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Ross Valley schools to cast wide net for child care center solution

Marin Independent Journal - 6/24/2022

Jun. 24—Ross Valley School District officials will open discussions with Marin government agencies, nonprofits and anyone who might have a plan to find a solution for the beleaguered Fairfax San Anselmo Children's Center.

"We are authorizing staff to talk about solutions and options," Shelley Hamilton, president of the board of trustees said at a special board meeting Thursday. "That is different than in the past, when they were limited to talking about timelines and due diligence."

Thursday's meeting followed a tumultuous gathering June 14 when about 200 adults and children packed into the district office to protest a recommendation by district counsel Terry Tao that the center be given 30 to 60 days' notice to leave due to liability issues.

Hamilton and Marci Trahan, district superintendent, said they would allow another month for all the parties and community stakeholders to meet and talk before the July 19 board meeting. At that time, trustees would likely signal support for one of the options and set a timeline for when any changes should take place.

"We are meeting with the children's center on July 6," Trahan said before about 75 people at the meeting, which had been moved to Wade Thomas Elementary School to accommodate a larger audience.

"Progress must be made to ensure that the known facility safety risks are addressed within a 'reasonable' period of time," said a document distributed by the district at Thursday's meeting and attached to the meeting agenda. "By the end of that timeframe, one of three things must be in place."

The three things listed were: funding and approvals secured to upgrade the building to current safety standards; a sale or transfer that would allow the center to remain at the Fairfax site; or movement of the center to another location, permanently or temporarily, while progress is made on one of the first two options.

Both Heidi Tomsky, the children's center executive director, and co-director Erik Schweninger declined comment on the outreach schedule, saying they had no idea what to think about it.

Hamilton said the district has had no inquires on any of the options — including selling the property.

"We've had no word yet on any of this," she said. "We're just putting it out there."

Although no action has been taken on the attorney's recommendations, some trustees did express concern at the May 31 board meeting that the building lacked up-to-date fire safety code and building code improvements and would not be safe for children if there were a fire or other emergency.

Trahan said that additional water pressure and water flow tests will be conducted next week at the fire hydrants near the child care building at the former Deer Park School in Fairfax.

The center, one of the only subsidized child care centers in Marin for almost 50 years, is owned by the district but has not been used for a school for all that time. Instead, the district has leased the facility to the children's center. The lease at present is on month-to-month terms.

The current crisis was triggered in March, when Tomsky asked the district for a four-year lease extension so that the center could apply for a $500,000 state grant to do a series of improvements. Tao, citing the state grant's requirements, as well as a series of state laws and code upgrades that would be needed, advised against the lease extension.

He said in a letter, which was attached to the agenda for Thursday's special meeting, that the trustees would be at risk of personal liability unless all the upgrades were made — or at least planned and funded — before they granted a lease extension. He estimated that it would cost up to $8.5 million for the building to be brought up to current code standards.

Attendees at Thursday's meeting opposed Tao's recommendations, saying they were extreme.

"We have a choice," said longtime Ross Valley education activist Lisa Canin.

"We can lockstep follow the advice of the outside consultant you hired, who is overwhelmingly focused on reducing your hypothetical liability to zero," she said. "....Or, you can commit to community-wide collaboration with critical local partners to reduce actual liability to the center and the visitors and neighbors of Deer Park."

Eva Polony of Fairfax said she never could have survived while raising two kids as a single mother without the Fairfax San Anselmo Children's Center. Her children, now 12 and 17, attended the center after school until 6 p.m. until they were in fifth grade.

"My kids got picked up in a white van while I was working for very little money," she said. "It's unbelievable. I couldn't have done it without the children's center."

Marin teacher Torri Chappell said the center offered the only affordable child care in the Ross Valley.

"In this whole community, it's the only place where people of color and people of low income are getting support," she said.

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(c)2022 The Marin Independent Journal (Novato, Calif.)

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