School district seeks input on program merger

After decades of housing two separate elementary school formats, the Lagunitas School District is asking its families whether they would support a merger between the 50-year-old open classroom system and a separate Montessori program.

The idea, floated earlier this month to district families in a letter from Laura Shain, the district's superintendent, has been discussed, and even requested, by parents for at least a year.

The district has been losing enrollment, in part, parents say, because the elementary school classes are too small for their children to have options for adequate socialization and diverse learning opportunities.

“We've got to get real about what our job is here,” longtime board member Denise Bohman said. “The younger people whose children are our users should have the right to tell us what they need.”

What's new about the current discussion is that two district teachers — Alex Cusick in the Montessori program and Anita Collison in the open classroom format — have already started collaborating and are finding the two methods are compatible, Shain said in her letter.

“That fact, in my mind, lights my fire,” Shain said. “I think we have the opportunity to create a very powerful united elementary program where the San Geronimo campus will feel like a beehive of activity and joy.”

A meeting of the Montessori parents group is set for Tuesday to discuss the concept, Shain said.

Shain's letter followed a Feb. 16 board of trustees meeting where the idea of teacher collaboration was informally mentioned. There was no in-depth discussion, said Richard Sloan, the board president.

Because the board had not briefed staff or one another on the proposal, Sloan said, Shain's letter was premature. As such, he said, it could erode trust among the various factions within the district and the community.

“We need to minimize the risk of alienating those who will be primarily responsible for effecting the changes,” Sloan said in an email response to Shain's letter.

“Further, the announcement implies staff support and board concurrence, which haven't been secured,” Sloan said. “While we are just barely recovering from a pandemic it is not the time to be creating more chaos, turmoil and dissension.”

Sloan, a fierce supporter of both the open classroom and the Montessori program, said he had tried to schedule an “emergency” board meeting before any outreach to the community to engage trustees and staff on their opinions.