Time to Rethink the MVMS Temporary Campus
School Board Vision Statement: “What is best for every Mill Valley School District student?”
We need the School Board to truly live up to that statement for all students — including the current 4th to 7th Graders, who are slated to spend at least two formative years (2025-2027) on a horrendous temporary Middle School campus.
Summary of Interim Site Plan — The proposed plan places the temporary campus in the parking lot by Harrison Skate Park, with the smelly sewage treatment plant across the street. The campus will cross the creek, which has old landfill material already surfacing (per citation the District recently received). It will extend across the MVMS basketball courts, which are bordered by a power substation. The campus will be in a seismic liquefaction zone prone to flooding. Worst of all, the interim site will sit atop a former burn dump. The suggested mitigation is inadequate. This is not exactly what most of us envisioned for our children in this otherwise beautiful community. We need an alternative site, and we need to take action now.
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Dangerous
The proposed site is on top of an old burn dump.
It contains hazardous levels of lead and potentially explosive methane gas, all of which is presently capped by just 2-3 feet of clay soil that would, of course, be disrupted during construction. It’s also in a flood plain and seismic liquefaction zone.
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Disgusting
The temporary campus is planned to be on the lot by the skate park, adjacent to the sewer treatment plant.
Everyone knows this is the worst and smelliest part of campus. This is the air our kids will be asked to breathe ALL day. Gross.
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Distracting
The temporary campus is slated to be right next to the main demolition and construction zone, separated only by a chain link fence. The District Office even plans to relocate, leaving our kids in the dust.
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Demoralizing
The same children who launched into elementary school with Zoom Kindergarten and 1st Grade are now being asked to once again begin a new phase of schooling amid alternative circumstances. This will only compound the challenges confronting this cohort of students.
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Disregards Climate Science
The planned temporary site is in a flood plain, which will periodically become inaccessible when the single-access road floods.
Rising groundwater will cause the toxic substances from the former burn dump to surface.
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Grades are in...and this plan needs improvement!
Surely a community with our resources and creativity can work together to devise a better solution, one that builds a Middle School to last, one that does not sacrifice the education and safety of the students during construction, and one that can serve as a role model to other communities struggling with similar challenges.
