Sausalito Marin City School District

We have begun perhaps the most important journey in public education in recent memory. I am filled with hope, optimism and confidence that the 2021-2022 school year is the dawn of a new era in the Sausalito Marin City School District and in our community. I am overjoyed that in this, our first year post Unification, that so many students, families, and staff trusted in the vision and process created by a group of dedicated staff, parents and community members who dared to dream an impossible dream. This brilliant, resilient, tight knit little community has made so many impossible things possible!

We joined together in the face of the first desegregation order in California in 50 years to chart a course through unknown waters. We started a pipeline to recruit and hire more teachers of color and provided our students with a scholarship as a remedy for segregation. We successfully unified our schools and our community in less than two years. A small group of people were convinced families would leave due to this process. In fact 99% of students and 12/13 teachers from Bayside MLK stayed and 93% of students and 14/16 classroom teachers from Willow Creek Academy stayed. The fact that this time around staff, parents, and community members led this effort is a great testimony to the our community’s commitment to equity, integrity, truth, justice and unification. On Monday August 23rd, we will achieve the 5, 10, and 15 year benchmarks set forth in the settlement agreement with the Attorney General in 2 years.

We accomplished this goal in the middle of a global pandemic. This invisible foe threatened our entire way of life. The spirit of this community became obvious quickly. We banded together to serve the community, ensuring food stability, access to wifi and computers, and then creating the first online community school in the country to ensure that our community still had access to the services they needed even during the strictest lockdown measures. . We were the first District to bring kids back on campus for in person learning in the county. We were the first public school district to receive a waiver to operate in person school from the State Department of Public Health. We were the first district to secure agreements with our labor partners to open in person school.  We were the first District to open our doors for in person instruction 5 days a week,6 hours per day beginning 9/14/2020. We operated in person school for 176 days with zero in school Covid transmissions, longer and more successfully than any other school district. We were able to do these things because of the tremendous courage of our staff. They are heroes who literally agreed to show up for our students when nobody else dared to do so. We experienced sorrow from the loss of family, friends, and coworkers and the deep, emotional reckoning about the true history of our country brought about by George Floyd and the storming of the Capitol Building. 

The awakening of this nation regarding the need to right seemingly unrightable wrongs was particularly evident and relevant here in our district. The love and collaboration on display in this community as students and staff joined peaceful protests and committed to leading for social justice carried us through these turbulent times. Many thought the November 2020 election was not a good time to ask voters to support a school construction bond.  Measure P passed with a 73% yes rate, one of the top pass rates in the entire State.  This will allow us to design world class school facilities to support our vision. 

Although this journey hasn’t always been smooth and there were some stormy days along the way, there is no place I would rather be, no other work I would rather do, and no other people I would rather do it with. Being a part of this community has filled me with immense pride and it is a tremendous honor to begin my third year as your Superintendent. This is the most unique and exciting opportunity to manifest the true promise of a free, high quality public education anywhere in this country. 

This community joined together to reimagine and design an educational system that will serve all students in the 94965 in an inclusive and collaborative way that will make a difference in the lives of students and families for generations to come. We are holding ourselve accountable to the historic opportunity that has been placed before us to heal and unify our communities in a way that shares the gifts of language, culture, and experience so that all the children of Marin City and Sausalito are lifted, nurtured, and supported to overcome any and all barriers to opportunity. We are manifesting the dream of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. and providing a beacon of hope and light and a blueprint for other communities in our county, in our state, and in our country to follow. I am thankful to all of the staff, students, and parents who have put in so much time, effort, and energy in making this impossible dream possible. It is because we began to work together as a team prior to all of the crises we have faced, that we have been able to accomplish so much. 

Our leadership and experience last year allows us to safely launch a world class integrated school, a unified school on two campuses that will be greater than the sum of it’s parts. Our school features: small classes 17:1 in grades TK-3, and 20:1 in grades 4-8; a full inclusion special education model; a Student Success Coach (classroom aid)  for at least half of the day in every classroom; art, music, Spanish, French and PE ; three hours of weekly collaboration between teachers; specific and targeted coaching and intervention for our students who need additional support and for students who are English Language learners, and community school services and partnerships to support parents and families. Our focus on core academics, project based learning, STEAM,  arts integration and a focus on climate justice and social justice mean that we are offering our students a one of a kind educational experience unavailable anywhere else. Our People’s Empowerment Arts Culture and Engagement (PEACE) after school program will offer extended enrichment opportunities in the areas of dance, visual art, instrumental music, yoga, chess, coding, virtual reality and a wide array of intramural athletics and academic support. We will have hands down the most diverse teaching staff and school staff in our county to serve you and your children. We exist to instill a love of learning in our children, to support them as curious and flexible thinkers, confident in their individuality, their community, and in their ability to create a safer and more just world. We have a number of amazing new staff members to help us ensure these standards: Chief Business Officer Jaime Mata, Director of Technology Joe Silviera, Director of Food Service Guiillaume Pfahl, Principal Eveta Jackson, District Office Administrative Assistant Daneka Braziel, and School Psychologist Meghan Williams. They all have been working incredibly hard since they started to support our schools, staff, students, and families and will support us in reaching new heights.

We are all tired of Covid 19 and hoped that we would be able to return to a more normal school year and that is simply not the case. We will carry forward the best of what we did last year into this new year and we will have some of the most stringent, tried and tested Covid protocols you can find anywhere. The health and safety of all your kids and our staff comes first. I believe we know how to keep your family safe better than anyone else. 

I revisited the first letter I sent to you in 2019 and I am proud that we have delivered on that message. This school is still new and the same energy, spirit, and patience that you all demonstrated to get us here will be required again this year. We will need to continue to work together to reach for the stars. We will need you all to be involved in refining and improving our programming, joining the Bond Oversight Committee and participating in the design of our new school facilities. We will not rest until we have transformed education, our community, and left the world better than it was when we started. Thank you for supporting us and joining us on this historic journey, none of this is possible without you!

In Solidarity,

Itoco Garcia Ed.D.

Superintendent

Sausalito Marin City School District

At Bayside MLK, the focus for the school year is on culture and climate and enhanced instruction. School climate speaks to creating positive relationships and engagement throughout the school campus and beyond. Bayside MLK students are demonstrating PRIDE - Pride, Respect, Integrity, Determination and Excellence! 

Through Prevention and Early Intervention funding provided by the County of Marin, the school district is collaborating with Performing Stars/Phoenix Project. This partnership provides additional staff support and community collaboration to develop a shared vision for services that includes cultural competence by building the capacity of caregivers, administrators and teachers to respond to the social-emotional needs of their students through trainings, participation in coordination of services, and linkage to resources. Our community school manager, school based mental health clinicians, special education team, and our Student Success Coaches will all be integral resources in providing supports for students and families in order to systemically remove barriers to education and opportunity. All of our community school programs are accessible online at www.marincountycooperationteam.net

The school is also receiving funding from the Marin Community Foundation through a countywide P3 grant designed to address the achievement and opportunity gap, but also to ensure a successful pathway to college and other postsecondary opportunities. Key elements of the P3 grant include: shared vision, climate/cultural proficiency, high quality teaching and learning, instructional alignment, family engagement, and extended learning opportunities.  Bayside MLK is receiving an instructional coach to increase high quality teaching and learning and instructional alignment from class to class and grade to grade. Our commitment is to enhancing student engagement and improving student learning across the board through evidence-based instructional strategies and data-driven instruction. We have added to additional coaching intervention teachers to support academic instructiona and achievement. We will continue our partnerships with CalEd Partners in Math, and Partners in School Innovationi to support and develop our instructional leadership team and Professional Learning Communities to guide them through cycles of continuous academic improvement

We will continue to implement the Sausalito Marin City School Board approved strategic Arts Education Five Year Plan for BMLK students. The Arts Education Plan was developed through a collaboration with community partners and is reflected in our LCAP and by the hiring of two Art teachers. The Strategic Arts Education Five Year Plan aligns with the district’s Local Control and Accountability Plan by laying out goals, strategies, and budgetary targets for providing BMLK students with arts education and tools intended to also spark excellence in the other core academic areas and, ultimately, instill a passion that will motivate students through high school and beyond. For the 2021-22 school year we are in the third year of the restoration plan and have made great progress!

Recognizing that schools are strengthened when they work together to share best practices, Bayside-Martin Luther King Jr. and Willow Creek Academies unified and have become one school on two campuses.  The school will still be called Bayside Martin Luther King Jr. Academy