Sausalito Marin City School District opens renovated campus

After more than two years of construction, the new campus of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Academy was introduced Wednesday to great celebration in Sausalito.

The hillside complex opened for the 263 students of the Sausalito Marin City School District, and more than 100 people attended a ribbon-cutting ceremony at the site.

“It is amazing,” said LaResha Huffman, the district superintendent. “And what is even more profound is that this is actually named after Dr. Martin Luther King, and this is actually his birthday month.”

The district is “focused on commitment to equity, commitment to our students and commitment to ensuring that our kids get the best,” Huffman said.

The $33 million project was financed through the $41.6 million Measure P bond approved by voters in 2020.

“These classrooms are more than rooms for learning,” Amy Hale, the school principal, said at the ceremony. “They are places where children learn to listen, to care for one another and to discover their own voices.”

Hale said the school “carries Dr. King’s vision with it — a belief in dignity, justice, kindness and the power of young people to shape a better world.”

In addition to classrooms and offices, the project cost includes a baseball field that will be established later this year after several former school buildings are demolished, said Jason Cave, the project manager for Greystone West Inc. of Sonoma.

“The field is the next and final phase of the project,” Cave said.

Past and present school district officials who attended the ceremony said the event marked a happy milestone in the often tumultuous affairs of the district.

The district used to comprise the MLK school in Marin City and the Willow Creek Academy charter school in Sausalito. In 2019, California Attorney General Xavier Becerra ordered the district to desegregate within five years, an event that led to the charter school’s dissolution.

A few years later, district trustees decided in a split vote to merge the middle school in Marin City with the elementary school in Sausalito to create one campus in Sausalito for transitional kindergarten through eighth grade.

The campus, with its bright buildings and modern classrooms, is seen by some as a stabilizing force after the years of turmoil.

“It’s outstanding,” said Shirley Thornton, a former district trustee. “It’s a dream come true.”

Ida Green, who was board president when Measure P passed, agreed.

“It’s an incredibly amazing feeling to see this come to fruition, to see all these beautiful kids coming onto a brand new campus,” said Green, who is now a trustee for the Tamalpais Union High School District. “It’s just exciting.”

Bonnie Hough, who served with Green and remains on the board, concurred.

“It’s wonderful to provide a great space for our kids,” Hough said. “It’s a space where the kids can be safe and really learn — and a nice space for the community as well.”

Former district superintendent Itoco Garcia, who oversaw the Measure P effort and the initial plans for the campus, said he was gratified to see the results.

“It’s fantastic to see all of that work and energy and time coming to fruition,” Garcia said. “This place is going to be an absolute jewel for the Sausalito Marin City community.”

Garcia said he is eager to return to campus later when contractors bring an underground spring, Willow Creek, to the surface at the campus. The project has received a $3.5 million grant from a branch of the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency.

“I strongly believe that this will be one of the most beautiful schools in all of Marin County,” Garcia said.

The campus includes four main buildings on terraced layers rising along Nevada Street. It also has a parking lot along Buchanan Street.

Three of the buildings include 10 classrooms, two conference rooms, a library and an art room that doubles as a center for science, technology, engineering and math, or STEM. The fourth building is a reception area with counseling offices and a staff lounge.

A collection of former buildings remains at the property, half of them renovated for continued use. One section is for transitional kindergarten and kindergarten, while another contains a multipurpose room on the ground floor and four classrooms for middle school students on the second floor.

“They were worried they would lose their view of the bay,” said Nixon Diaz, a district spokesperson. “But they didn’t — the view is still there.”

School parent David Lieberman of Sausalito said the campus “lives up to the promise” that has been offered to the community over the past few years.

“It’s really nice,” he said. “All in all, we’re really happy with the new campus.”

Another parent, Heather Grzych of Sausalito, said the site “just has a really great feel.”

“It’s a really wonderful thing to have the whole school together,” she said.

BHM Construction Inc. of Napa was the general contractor for the project. The designer was JKAE, an architectural and engineering firm in San Jose and Campbell.

Josh Paradis, an architect for JKAE, said he has been managing construction at the campus on a weekly basis for the last few years.

“This is a momentous day,” Paradis said. “It’s so satisfying to see the teachers teaching their students and actually using the spaces — and they’re so happy. It’s heartwarming.”