Corte Madera parents look to withdraw school transfer petition

A petition that seeks to transfer a portion of eastern Corte Madera out of the Reed Union School District boundary lines could be pulled by January.

Three petition leaders said the process has proved to be so divisive and hurtful to their families that they are officially requesting that it be withdrawn. The petition called for the transfer of more than 400 properties in Reed Union’s territory to the Larkspur-Corte Madera School District.

“We want to stop this from escalating,” petitioner Paul Burton said Thursday at a public hearing in Tiburon before the Marin County Committee on School District Organization. “Forcing Reed kids to change schools was never part of this petition. We all agree that school continuity is critical for all families.”

Petitioners started the effort because they wanted to continue to send their children to Larkspur-Corte Madera schools, some of which are within walking distance of their homes. They have been using a system of interdistrict transfers to do that, but the transfer agreement between the two districts ends in June, and there is no accord on a new five-year pact.

About 40 children out of 130 in the neighborhood attend Larkspur-Corte Madera schools, and the rest attend school in the Reed Union district.

“The petition committee continues to believe that a strong majority of East Corte Madera neighborhood voters agree that Corte Madera kids should be able to go to Corte Madera schools, especially one that is steps from their front door,” Burton and petitioners Heather Armstrong Choate and Craig Blok said in a joint email on Friday.

“The benefits regarding community identity, reduced traffic and carbon emissions, taxes supporting your town and keeping kids invested in their local community are self-evident,” the statement said.

However, the statement said, “it became clear that the messaging of this petition was distorted by a small yet influential group of petition opponents, including opponents going door-to-door demanding petition signers in favor of the district transfer remove their names.”

The statement said the alleged “misinformation campaign” switched the focus away from the petition merits and toward the “integrity of the petition signature collection process.”

“It also became clear this polarizing rhetoric would only escalate if we continued down this path, which would be detrimental to the well-being of our neighborhood,” it said.

Some petition opponents said the signature-gathering process was flawed in that some residents claimed they were misled to think they were signing the petition to create a “district of school choice,” rather than a boundary change. The petitioners have denied that there was any intention to mislead people to get them to sign the document.

Bob Henry, counsel to the county panel, said no action could be taken on the withdrawal request at the public hearing Thursday. The matter was not on the agenda for the hearing, and state law requires Marin County to perform due process before accepting a petition withdrawal request.

Due process, according to California Department of Education code, includes receiving official statements from both school districts as to whether they support the withdrawal, and also hearing statements from other people who signed the petition, Henry said.

“The chief petitioners do not have unilateral rights to pull the petition,” Henry said. “Once we have completed due process, making sure that all participants with an interest in this have a chance to weigh in, the committee can have a discussion as to whether to accept the withdrawal, or not.”

Terena Mares, head of the county panel and a deputy superintendent in the Marin County Office of Education, said the matter would be placed on the agenda for the county committee’s meeting in January. If all the due-process items are handled, the committee could then discuss whether to accept the withdrawal and take a vote, she said.

The commission is on a 120-day deadline to make a decision on the petition if it goes forward, Mares said. She said that could happen in early March, as long as an environmental review, which is also in progress, was completed by that time.

Superintendents in both school districts said Thursday they would expect their boards to support the withdrawal. Both boards have already approved resolutions opposing the petition.

Brett Geithman, superintendent of the Larkspur-Corte Madera School District, and Kimberly McGrath, superintendent of the Reed Union School District, said they would place the withdrawal item on their January board agendas.

“I will give them a chance to discuss it,” McGrath said. “I assume that since they’ve already opposed the petition that this would follow the same pattern.”

On Thursday, the committee continued to hear testimony, even though the petition withdrawal request came at the start of the public hearing.

Roman Munoz, an attorney for Reed Union, said the transfer of the eastern Corte Madera neighborhood out of the district would cost the district as much as $3 million in lost taxes and assets. One of the nine criteria necessary for approving a territory transfer petition is that it promotes “sound fiscal management,” he said.

“If these nine criteria are not satisfied, the petition must be denied,”  Munoz said.

About a dozen parents whose children attend Reed Union school also testified.

“We searched and searched for our dream house — and then we found it,” said parent Laura Madden, whose family moved to east Corte Madera about a year ago, specifically to attend the Reed Union schools.

“Now, we’re so disappointed that this would be taken away,” she said. “Don’t let the demands of the few dictate the outcome of the many.”

Petitioners, meanwhile, said they are still optimistic that something can be worked out with interdistrict transfers.

“We remain hopeful that the two school boards will do the right thing and extend the IDT agreement that for many years had successfully addressed this complex issue, and allow for the continuity of education for current IDT students and their siblings,” the joint statement said.