42 Maple Rd
Novato, CA 94973

The school itself is in a beautiful setting with lots of qualified teachers. The sports programs are varied and supportive. Generally the students are talented and respectful.Two trends we’ve noticed as we’ve shifted from MS to HS: cancel culture especially among band and theater kids. We believe this comes from leadership in these programs modeling poor leadership behavior. The music leader is out of his depth and should not be working with minors. There are too many hurt feelings and tears in that program to be normal. The district should investigate and replace him.

We have been part of the Lagunitas School District since 2017, when my son entered kindergarten. Four years later, my daughter began kindergarten there as well. Now named Lagunitas Community School, with elementary and middle school programs, the school is thriving and provides a well-rounded education to students from TK to 8th grade. We love everything about this school. The beautiful campus setting, surrounded by open space, is dreamy. The teachers are excellent, and there is a nice balance of core academics, enrichment like art, Spanish, and garden, and social-emotional learning. Plus, we have a valuable partnership with the San Geronimo Community Center, which provides countless benefits to kids and families, including affordable after-school care and tutoring, middle school mixers, sports teams, and other fun activities. My kids thrive at this school, and I feel lucky to live in the San Geronimo Valley.

We've been in the Open Classroom for 4 years and have another child starting kindergarten in the fall. This has been a great program for our family. The Co-Op model allows us, as parents, to really get to know the teachers, the students, other parents and the administration. Spending a couple of hours a week in class with my daughter has given me insights into her strengths and weaknesses that no report card or parent-teacher conference could. I recently saw some writing by a group of 3rd graders from the Open Classroom side by side with writing on the same topic by kids from other schools. The things which stood out were, Open Classroom kids had more spelling errors and their handwriting was not as neat, but the content of the writing was much more thoughtful and expressive. This sums up a lot of what I love about Open Classroom! Expression, thinking and communicating are valued above the mechanics of education.