By John Geluardi
Corrected version:
Community members are alleging the Sir Francis Drake Site Council, which will decide whether to change the school’s name is stacked with activist teachers whose votes in favor of the name change are a foregone conclusion.
And according to school emails obtained through the California Public Records Act, it looks like the community members may have a point.
There are six teachers on the 18-member council and all six have written emails over the summer that show they strongly support the name change and some put a premium on activism. Several of the site council teachers called for vandalizing the school as a form of political action. Other site council members include five students, four parents, two school employees and Principal Liz Seabury.
In addition to teachers who are expected to vote for the name change, there is one teacher, Jasper Thelin, who is serving his second term on the council. Teacher terms on the council are only for one year and it is unclear if Thelin was elected for 2020-2021 term or if he was appointed. The school has posted no election results for any of the teacher councilmembers and Seabury has not immediately answer questions about Thelin’s current term.
Thelin stated at the first site council meeting that he doesn’t care what the community thinks about the name change and those who are against it, are sentimental “conservatives.”. “I don’t need any more information,” Thelin said at the council’s first meeting. “I’ve already made up my mind.
The 18-member Site Council is charged with choosing a new name, hearing public input, deciding the process by which the school’s name will be changed and even if the name will be changed at all. The Council held a second meeting on Thursday, Oct. 1.
The school administration’s name change process has been fraught with irregularities and possible illegal activity including an alleged violation of the Brown Act. Many of the blunders and deceptive acts appear to have been caused by the district’s headlong rush to get the school name changed before the election on November 3, when Measure M, a special tax for educational purposes, will be considered. Board Trustee Cynthia Roenisch pressed the school administrators to act quickly to avoid community opposition. She lobbied heavily for a quick resolution and warned of the community getting organized to oppose the name change. “We have a parcel tax election in November, and some may create more friction if date is too far in future,” Roenisch wrote in a July 2 email. “…but we know Dixie was shit show and some of it was from lack of vision/tight timeline from the start.”
The three teachers who called for defacing the school are (click on links for emails) Site councilman Dan Freeman, who was one of the chief organizers behind the name change. He suggested defacing the school in the manner of “statue toppling.”
Site councilman Richard Marshall who used tortured logic to support his calls for defacing the school, which he said could “show respect” to students who do not want the name change, according to a July 17 email.
And site councilwoman Kendall Galli wrote an enthusiastic July 15 email. “Let’s tarp the ship with a camel colored tarp… and tarp or paint the back of the dugout, Galli wrote. “Let’s get the kids in NOW on the ground floor. “This is ACTION… and student lead.”
If the school hadn’t actually been vandalized, the teachers’ emails could be written off as the over-excitement of teachers bored during summer vacation. But some of the things described in the emails did happen on July 27. The name and ship on a stucco sign in the parking lot was papered over and an image of the school mascot was painted over.
Seabury insisted at the most recent site council meeting that Drake teachers are largely in favor of the name change and that the teacher site councilmembers were all fairly elected. However the election results are not posted on the Drake Site Council’s webpage.
As yet, there is no evidence that any of the teachers were involved in the vandalism, but there was an email from a witness informing Principle Liz Seabury that a parent was part of the defacing crew. Seabury has refused to divulge the parent’s name.
The next meeting of the site council is on Oct. 15. Information about the site council can be found at https://www.tamdistrict.org/domain/317.
Contribute to the continued coverage of the Drake Name Change.
The Braying Dog 
Dear John:
You have done outstanding work.
I wonder if a PRP to the Central Marin PD asking if any “racist” activities have been reported at Drake would disclose anything, probably nothing, and if the threats of vandalism, and the report of a vandal vandalizing, were reported to the PD by the Drake authorities.
LikeLike
I think your point is misguided. As a former BIPOC student at 1327, I never reported racism, because I saw the administration did nothing (someone yelled white power in front of the whole school, and nothing was done). It also put me in a position of having to report a teacher, or coach- which as a 15 year old I was uncomfortable doing. That does NOT mean that racism is not occurring at the school. I encourage you to look at the BIPOC of Marin Instagram page.
LikeLike
Dear Hannah, I would never say that racism is not occurring at Drake, but I don’t believe it’s occurring at the elevated level the faculty and administration is claiming. I’m sorry to hear about your experience at Drake. It must have been very isolating particularly because the teachers and coaches were indifferent or possibly incompetent or maybe racially insensitive I hope it was not because they were racist. I’m not sure which point you’re referring to. My only point in this story is that the process has been corrupted because the district and administration are in a huge rush to get the name changed. In any case, thank you for your kind words about my work. Thanks.
LikeLike
A call was made to Marin Central PD inquiring if a report had been filed. According to the desk officer there was no record of a formal police report made at or around that time or location.
LikeLike
An inquiry was made to Marin Central PD. According to the desk officer on duty, no formal police report was made around that time or location. I wonder about any security cameras?? Do they have them on campus??
LikeLiked by 1 person
This is a personal opinion piece, and not journalism.
Your interpretation of the emails is totally different than mine which glaringly shows your bias in this blog post. You are taking your personal feelings about this process and making it look like the school is breaking rules AND you are passing it on to your community as journalism. Obviously school employees, specifically administrators, know what laws and rules are governing them and won’t break them.
Nowhere in the DLC by-laws does it say that a teacher cannot run to serve on council two years in a row. It is a new election each year and a one year term each time.
Your complaint about having the council ‘stacked’ in favor of the change….good luck finding any of the site teachers who are AGAINST the name change.
I have read the emails you linked here and what I see is teachers who CARE about their marginalized students and CARE to show all of their students how to care about the world, act boldly and DO THE RIGHT THING.
Time for all the old alumni who are out of touch with what the school wants today to sit back and let the process happen. Enjoy your memories of your school…that will never change, and you will always be graduates of Sir Francis Drake High School. Let the new generation create what they want with their school. You can grow and learn too!
LikeLike
Then why are you hiding your name?
LikeLiked by 1 person
Dear Monkey Ass if you are so bold to write this response and dis the reporter and disrespect the alumni you need to sit back and better yet unmask if you are so proud of your legacy. What a Asshat you are teaching the kids to not respect history or the people who have made it. Take on the real problem the teachers at Sir Francis Drake High School-
LikeLike
Dear Anonymous Monkey, You should use your real name. You’ve already divulged your identity with the bad grammar and the inexplicable self-importance.
LikeLike
How have they divulged who they are based on grammar? I see A LOT of mistakes online…
LikeLike
You’re right. There are a lot of mistakes online. But people tend to repeatedly make the same mistakes. And they also tend to make the same arguments over and over with altering them much. It’s a sign of an inactive mind. So when the combine the same arguments uttered in the same sentences with the same grammatical mistakes within a relatively small group, you have a fingerprint of sorts.
LikeLike
Dear Anonymous Monkey,
The problem I have with your comments is that it is painfully clear that the Administration did not know the law as well as you claim. If that was so, why change their explanation for taking down the name of the school when they did? The first explanation given to the public, and the police department was because the name was hurtful to members of the BIPOC community. Yet, when it became clear to them that they had violated the Brown Act, the explanation changed to the school having received threats of vandalism, then it was because of the vandalism of the Don Quixote statue in Larkspur. Why all the explanations? In addition, in the emails, one teacher actually suggesting they recruit students in this endeavor. Yet, without proper authority to take the name down, doing so would amount to a crime. Defacing school property without property authority to do so would be vandalism. Ergo, a crime, so not only were they completely unaware of the law, but one teacher suggesting involving students in the commission of crime. How unethical is it to suggest involving students in a crime? And if you were aware of all the emails, you’d also know that not one single person in that email thread replied back, pointing out that doing so without proper authority is a crime…So, so much for their understanding and knowledge of the law.
Finally, it seems clear that you support the name change, and that’s fine. Yet, I am absolutely baffled that someone who cares about the experience of BIPOC students on campus would use an alias such as “Anonymous Monkey”. It’s either completely tone-deaf, implicit racism, or explicit racism. Not sure, but nonetheless, the use of the word ‘monkey’ in the context of racism is absolutely racist. Just in case you didn’t know that.
LikeLike
You’re right. There are a lot of mistakes online. But people tend to repeatedly make the same mistakes. And they also tend to make the same arguments over and over without altering them much. So when you combine the tedious arguments uttered in an overly familiar manner with the same grammatical mistakes, you have a fingerprint of sorts.
LikeLike
Looks like they are all getting along here- only two years ago- funny
LikeLike