Dear Bolinas Stinson School Families,
Welcome to the 2021-22 School year!
I hope you had a relaxing summer with family and friends. I am excited for the new school year and look forward to seeing our students on the first day of school, August 18th at 8:40 AM (for both campuses ~ see detailed schedule information below).
Please read the important points below to help your family prepare for a smooth transition back to school. Don’t hesitate to check in with me if you have any questions or suggestions before school begins. Looking forward to seeing you soon!
NEW START AND END TIMES FOR THE BOTH BOLINAS & STINSON CAMPUSES!
In response to parent requests to maintain a later start time for school, I am pleased to share that we have created a schedule that is beneficial for our students and meets instructional minute requirements.
Please use this link to view the schedule in greater detail: NEW BSUSD SCHEDULE ~ 2021-22
New Start & End Times:
Bolinas Campus ~ Grades 2-8
M,T,Th,F ~ 8:40 AM - 3:10 PM ~ M,T,Th,F
Wednesdays ~ 8:40 AM - 2:10 PM ~ Early release for staff collaboration days
Stinson Campus ~ Grades K-1st
Mondays ~ 8:40 AM - 1:45 (Dismissal from Stinson for Art Shops - Bus to Bolinas) 3:10 Dismissal from Bolinas
Wednesdays - 8:40 AM - 12:45 (Dismissal from Stinson for Art Shops - Bus to Bolinas) 2:10 Dismissal from Bolinas ~ Early release for staff collaboration days
Tuesday, Thursday, Friday ~ 8:40 AM - 2:50 (Dismissal from Stinson - Bus to Bolinas) 3:10 Dismissal from Bolinas
Pre-K
Times TBD (Julie Hartman, our new Pre-K Director will be sending out information regarding the Pre-K schedule
SUMMER STAFF CHANGES - GOODBYE TO OUR MUCH LOVED STAFF MEMBERS!
I am sad that we are losing three wonderful staff members, Ron Brown and Suki Ferrari are retiring and Victoria Maier has made a family move to Occidental. All three of them have had a huge impact on our school and will be greatly missed.
A heartfelt thank you to Ron, for the many wonderful years of wood shop, great student projects, and useful skills he shared with our students. We will miss Ron and hope to see him return for guest appearances in collaboration with our other art shop specialists. I encourage parents to join our Core Enrichment Team to explore all enrichment options available to our students and help to determine the future offerings at our school. Please reach out to Meadow Evans at greycranwoman@gmail.com or Johanna Scutt at johannas@bolinas-stinson.org for more information and to get involved.
A big thank you Suki, for the delicious and nutritious food that she made for our students and staff with great love and care during her many years of service to BSUSD. We will always remember the special treats she created and shared with us just to make us happy: hot chocolate on cold days, witch's finger cookies on Halloween, hearty oatmeal with mix-ins, and so many more! Suki and her delicious creations will be missed!
A giant thank you to Victoria, for helping to open and develop a robust pre-k program for our littles. Victoria and Omar developed a stellar pre-k program for our youngest students and created a warm, safe and fun place for them to learn. We will miss Victoria and wish her and her family all the best.
While Ron, Suki, and Victoria will be moving on to their next big adventure, they will always remain in our hearts, and hopefully keep in touch!
GRADE LEVEL ASSIGNMENTS FOR THE 2021-22 SCHOOL YEAR
I am excited to share our wonderful line up of teachers this year! We have a tremendous BSUSD staff and our teachers are the best I have ever worked with.
Preschool ~ Welcome Julie Hartman, our new Pre-K Director & Omar Rifkin, Associate PreK Teacher
Julie Hartman will be our new preschool director this year. She is coming to Bolinas-Stinson Preschool from Slide Ranch, where she lived with her family and worked as Director of Education. At Slide, she trained cohorts of outdoor educators and facilitated experiential programs to help foster children’s connection with nature.
She has loved living and raising her family on a farm with trails and tidepools, treasures on protected, public land. Prior to working at Slide, Julie was a classroom teacher who taught preschool, kindergarten and first grade. She is passionate about early childhood education and is looking forward to working with Omar, welcoming the preschoolers, and stoking a culture of joy and wonder!
Julie is excited to nurture children’s friendships and support preschool families’ connections through events like children’s clothing and book swaps and potlucks. She enjoys dancing and yoga, gardening with native plants and growing food, and has a new baking passion, making bagels with seeds on both sides! Julie, Kyle, and their children, Lev (4th grade) and Uma (Kindergarten), are all grateful for this new chapter and look forward to deepening their connection with the Bolinas-Stinson community.
We are thankful that Omar Rifkin will be returning as the Associate Pre-K teacher. Congratulations to Omar for completing the certification requirements and taking on this position. We love Omar and his fun, upbeat attitude. He brings so much joy and fun to the pre-K classroom and an integral part of part of our pre-K program.
Kindergarten ~ Karen Buckenmeyer, teacher & Joy Von Thaer, paraeducator
Karen Buckenmeyer and Joy Von Thaer will be returning as our lively and dynamic kindergarten duo. Karen and Joy make learning so much fun and our kindergarteners are always engaged with fresh new projects. Karen and Joy exemplify learning by doing in their student centered active classroom. Our Kindergarteners will be delighted when they find out what Karen and Joy have planned this year!
First Grade ~ Lauren Pollak, teacher & Kathy Oakander, paraeducator
Lauren and Kathy have first grade dialed in with intriguing projects that spark high interest in our students. Lauren and Kathy structure first grade to build student independence and promote personal development in a fun supportive environment. First graders will be amazed by what they can do and what's in store!
Second Grade ~ Willow Regnery, teacher & Charlie Lopez-Alvarado, paraeducator
Willow is returning as our second grade teacher. Willow strives to make learning real and meaningful for her students and Charlie is well known for his kind, caring demeanor. They have a great year planned for our second graders, full of lots of hands-on learning activities!
Third Grade ~ Rachael Dressler, teacher & Charlie Lopez-Alvarado, paraeducator
Rachael will be returning as our third grade teacher. Rachael loves to work with her students to help them set and meet personal goals. She motivates her students and provides exciting learning opportunities that are engaging and dialed into students’ specific learning needs. Our third graders will love to have Charlie return for additional classroom support. Our third grade students will have a blast with all the fun learning activities Rachael has planned!
Fourth Grade ~ Anna Tosick, teacher & Colin Schlitt, paraeducator
Aloha Anna will be returning as our new fourth grade teacher this year. Anna brings her fresh, fun perspective and island vibe to our fourth graders. Colin, our much loved paraeducator, will be assisting in the classroom and is well known and liked by all our fourth graders. Anna excels at tying student learning to the great outdoors and she and Colin have some exciting projects for our fourth graders to dive into this year!
Fifth & Sixth Grade ~ Mary Lynn (ML) Bryan, teacher & June Barbera, paraeducator
ML will be moving up a grade level, with her last year’s class, as the fifth and sixth grade teacher this year. ML enlivens our whole school with her outlandishly fun activities and DJ worthy playlists to keep things rockin’! ML has some stellar projects planned for this year, and as always, could change things on the fly to surprise us all! June, our wonderful and patient paraeducator will be joining in on the fun and assisting in the classroom.
Seventh & Eighth Grade ~ Ilie Watterson & Welcome Steve Kinney!
Ilie Watterson and Steve Kinney will be our amazing seventh and eight grade teachers this year. Ilie is returning in this position and brings a wealth of knowledge and experience to our school. Ilie and Steve have been working hard over the summer to build engaging, and meaningful learning experiences for our oldest students. They both have worked together before and are excited to be teaching together at BSUSD, and have some new amazing things planned for the year ahead!
Steve Kinney is an educator who has been involved in public and charter school education throughout an 18-year teaching career. He has worked with innovative schools, including the Marin School of Arts and Technology, an entirely project-based learning high school, Envision Schools, and the Novato Charter School, a leading public K-8 Waldorf-inspired school. He taught at the Novato Charter School from 2007 -2021, working as a classroom teacher in grades 6th, 7th and 8th. He recently helped NCS navigate the Covid-19 pandemic serving on the re-entry committee, and steered and promoted the Class of 2021 this past year.
Prior to teaching, Steve Kinney obtained a BS in Mechanical Engineering from University of California Santa Barbara and then spent 14 years working in the information technology industry. In 2002, he obtained his California single subject credential in both Physics and Biology/Life Sciences from Dominican University, later adding a multi-subject credential in 2009. Since then, his main focus is teaching science in an inquiry-based and project-based learning model, and he is versed in teaching all core academic subjects. He is an active alumni member of the Exploratorium Teacher Institute, including a past winner of their “Iron Science Teacher” competition, and a participant in Marin County’s Project Based Learning Collaborative, a grant-based program to embed project-based learning into the science classrooms across Marin County. He has served on the Education Advisory Board for Beyond Differences™, a nonprofit organization with a mission to end social isolation in middle schools.
He and his wife Hilary now live in Petaluma. Previously they lived in Novato where they raised their three sons: Hayden (26), Kendall (24), and Wyatt (18). Steve is an avid bay area sports fan, especially the San Francisco Giants. They adore their pets: Tallulah, a 16-year old Beagle-Pomeranian who is enjoying her golden years and Louis, their cat who has a serious lap addiction. When not teaching, Steve is an avid cook and home project tinkerer, and he enjoys the outdoors and traveling as much as possible.
Steve is excited to be teaching 7th/8th with Ilie Watterson, who was a former colleague at NCS (and also teacher of two of his children). He is thrilled to spend time teaching near the coast where there are so many opportunities to bring nature and environmental education into the learning setting.
Education Specialist and Learning Center ~ Welcome Britton Walker, teacher & Katie O’Callaghan, paraeducator
Britton and Katie (Tato), are excited to be working together with our students in the learning center and collaborating with teachers to meet the diverse learning needs of all our students. While Britton is new to our school, Tato is well known and loved by all.
Britton Walker began her teaching career 6 years ago, earning a dual credential at Dominican University. She has always worked with children, and felt called to become a teacher when working at a behavior management school as a paraprofessional. As a special education teacher, she has worked at Anova Center for Education Marin, Manor Elementary School, and Star Academy. Britton believes being thoughtful, supportive and trustworthy builds the best learning environment for students of all ages.
Originally a New Englander, Britton moved to San Francisco in the late 90’s, and then to Fairfax when it came time for her own children to attend elementary school. She has two mostly-grown kids, River and Mage. River is now an artist living in Brooklyn, NY, and Mage is starting her senior year at Archie Williams High School. Britton also has two fur babies: Gizmo, an all-black lap cat, and Mango Mochi, a large golden retriever who often mistakes herself for a lap cat.
When she isn’t thinking about teaching, Britton loves to be creative. She loves designing and sewing, crafting, and cooking and baking. She also enjoys gardening despite a not-so-green thumb. For down-time, she and her family enjoy hanging by the water, camping, and enjoying this beautiful corner of the world we live in!
Britton is looking forward to meeting everyone in the Bolinas-Stinson school community. She is hoping to become a long-term member of the team, and to add her skills and knowledge to the wonderful mix of educators and professionals! She is always happy to help out, so feel free to reach out!
IMPORTANT DATES: MARK YOU CALENDARS!
1st day of school: August 18th, 8:40-2:10 (Early Dismissal for Staff Collaboration Wednesdays)
World Cafe: August 26th, 3:30-6:00 (More information coming soon!
BUSSES
I am thrilled our full bus service will resume for both campuses! Please email kara Parras @ karap@bolinas-stinson.org if you would like to sign your child up for the bus. Masks are required for all bus riders while on the bus. We will be sharing a bus schedule with parents next week.
HEALTH AND SAFETY PROTOCOLS
John & Catherine will continue to keep parents updated as new information regarding health and safety protocols is released. Please feel free to contact them if you have any questions. Please see John’s Superintendent’s message on the website for the latest updates.
Whew! Please reach out and let me know if you have any questions or suggestions for me. I can’t wait to see you and the kids soon!
Michelle