Mill Valley Middle School Modernization Mess

I am writing to you as leaders of your respective Local, County, or State agencies, each of which have some level of oversight over the Mill Valley School District (the “District”), as it embarks on a plan to rebuild the Mill Valley Middle School (“MVMS”) on its current site, while housing students on an interim campus for two years during construction. To the extent public acceptance is a factor in your decisionmaking, please know that I join the growing group of Mill Valley parents, guardians, and taxpayers strongly opposed to the District’s plan to house students at the proposed interim site, for the reasons explained below. The District needs to properly evaluate alternative sites.  

Dangerous:  The current Mill Valley Middle School is built atop an old burn dump, classified as a Superfund site, whose soil samples show hazardous levels of lead—over 81 times the limit for the State of California—and one area of explosive methane gas, all of which is presently capped by just 2-3 feet of clay soil that would be disrupted during construction. 

Disgusting: The proposed interim site will be directly across from the Sewerage Agency of Southern Marin. The site smells of sewage due to hydrogen sulfide. Daily exposure to these fumes can impact student health, and will certainly impact student and teacher morale.

Distracting: The interim campus is slated to be right next to the main demolition and construction zone for the permanent MVMS campus, separated only by a chain link fence. The loud construction noises will negatively impact the opportunity to learn for all students, with a disproportionate burden on children with existing learning and behavioral challenges. 

Demoralizing: The temporary campus is too small to meet Department of Education minimum site size requirements (unless the District counts Friends Field, and it’s unclear whether the City will permit shared use of that space). Moreover, the Department of Education provides that school districts cannot count as “usable space” any land that is in a flood plain. The entire temporary site is in a flood plain. Additionally, the same children who began elementary school with Zoom Kindergarten are now being asked to once again begin a new phase of schooling amid circumstances that will only compound the challenges confronting this cohort of students. 

Disregards Climate Science: MVMS is in a seismic liquefaction zone that is also vulnerable to high tide flooding. The flooding is most acute at the proposed interim site. This risk will only be exacerbated in the near future with rising sea levels, which will likely cause the District and the City to expend significant dollars to protect the permanent site investment in the decades to come. 

Budget Concerns:  The District has already spent or committed over $4.3M to the current MVMS plan, and it continues to pursue a risky construction site without the necessary funds. The projected overall budget is $210M, but the Measure G bond funding is for just $194M, which is intended to support both this project and other modernization projects at the District’s elementary schools. The District has not conducted any rigorous study of the costs and possible benefits of alternative sites, as is expected by the Citizens’ Bond Oversight Committee and the California Department of Education site selection criteria. An alternative site could save taxpayers significant money, in addition to keeping our children safe. 

1.     Reject any plan that includes interim housing of Middle School students next to the construction project, which sits atop a Superfund site, in a flood plain and seismic liquefaction zone, and bordered by a high voltage power station, a smelly sewer plant, and an anticipated hazmat construction zone. 

2.     Should an interim campus remain necessary, please ensure that the District studies the feasibility of repurposing the property previously occupied by Terra Marin for the interim campus. This avoids putting students next to a dangerous construction zone, and avoids displacing any elementary students. 

3.     Ensure the District appropriately considers alternative locations, in detail, for the permanent MVMS site, as legally required under the EIR process.

4.     Require the District to present a clearly-scoped plan for the entire Measure G project, including the Middle School rebuild and interim housing, as well as the modernization of the five elementary schools, all within the budget of the bond funds. 

5.     Ask the City of Mill Valley to collaborate with the District to locate another interim or permanent campus site, using land available within the City. The City is responsible for ensuring that Mill Valley remains a vibrant community able to offer excellent schools, which our property values depend upon to a significant degree. 

Please see the website developed by a group of concerned parents that outlines the interim site’s many challenges: www.MVMSModernizationMess.com

You can also follow this group on Instagram @mvmsmodernizationmess for time-sensitive updates, additional photos, and meeting clips.  

Please make a safe decision for the wellbeing of our students, teachers, families, taxpayers, and future generations. We can and must do better for the sake of our young people and the community.  Thank you for your time and consideration.