Following a year full of turmoil for many Marin school districts, four new superintendents and a new interim superintendent are planning for more peaceful times when school starts again in the coming days.

“I am most excited about working with all the great people in San Rafael: our school board, principals, teachers, classified staff, parents and mostly, our students,” said San Rafael City Schools Superintendent Jim Hogeboom, who moved south from his former roost at Novato Unified School District to accept the San Rafael post on July 1. That followed the ouster of former superintendent Michael Watenpaugh after months of public outcries for a new direction. Watenpaugh, who had been at the San Rafael district for more than 12 years, has accepted a new interim post at the Cotati-Rohnert Park Unified School District.

“Our greatest challenge is making sure that all of our kids are prepared for their future, including our English learners, special education students, students in poverty and students of color,” Hogeboom added.  “Our No. 1 goal is to pull everyone together towards shared priorities and goals so we can work as a team to improve the education for our students.”

Hogeboom’s former deputy, Kris Cosca, said he is also jazzed about the new school year. Cosca moved up almost seamlessly to the superintendent post in Novato after Hogeboom departed.

“I am so excited for our team’s focus on a culture of caring, competence and excellence,” Cosca said. “We will focus on building relationships, strong support for our students in social, emotional and academic realms, and refining our instructional programs to better serve our students.”

Cosca, like most of the other Marin leaders, faces numerous challenges, including rising mandatory employee pension costs and the escalating price tag for special education. Novato also is dealing with declining enrollment, the formation of new trustee areas for district elections and a continuing push for education equity. A proposal to close one elementary school went down in defeat last year — but questions still linger on the path forward for sustainability.

San Rafael and Novato are only two of Marin’s 18 school districts that face both high hopes and steep challenges as the 2019-20 school year begins starting Monday at Shoreline Unified and Novato Charter. School begins Wednesday, Thursday or Friday for almost everyone else. One late outlier is Kentfield School District, which begins for students on Sept. 3, following a week of staff development and teacher meetings from Thursday through Aug. 30.

Classes at the College of Marin campuses in Kentfield and Novato begin Monday; classes start Aug. 26 at Dominican University of California in San Rafael following new student orientation Wednesday through Friday of this week.

Two of the districts — Mill Valley and Sausalito Marin City — have hired new leaders from outside Marin. Mill Valley School District Superintendent Kimberly Berman comes to Marin from Southern California; and Sausalito-Marin City Superintendent Itoco Garcia, who originally hails from Southern Marin but now lives in Oakland.

“I am eager to get to know my new community and staff as we continue moving forward together as a school community revered for providing a balanced education where students achieve academic success and develop socially and emotionally with staff who cultivate equity and opportunities for creativity,” Berman said. “My commitment for the 2019-20 school year is to support our system as one focused on preparing children to thrive as global citizens in our rapidly changing world.”

The Mill Valley School District faced some hard budget decisions last year, including cutting transitional kindergarten, laying off 10 temporary teachers and a controversy over proposed layoffs of a librarian and a music teacher that were later reworked.

Meanwhile, at the Sausalito Marin City district, among the most controversial Marin districts, Garcia is just catching his breath after the state attorney general’s historic order on Aug. 9 that the district must desegregate its Bayside Martin Luther King Jr. Academy in Marin City within five years or face possible penalties for violating state anti-discrimination laws.

“I am excited about developing our community school model and to work in partnership with our entire community to explore options and pathways to unify into a single school,” Garcia said. “In the near term, we will be working on improving communication, community engagement and measuring and evaluating the impact of our existing partnerships.”

“I am also excited that we have a high percentage of staff returning from last year and some key new additions to our staff: our community schools manager Jahmeer Reynolds, our new resource teacher Johnetta Maduakolam, and our new PE teacher Roddrick Sweeney,” he added. “We are focused on improving school culture and climate, attendance, and student academic achievement as our top goals, things that have been a challenge in past years.”

Becky Rosales, the new interim superintendent at Miller Creek Elementary School District, was busy getting the former Dixie school district ready for the new year in the wake of the national media maelstrom that overtook the tiny north San Rafael district in 2018-19 over the name some called a nod to racism. In addition to all the name changes in signs, school buses, stationery, business cards, software and on the Miller Creek Elementary School District website, Rosales is also overseeing construction at Miller Creek Middle School, including replacing 16 outdated portable classrooms with modular classrooms.

“I am pleased to report that the major work is scheduled to be completed on time and classrooms will be ready for students for the first day of school,” Rosales said. “Fortunately, an unintended bonus consequence of shifting the modular classrooms now provides an open space that can be used as a student courtyard and gathering place. While this was not a part of our initial design plans, it is an exciting opportunity to create a student-centered space complete with seating, beautiful plants and shaded areas.”

“I look forward to meeting with everyone soon and having a fantastic start to the new school year,” Rosales said.