As the clock ticks down to see if Measure A will pass, its current ‘Yes’ count is at 53.8 percent, with 55 needed to pass. An estimated 50 ballots are left to count, and updates will be posted by Friday, March 22. Tamalpais Union High School District (TUHSD) schools’ aging infrastructure faces dire prospects, as enacted by Mike Woolard, senior director of the facilities planning for Measure A.

County of Marin, Measure A is a measure meant to repair and upgrade local high schools by updating outdated facilities, such as replacing leaking

roofs and inefficient heating, cooling, ventilation, and more. If the measure receives 55 percent of the vote, TUHSD will be authorized to issue more than half a billion dollars in bonds. 

Corbett Elsen, the district’s Assistant Superintendent for Business and Operations, emphasized that such efforts are for the safety and insurance of students. Redwood and Archie Williams High School are over 60 years old, while Tamalpais High School (Tam) is over 100 years old. Despite these schools receiving acclaim for high-quality education, the state of the buildings needs to be updated and kept up to standard.

“Safety is the number one responsibility we have for students behind educating them,”Elsen said. “There is a California law that if the cost of renovating a building up to its safety code… is more than 50 percent of what it would cost to [simply] replace it, then you must replace it,” Elsen said. 

 Woolard stresses the importance of renovation and explains the possible negative implications of not renovating facilities to meet code.

“We want all of our students, whether from Archie, Tam or Redwood, [to have access to] the facilities to support the same learning outcomes,” Corbett said.