Sausalito Marin City School District officials have unveiled a draft integration plan for a “world-class” school that would “serve as a model of educational equity, excellence and integration,” according to Superintendent Itoco Garcia.

“This is the first pass on a plan for an urban school district to serve as a model for the county, the state and the nation as to what a diverse, integrated school looks like,” Garcia told district trustees at Wednesday’s special board meeting in Marin City. The board will vote on a final version of the plan next month.

The draft plan was required under a settlement last year with the California Attorney General’s Office that calls for the district’s traditional school, Bayside Martin Luther King Jr. Academy in Marin City, to be desegregated within five years.

The desegregation track is separate from a pending unification plan between Bayside MLK and Willow Creek Academy in Sausalito, an independent charter school authorized by the district. The unification plan has so far been stalled by Willow Creek’s demands that the district support the school financially during the transition period and the district’s insistence that Willow Creek drop its pending lawsuit against the district.

District trustee Josh Barrow said Wednesday that although the board could not reveal any details about ongoing negotiations, “I want to share a continued optimism, despite the lack of an announcement tonight.”

“I want to share an optimism that we will conclude very quickly,” he added. The board has scheduled a special meeting Thursday night to meet with district counsel in closed session. It was not clear if that meeting was related to any possible settlement offer.

Both Barrow and trustee Caroline Van Alst voted against the most recent update of the district’s approximately $10.3 million 2019-20 budget, saying it included too much “overhead,” according to Barrow. But both hinted that if the two sides are able to negotiate a settlement, that the next budget update could win their favor because it might allocate more funds to help Willow Creek, which is losing student enrollment and possibly staff.

Willow Creek officials said enrollment had dropped by 45 students as of January, as families became anxious over the pending financial instability of the school and the uncertainty about what the merged school would look like.

Interim Sausalito City Councilman Tom Reilly, speaking during public comment, urged the board to act quickly to help Willow Creek and complete the unification plan so that the whole district can gain strength and stability. Reilly, who said he has a son he hopes to enroll in the district in the future, said an estimated 17 Willow Creek teachers are now slated for layoffs for the 2020-21 school year.

“Let’s fund our current schools so that we can keep our teachers,” he said. “And let’s keep our students by having clarity about what the education plan is.”

Garcia told trustees that the 330-page draft integration plan calls for the proposed school to offer both preschool and after-school programs, a bilingual immersion course, and a heavy focus on studies in science, the arts, technology and research.

Other components include a wide range of community partnerships with other agencies and school districts for counseling, health care, recreation and many other services throughout Marin County.

The plan also provides for hiring more teachers of color and supporting aspiring educators of color to complete the teaching certification process. Garcia said that includes helping them find suitable housing.

“We do have one of the top salary schedules in the county, but many of our staff cannot afford to live in Marin,” Garcia said.

The Attorney General’s Office has 60 days to offer comments on the draft integration plan, Garcia said.