is achieved we will have test scores equal to or better than any other district in Marin County. Ten years ago, that was an impossible goal. Today it is within our grasp.

The support of our community in supporting this vision has been deeply gratifying. We are confident that Debra Bradley’s innovative leadership is going to help carry us the rest of the way. Our best days are yet to come.

Please join us in welcoming Superintendent Bradley to our district!

Sausalito Marin City Schools Get New Leader

Troubled Marin City Sausalito schools get new leader

Don Speich 4/06/2006 Marin Independent Journal

A long-time educator who specializes in raising test scores through improvements in curriculum and teaching methods was named Wednesday as superintendent of the Sausalito Marin City School District, the lowest-scoring district in the county. Debra Bradley, a former superintendent of the 11,000-student Lompoc Unified School District in Santa Barbara County, will begin work April 17 with a predominantly black enrollment of 350 students. Her annual salary will be $142,500. Bradley's predecessor, Rose Marie Roberson, was placed on paid administrative leave last August, as part of the trustees' desire to bring in new administrators to improve academic achievement. The goal, as expressed repeatedly by board president George Stratigos and echoed by others, is to make Sausalito Marin City the "best district in the country" and in so doing lure Sausalito's white students back to the district. White parents for years have sent their children to private schools. High test scores, Stratigos and others believe, will bring them back. For the past two years Bradley has been an academic trouble-shooter for the state Department of Education, working mostly at the Los Angeles Unified School District in black and Latino low-achieving schools. She said she had been successful in raising test scores at several Los Angeles schools but was unable to immediately provide an example. Trustees have adopted the slogan "Vision 900," which stands for a high-water Academic Performance Index test score mark achieved by a handful of districts in the state. The top API score is 1,000. The highest-scoring districts in Marin score in the low- to mid-800s, making them among the highest scoring in the state. Sausalito Marin City's three schools - Bayside, Willow Creek Academy and Martin Luther King Jr. Academy middle school - last year had a combined API of 692. "Debra Bradley will provide a steady and experienced hand moving us toward our long-stated goal of Vision 900," said Stratigos in a written statement. "She has proven throughout her career in education that academic success is the most critical aspect of school performance. "Our board is determined to see our district's students meet or exceed the highest levels of academic achievement in Marin, and we believe that Ms. Bradley is well-qualified in leading that effort." Bradley said that she will focus on bringing the district's curriculum into "alignment" with state mandated curriculum. This is significant because questions on state tests are drawn from the curriculum deemed necessary to assure that students learn the basic skills essential to develop critical thinking skills. Bradley was at Lompoc from 1986 to 2003, rising from teacher to school administrator to superintendent from 1996 to 2003. Bradley, who will replace interim superintendent Mary Buttler, said the most important element of improving learning is teachers. To that end, she said, she will be talking to district teachers and finding out what professional development in pedagogical approaches they have taken part in, as well as new programs that might be available to improve instruction. Parental participation also is important, she said. Bradley said she will reach out to parents, scheduling conferences and meetings at times convenient to them. The help that parents can provide to their children in terms of homework or simply talking about school is considered by most educators as fundamental to academic achievement. Lompoc Trustee Sue Schuyler said Bradley "did a great job, she did a lot of innovative things to bring up test scores." Lompoc's enrollment is 62 percent Hispanic, and before Bradley's tenure at the district's top post, had been registering low scores. Schuyler could not recall how high or from what mark to another the scores had risen. Schuyler said Bradley "backed down" the state-mandated curriculum from the 12th grade to the first, to make sure all grades were learning what was required for good test scores. "The school district that found her could not have done better," Schuyler said. "She did a great job and I was sad to see her go." Kenneth D. Ostini, another Lompoc trustee, called Bradley "very strong and very sure of herself." Contact Don Speich via e-mail at dspeich@marinij.com

Response to Drug Dogs Marin IJ - By George Stratigos

We will not look the other way
by George Stratigos Marin Independent Journal

THE PUBLIC conversation of our board's decision to contract with a firm used by other Marin County schools to perform drug detection sweeps, utilizing specially trained dogs, has gotten far ahead of the facts.
At two publicly noticed district board meetings in late 2005, this program was discussed in open session. Once the program was approved as part of a comprehensive drug prevention policy, we notified, by mail, all of our students' parents.
In January, we held an assembly with the students in which company representatives came and introduced the drug-sniffing golden retrievers to staff and students, and the students were told that sweeps of common areas in and around the school would be made on a periodic basis. It was also noted that individual checks of students would not occur unless there was specific cause to do such a search.
To date, no detection sweep has actually occurred. The vocal protest that has now arisen around this component of our drug prevention policy, however, would lead the casual observer to think otherwise.
The board is further examining this policy and will discuss it in public session at a special meeting in the multi-purpose room of Bayside Elementary School on Monday at 7 p.m.
Whatever our final decision on the future of this particular program, I want to assure parents and concerned community members that we will remain vigilant in protecting our children from the scourge of drugs that impacts our nation, our state, our county and our community.
The easy answer to concerns about drug abuse is to simply look the other way. That does a great disservice to our children and their right to a safe and drug-free environment.
Over the last six years, we have doubled our test scores. We have more to do to accomplish what we call "Vision 900," a program that will take us to the top of our county in test score performance.
We have no intention of allowing the corrosive influence of drugs to deter our students from accomplishing this goal and from achieving their dreams.
George Stratigos is president of the Sausalito Marin City School District Board of Trustees.

IJ Reporter Questions Boards attending NSBA conference

The Marin IJ called Sausalito Marin City School Board members and accused the Board of a violation of the Brown Act. They claimed that they were not allowed to have a majority of the board attend a NSBA conference. President George Stratigos called CSBA attorneys to bring light to this matter. It was concluded that the Brown act allowed for a majority of the board to attend a educational conference. The opinion was back up with the following Law:

Below is a copy of the Brown Act provision permitting, under the conditions set forth, the attendance of a majority of your board at conferences such as NSBA currently meeting in the Chicago, IL area. See specifically subsection (c)(2).
GC 54952.2
Brown Act - Open Meeting Laws; Meeting defined
(a) As used in this chapter, "meeting" includes any congregation of a majority of the members of a legislative body at the same time and place to hear, discuss, or deliberate upon any item that is within the subject matter jurisdiction of the legislative body or the local agency to which it pertains.
(b) Except as authorized pursuant to Section 54953, any use of direct communication, personal intermediaries, or technological devices that is employed by a majority of the members of the legislative body to develop a collective concurrence as to action to be taken on an item by the members of the legislative body is prohibited.
(c) Nothing in this section shall impose the requirements of this chapter upon any of the following:
(1) Individual contacts or conversations between a member of a legislative body and any other person.
(2) The attendance of a majority of the members of a legislative body at a conference or similar gathering open to the public that involves a discussion of issues of general interest to the public or to public agencies of the type represented by the legislative body, provided that a majority of the members do not discuss among themselves, other than as part of the scheduled program, business of a specified nature that is within the subject matter jurisdiction of the local agency. Nothing in this paragraph is intended to allow members of the public free admission to a conference or similar gathering at which the organizers have required other participants or registrants to pay fees or charges as a condition of attendance.
(3) The attendance of a majority of the members of a legislative body at an open and publicized meeting organized to address a topic of local community concern by a person or organization other than the local agency, provided that a majority of the members do not discuss among themselves, other than as part of the scheduled program, business of a specific nature that is within the subject matter jurisdiction of the legislative body of the local agency.
(4) The attendance of a majority of the members of a legislative body at an open and noticed meeting of another body of the local agency, or at an open and noticed meeting of a legislative body of another local agency, provided that a majority of the members do not discuss among themselves, other than as part of the scheduled meeting, business of a specific nature that is within the subject matter jurisdiction of the legislative body of the local agency.
(5) The attendance of a majority of the members of a legislative body at a purely social or ceremonial occasion, provided that a majority of the members do not discuss among themselves business of a specific nature that is within the subject matter jurisdiction of the legislative body of the local agency.
(6) The attendance of a majority of the members of a legislative body at an open and noticed meeting of a standing committee of that body, provided that the members of the legislative body who are not members of the standing committee attend only as observers.
(Amended by Stats. 1997, Ch. 253, Sec. 1.)

Marin IJ Artical about NSBA Conf.

School district spends $7,000 on meeting
Jennifer Gollan
Sausalito educators say a trip to Chicago this week that cost the district $6,900 to $7,500 for three board members and the superintendent was money well spent - even if the district forfeits registration money for a fourth trustee who canceled at the last minute.
The National School Boards Association's Annual Conference at the Lakeside Center at McCormick Place began Saturday and ends today.
"We are here gathering information so we can be intelligent," Sausalito Marin City School District trustee Thomas Clark said from Chicago, where he is attending the conference with board President George Stratigos, trustee Shirley Ann Thornton and the district's new superintendent, Debra Bradley. "There is no other place that you can get an education on being a board member."
Featured speakers at the conference included Colin Powell, the former Army general and secretary of state; conservationist Jane Goodall; historian David McCullough; and workout guru Richard Simmons.
The meeting, which drew 12,000 trustees nationwide this year, offers seminars on everything from academic achievement to preschool policies.
A spot check by the Independent Journal indicated that no trustee from several other Marin districts - including San Rafael City Schools, Tamalpais Union, Novato Unified, Mill Valley, Bolinas-Stinson, Dixie, Kentfield and Lagunitas - attended the conference.
This is the first year that all five Sausalito board members have not attended the conference, Stratigos said.
The district spent $650 to register trustee Robert Fisher for the conference, only to have him cancel at the last minute to be with his elderly mother, Stratigos said.
It is not clear why the district's fifth board member, Whitney Hoyt, did not attend.
Depending on whether Fisher's registration fee is refunded, Stratigos said the district will spend $6,932 to $7,582 for air fare, lodging, meals and transportation for the conference.
Stratigos ticked off conference expenditures for each official:
- Airfare: $300 to Chicago, although Bradley's airfare might cost about $400 because her ticket was booked at the last minute;
- Hotel: $600 for four-nights in a hotel;
- Meals/transportation: $158;
- Conference registration: $650 per person.
"It is normal expenses for a conference," Stratigos said. "The biggest expense is the personal expense of time for board members."
Thornton, reached in Chicago, said that she and her colleagues were "out here as representatives of the school board."
Whether it is networking or learning new techniques to support teachers and enrich students, Thornton said the conference was "very worthwhile."
The Sausalito Marin City School District, is composed of three schools with a total of 250 students, this year earned an Academic Performance Index of 692, the lowest of Marin's traditional school districts.
California's goal for public schools is a score of 800 or higher on the state's API, which is based on a scale of 200 to 1,000.
The district is the top-funded school district in Marin, with per-pupil expenditures of $22,230 in 2004-05, the most recent figures available from the state.
A special fund set up by the district covers several conference and training opportunities for Sausalito trustees each year, although the trustees could not immediately provide the cap on expenses allowed. The district office was closed Monday.
"We want all our staff and all our board members to be up-to-date on education issues so the dialogue can be as rich as possible," Stratigos said.
Contact Jennifer Gollan via e-mail at jgollan@marinij.com

Marin IJ Reporters notebook - About NSBA Article

Marin Independent Journal - www.marinij.com
April 15, 2006
Marin Section C
Reporter's Notebook

An article detailing how Sausalito Marin City educators were among the few from Marin to travel to Chicago for a conference at taxpayers expense came under fire from the district's public relations officer, Martin Brown, who called it "a hit piece."

"You mentioned Richard Simmons was one of the speakers in the story, but none of the educators who spoke," Brown fumed.

The story relied on information from the conference's Web site to list keynote speakers including workout guru Simmons.

Among the Sausalito officials who attended the National Board Association's annual conference at the Lakeside Center at McCormick Place were trustees Thomas Clark, George Stratigos, and Shirley Ann Thornton, as well as Superintendent Debra Bradley, The tab: roughly $7,000.

The District may have to forfeit the $650 conference registration fee for a fourth trustee, Robert Fisher, who canceled at the last minute.

School Board Staying Current on Education

Three senior school board members of the Sausalito Marin City School Distict are attending a continued education conference in Chicago, Illinois this week. For more information link to www.nsba.org.

District Saves Kid Program- Marin IJ - About PreSchool Programs

District saves kid programs
Friday 04/07/2006
Marin Independent Journal
Marin Secction C

By Don Speich

Responding to growing concerns from parents and a key social service agency in Marin, trustees of the Sausalito-Marin City School District say they will find classroom space for about 75 pre- and after-school children whose programs are housed in a district building scheduled for demolition.
The board in a unanimous vote Wednesday directed staffers to find classroom space for students who reside in the district. In the past, trustees have said the district could not afford to "subsidize" programs for preschoolers who live outside the district.
There are 125 pre- and after-school children attending programs run by Community Action Marin, which leases space from the district at the Manzanita Learning Center in Marin City. Seventy-five of the children live in the district; the board's action means families of the remaining 50 will have to find programs elsewhere in Marin.
The learning center is being razed this fall to make way for construction of a new Martin Luther King Jr. Academy middle school. Prior to the board's action Wednesday, district officials had said they had virtually no space in which to house the programs, which include Head Start.
Gail Theller, executive director of Community Action Marin, a San Rafael-based social service agency, said Thursday the district is offering space in the existing MLK building, but the agency would have to spend $75,000 to bring the building's restrooms up to code - money, she said, the organization does not have.
Also being considered, she said, is classroom space at the Manzanita Recreation Center, across the street from the learning center. But, she said, that too would require a large sum of money for renovations.
"Everything involves money that we don't have," she said. "So we will have to look to outside sources."
Trustee President George Stratigos said Thursday construction of the new middle school will take two years, and it is during that time that housing the preschool programs is a problem.
Marin City parents have said that, because they work, they depend on the programs for child care and, without them, their children would have no place
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Community Action Marin officials have said that no one in the district would talk to them about finding a solution and, at a meeting last month, Theller chastised the board for not working with her agency.
Since then, however, both CAM and district officials have held several discussions that ended in the successful motion by Trustee Robert Fisher on Wednesday to find space for the children who reside in the district.
Left undecided is who will provide the programs.
Some trustees have said Community Action Marin has failed to adequately prepare students for the district's primary grades; agency officials have responded by pointing to favorable evaluations of the program by the state Department of Education.
Stratigos said the district is committed to preschool programs as an important piece of the trustees' plan to take Sausalito Marin City from the worst to the best in the county.
He said the district is spending $25,000 for "a study or audit by a third party unassociated with anyone in the county" of all preschool programs in Marin to help the board determine who should be handling the job for Sausalito-Marin City after completion of the new middle school.
"We want to educate ourselves to the preschool process," he said, adding that trustees were not ruling out the possibility the district itself would run a preschool program.
When MLK is finished, he said, the building now occupied by the middle school, as well as space in a new district office to be relocated from Sausalito to Marin City, will be "dedicated" to preschool programs.
Contact Don Speich via e-mail at dspeich@marinij.com