2+ hour, 28+ min ago (738+ words) The number of students enrolled in Marin public schools declined nearly 2% this school year compared to 2024-25, according to the Marin County Office of Education. The figure fell from 30,077 students last year to 29,524.John Carroll, the county superintendent of schools, said the dip was part of the regular ebb and flow of student populations. "A drop of 553 students is not statistically significant " using 30,000 students as the starting population " and could be attributed to normal fluctuations," Carroll said Monday. "I believe it is also consistent with the modest decline in the overall population of Marin." Unlike California's overall population, which grew by an estimated 0.28% from January 2024 to January of this year, Marin's population has continued to decline since the pandemic, according to the state Department of Finance. Other than Marin's population decline, Carroll said he didn't want to speculate on other factors…...

1+ day, 8+ hour ago (150+ words) San Rafael nonprofit 10,000 Degrees raised more than $410,000 at its 2025 Alumni Changemakers Celebration on Nov. 13. The event, which took place at the Julia Morgan Ballroom in San Francisco, was attended by more than 250 people, including Sandy Donnell, of Belvedere; Alaina Baum Erlin, of Corte Madera; Virginia Bria and Jessica Link, both [] San Rafael nonprofit 10,000 Degrees raised more than $410,000 at its 2025 Alumni Changemakers Celebration on Nov. 13. The event, which took place at the Julia Morgan Ballroom in San Francisco, was attended by more than 250 people, including Sandy Donnell, of Belvedere; Alaina Baum Erlin, of Corte Madera; Virginia Bria and Jessica Link, both of Fairfax; Suzanne Badenhoop, Eric Bindelglass, Guy Lampard, Gabrielle Tierney, Justine Corey Whitehead and Paul Whitehead, all of Mill Valley; Vanessa Burnside and Anna Schlegel, both of Novato; and Caroline Silverstein, of San Rafael....

3+ day, 8+ hour ago (567+ words) Marin is one of the most expensive places in California to own or rent a home. Much of the region's workforce including teachers, school staff and county employees can't afford to rent or buy in Marin. If they want to continue with that employment, the only option is to make the long commute from affordable Contra Costa, Solano or central Sonoma counties. The need to provide market-rate quality housing at workforce rates of affordability is a challenge. It's one thing to recruit teachers to coastal California. It's a challenge to retain them when they and their families move here and discover our sky-high cost of living. The development is located on congested Sir Francis Drake Boulevard between Highway 101 and the renamed San Quentin State Rehabilitation Center. It is on a portion of the land that is a defunct gunnery range…...

5+ day, 14+ min ago (699+ words) The Novato Unified School District has approved a plan to cut $4.5 million in costs to stabilize the general fund budget for the 2026-27 school year and beyond. The reductions in staffing, supplies and services grew from $3 million in estimated cuts when the district adopted its $131.5 million 2025-26 budget in June. The district will need to "identify at least $1.5 million in one-time savings through expenditure deferrals, position vacancies, or other cost-containment measures" to add to the $3 million in cuts already earmarked for 2026-27, according to a resolution approved by trustees on Nov. 18. Joshua Braff, the district's chief financial officer, said the plan was mandated by the Marin County Office of Education for the district to maintain its positive budget certification in the first 2025-26 reporting period in December and for two years out. Braff said the county told the district that it needs to make…...

6+ day, 14+ hour ago (461+ words) The San Rafael Board of Education and the Larkspur-Corte Madera school board appointed new members this month. In San Rafael, Kennedy Rodas-Dias, who attended city schools from kindergarten through 12th grade, was appointed to the Trustee Area 5 seat on Nov. 18. The area includes the Canal neighborhood and surroundings. The seat used to be occupied by Isai Nicodemo Rodas, who resigned Oct. 7 in the aftermath of his arrest on sexual assault allegations. The Marin County District Attorney's Office has not filed charges. Rodas-Dias will serve a one-year term on the board. Then an election will be held for a candidate to fill the final two years of Rodas' term. Rodas-Dias, who speaks English and Spanish, is employed as a civil rights paralegal at a law office. He graduated from San Rafael High School and has a bachelor's degree from California State University…...

1+ week, 6+ hour ago (367+ words) The Marin County Office of Education has released the first-round results of its 2025-2026 "mathletes" competition. The event at Hall Middle School in Larkspur on Nov. 18 involved 140 seventh- and eighth-graders from 15 schools, the agency said. Students solved five problems individually and five in teams. The seventh-grade winners were Marin Country Day School in first place, Del Mar Middle School in second and Brandeis Marin in third. The eighth-grade winners were Mount Tamalpais School in first place, Marin Country Day School in second and Kent Middle School in third. The next round is scheduled for Jan. 13 at Hall Middle School. Police arrested a Novato man in a standoff at his residence after he allegedly attempted to hit a person with a hammer. The incident was reported around 3 p.m. Sunday on a sidewalk along Tamalpais Avenue. A bystander interrupted the alleged assault and called…...

1+ week, 1+ day ago (649+ words) Lauren Rahlson has spent much of her life moving from place to place. But, when she came to Marin with her husband, Lukas, five years ago, something felt different. "We are not people who put down roots lightly, just because of our backgrounds. We've just moved around a lot. We always said, if we found the perfect place, we would put down roots. And we knew that it was Marin," said Rahlson, who has since bought a house in San Rafael. "We have our son now, and we plan to be here forever." Being in Marin during the pandemic was a "lifeline" for her. Every day, after spending her days on Zoom as an educator, she would go for a walk through the Marin Headlands or the hills of Sausalito, where she lived at the time. Rahlson pays homage to…...

1+ week, 5+ day ago (1067+ words) Students, teachers and parents are denouncing proposed cost-cutting measures at two Tamalpais Union High School District campuses. The plan involves Tamiscal, an alternative school in Larkspur that offers programs such as independent study and career paths, and San Andreas, a nearby continuation school that helps academically struggling students graduate. Nearly 100 people attended the district board meeting Tuesday at Tamalpais High School. Many speakers said the changes will harm the programs that helped them succeed in high school. A few graduates said their San Andreas experiences saved their lives. Dominique Uskert, a social studies teacher at San Andreas, told trustees about the staff's work for students. "Most often, we are their last stop and their last chance in the district," she said. Trustees reviewed the proposal and are scheduled to vote Dec. 9. "I understand and appreciate people's advocacy for their kids,…...

1+ week, 6+ day ago (1364+ words) For the students in Terence McGovern's Petaluma Actors Workshop, there is nothing unusual about someone bringing an icepick to class. It is, in fact, fairly typical. On a recent Saturday morning in October, as McGovern greeted each enrolled student arriving at Mercury Theater's sunny and spacious rehearsal studio, several of them brought along props " household items they planned to use in whatever scene they'd been working on over the previous few weeks. Since Sally Hagstrom and Tom Kearney were developing a scene from the 1992 movie "Basic Instinct" " the story of a police detective and the novelist he suspects might be an icepick murderer " it made perfect sense that there would be an icepick on hand, placed carefully on a nearby table, along with a bottle of wine and a bucket of ice. McGovern said he might suggest slight adjustments or…...

1+ week, 6+ day ago (1364+ words) For the students in Terence McGovern's Petaluma Actors Workshop, there is nothing unusual about someone bringing an icepick to class. It is, in fact, fairly typical. On a recent Saturday morning in October, as McGovern greeted each enrolled student arriving at Mercury Theater's sunny and spacious rehearsal studio, several of them brought along props " household items they planned to use in whatever scene they'd been working on over the previous few weeks. Since Sally Hagstrom and Tom Kearney were developing a scene from the 1992 movie "Basic Instinct" " the story of a police detective and the novelist he suspects might be an icepick murderer " it made perfect sense that there would be an icepick on hand, placed carefully on a nearby table, along with a bottle of wine and a bucket of ice. McGovern said he might suggest slight adjustments or…...