Ring Mountain Day School 'Delighted' District Won't Take Back Its Space

Ring Mountain Day School doesn't have to close – or move.

Administrators, teachers and parents of the K-8 private school were thrilled to hear that the Mill Valley School District is no longer interested in using the campus for administrative offices, ending nearly a year of ambiguity about its future.

“People feel considerable relief,” Head of School Sarah Flowers said. “And it’s nice to have things clear.”

Since 2004, Ring Mountain has leased the 70 Lomita Drive building from the Mill Valley School District, providing nearly $300,000 a year in revenue. In June 2012, the district introduced a plan to move its administrative offices to Ring Mountain to free up six additional classrooms to accommodate growing enrollment at Mill Valley Middle School. Officials brought forward a recommendation to give Ring Mountain the required two-year notice to terminate its lease, which was signed in June 2004.

“This just gives the district the possibility to explore the idea,” Superintendent Paul Johnson said at the time. 

After researching the proposal the district determined it would be “an exorbitant amount of money” to renovate the building to meet ADA accessibility standards required for public schools, Johnson said.

“We decided that using Ring Mountain, at least at this point in time, is not a viable option for a district office,” he said.

Johnson met with Flowers and another Ring Mountain administrator Tuesday morning to tell them the news. 

“They’re pretty pleased,” Johnson said.

The verbal agreement was music to Flowers’ ears.

“I said, ‘Can I tell my community,’ and he said ‘Yes, go ahead,’” Flowers said.

The Ring Mountain Day School Board of Trustees sent an email out to parents on Wednesday. Flowers said she’s received “enthusiastic responses so far” from the community, which has rallied around the school. When the district announced the possibility of taking over the campus, many Ring Mountain parents spoke against the plan at a district board meeting. Following that response, the board agreed to push its decision on the lease to 2013, and Ring Mountain has been holding its breath up until now.

“The message we got pretty clearly from Paul is there is a role for schools like Ring Mountain Day School in the community, and the district is definitely invested in our success,” Flowers said.

However, the uncertainty about the future of Ring Mountain did some damage. With about 100 students this year, Flowers is anticipating a decline to about 70 to 80 students in the fall.

“I do think it had a negative impact on our admissions – understandably,” she said. However, she’s also anticipating a growth of about 40 – 50 students over the next two years and wants to get the word out that Ring Mountain isn’t going anywhere.

Mill Valley Middle School, along with the rest of the district, is also experiencing a boom in enrollment. Johnson said there about 980 students in the middle school now, and he anticipates “a little over 1,000,” for next year.

The decision not to take over the Ring Mountain campus may be good news for the private school and many in the community, but it doesn’t solve the district’s problem of how to accommodate more students.

“We’re continuing to do research on how we’re going to expand the middle school," Johnson said.

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