On its face, the San Rafael school board’s proposed resolution asserting that the “critical condition” of young men “requires immediate and broad-based interventions” seemed deliberately contentious.
Board vice president Mark Koerner placed the resolution, titled “Recognition of the Essential Role and Needs of Young Men in Society,” on the March 10 meeting agenda, citing concern for the emotional, educational and financial state of young men.
Dozens of representatives from teachers’ unions and members of the public turned out to condemn the resolution, calling it “divisive,” “sexist” and “politicized.”
Young women’s needs? Never mentioned. Gender non-conforming individuals? Nope. Data demonstrating young men’s needs have reached a crisis level? Nada. Concrete solutions? Not one.
Although Teri Bleiweiss, parent of two San Rafael school students, agrees young men deserve acknowledgement and support, she objected to the resolution because it did not represent all genders. She also had another issue—the resolution’s wording.
“I am the parent of a young man,” she wrote in a statement to the Pacific Sun. “I know the unique challenges they face, and I support allocating resources to address those challenges. But the language in this resolution is weird.”
Bleiweiss wasn’t alone in pointing out Koerner’s propensity for the odd turn of phrase throughout the resolution. The topic came up repeatedly during public comment at the meeting.
Indeed, the text jumped from celebrating young men to increase their “sense of worth and belonging” to denouncing the term “toxic masculinity,” because such language “implies young men need to be ‘fixed’ by women.”
Koerner ought to know a few things about the impact of words. According to the tech leader’s LinkedIn profile, he served as co-CEO of Dictionary.com for several years.
It makes one wonder why he included emotionally charged language in the resolution. Several people in the meeting questioned his intention. A parent noted Koerner’s language paralleled a speech last month by Vice President J.D. Vance, who said that our “broken culture” sends a message to young men that they should suppress “masculine urges.”
Anne Levenson, who has two sons in San Rafael schools, succinctly summed up the sentiments of those who spoke at the meeting.
“What is this resolution supposed to do?” Levenson asked. “The lack of clarity of the goal of the resolution and the lack of the supporting data and studies is problematic. The resolution, as it’s written, is unacceptable, and small tweaks to the language will not make it an appropriate resolution to adopt.”
Board member Maureen de Nieva-Marsh, who declared that she would not back Koerner’s resolution or similar ones presented in the future, raised the issue of reevaluating the process for presenting agenda items and resolutions.
Current San Rafael school board policy appears to have few requirements to place items on the agenda, even those that lack broad-based support from other board members, educators and parents.
“Typically, the board president and superintendent collaborate to set the agenda for each meeting,” Carmen Diaz Ghysels, San Rafael City Schools’ superintendent, told the Pacific Sun. “However, individual board members also have the option to add items to the agenda.”
Thus, the board spent about 90 minutes considering a resolution that seemed destined for failure from the start. The members then voted 5-0 to remove the item from the agenda.
But Koerner did not sound discouraged. He said that he had introduced and pulled back a similar resolution last year, he said he was open to revising and resubmitting the most recent version.
In a March 16 email to the Pacific Sun, he seemed to have a change of heart.
“I am not personally committed to bringing back the resolution,” Koerner wrote. “I’m interested in doing what is best for our students, and there may be better ways to address this than through a resolution. However, I am committed to considering data that points to trends I can address. This is an area where I can put some energy and help if people are willing to talk to me about it in good faith.”
Koerner declined to talk about the issues with the Pacific Sun. However, he did forward a list of “works citing concerns for young men,” containing links to 22 news articles, opinion pieces and research.
Credible studies show that men have higher suicide rates, with young men reluctant to seek mental health care. Girls, in general, score better in reading and writing than boys. While boys traditionally held the lead in mastering science and math, girls have for the most part caught up. In 2021, girls made up 58% of college undergrads and boys just 42%.
Since Koerner decided to remain mum, the Pacific Sun reached out to another local male advocate, Joe Manthey, for his perspective. Manthey, who has spent three decades championing men’s rights, agreed with the premise of Koerner’s resolution, but gave the San Rafael school board member poor marks for execution.
“It was a well-intentioned motion, but you don’t do this during March, Women’s History Month,” Manthey said. “You need to include statistics from your district to back up what you’re saying. And you need to meet with interested parties in your district and put together a delegation of supporters, instead of going at it as a lone wolf.”
Manthey has worked on numerous projects over the years to support men, he said. In 1995, he formed a group to convince Sonoma County to create a men’s commission because it had a women’s commission. The effort failed, but he was not deterred from his mission.
Last month, he informed Marin County’s administrator and counsel that the Marin County Teen Girls Conference violated the law and that if it proceeded, he would file a claim against them for sex discrimination. Despite Manthey’s warning about using government funds for a “single-sex activity,” the event took place on March 2 at the Embassy Suites Hotel in San Rafael.
“The county and the hotel will be facing legal action,” Manthey said. “And I’m also going to file a Title IX complaint against every school who allowed for recruitment for the girls conference,” he said, citing a federal law providing equal treatment for all genders in educational settings.
The pendulum is certainly swinging wildly on gender issues. Tammy Edmonson, a human rights activist and Mill Valley resident who spoke about Koerner’s resolution during the San Rafael school board meeting, had a different viewpoint.
Urging Koerner to check his facts, she emphasized that men still outpace women on many power fronts. Edmonson then provided a slew of statistics, including that women won the vote 105 years ago, but the country still has not had a female president.
“More than 70% of congressional representatives, cabinet members and governors today are men,” she continued. “Two-thirds of household wealth in this country is held by men. Women working full time earn 84 cents on every dollar earned by a man. Eighty-three percent of U.S. billionaires are men. Ninety percent of Fortune 500 companies are headed by men.”
As they did a year ago with Koerner’s previous attempt to advance a male agenda, the San Rafael school board members will likely put Koerner’s unsuccessful resolution behind them and move on to more pressing business. Hopefully, it includes working toward equity for all genders, and quieting any lingering divisiveness stirred up at the meeting.
