Mill Valley School District

AT A GLANCE

Interim Campus Construction Begins June 2026

The Mill Valley School District is excited to announce the start of the Mill Valley Middle School renovation project. The first phase is construction of the interim campus in the existing staff parking area, which will take place this summer through December.

June 1-15	Site preparation including installing equipment, trailers and fencing
Work Hours: Monday – Friday, 7:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m.
June 15 – December 2026	Construction of the interim campus, including: Removing soil and installing concrete to raise the grade to prevent flooding Installing 29 new portable buildings Constructing an elevated deck for outdoor learning/recreation areas
Work Hours: Monday – Friday, 6:00 a.m. to 6:00 p.m. with weekend work as needed Noisier work will occur between 7:00 a.m. and 5:00 p.m. Some work will occur outside of these work hours, 3 and advance notice will be provided.

 

Weekly Updates

Weekly construction updates will be emailed to the community and uploaded to this website. If you would like to be added to the email distribution list, please call the hotline at (888) 889-MVMS or email:  communications@mvschools.org.

More details can be found below. If you have questions or wish to sign-up for project email updates, please call our toll-free hotline number (888) 889-MVMS.

 

Renovation of the Existing MVMS Campus

In December 2025, the Mill Valley School District Board certified the Mill Valley Middle School Environmental Impact Report. The approved project will renovate the middle school to support future educational needs while remaining with the $95 million dollar Measure G budget. Improvements include:

• Replacing aging infrastructure
• Upgrading interior and exterior spaces
• Improving safety and accessibility
• Enhancing STEM learning environments

The modernization project will be conducted in the following three phases:

• Phase 1 – Construction of interim campus and relocation of students (June 2026 – January 2027)
• Phase 2 – Modernization of MVMS campus (2027 – 2029)
• Phase 3 – Relocating students to renovated campus and dissembling interim campus (2029)

 

Site Preparation – June 1-15, 2026

To prepare for interim campus construction, a crew of 3-5 workers will set up the construction trailer, portable restrooms, handwashing stations and construction fencing.

This work will occur Monday through Friday from 7 a.m. to 4 p.m. Deliveries will occur from 9 a.m. to 1 p.m. to minimize impacts to student drop-off and pick-up.

The school community can expect increased campus activity and possible drop-off delays during this period, but we will do everything we can to minimize these impacts. There will be no impacts to skate park operations during this time.

Interim Campus Construction Begins June 15, 2026

An interim campus is required to house students before modernization construction can begin. The interim campus will be built in the existing staff parking area. The following work has been approved by the Department of the State Architect:

Date	Activity
June 15 – August 15	Removal of the asphalt parking lot. Removal of about 13,000 cubic yards (around 800 truckloads) of soil/fill and transportation to a licensed disposal facility. Backfill with three to five feet of lightweight concrete to raise the site above flood levels. Install utility trenches for sewer, power, data communications and domestic water lines.
August 15 – September	Concrete pours of foundations for new portable buildings.
September – December	Delivery of 29 portable buildings between September and October. Installation and interior modifications to portable buildings for classroom and administrative use. Construction of elevated decking, including outdoor learning and recreation spaces. Miscellaneous accessibility, fire life safety and environmental safety improvements.

 

Work Hours

• Monday-Friday from 6 a.m. to 6 p.m. with weekend work as needed to maintain schedule.
• Noisier work and deliveries will occur between 7 a.m. and 5 p.m.
• Portable buildings will be delivered between September and October 2026 between the hours of 4 and 5 a.m. due to the size of buildings and requirements limiting when they can travel on area freeways.
• Some work that cannot be interrupted, like concrete pours or utility tie-ins, will occur outside of normal work hours.
  • Foundation pours for the portable buildings will be the most impactful with four to five long pour days taking around 10 to 12 hours to finish. Notice of these dates and work hours will be provided with as much advance notice as possible.
• No work on holidays or the days holidays are observed. Schedule will account for local events that might be impacted by the work.

Portable Delivery

Portables will be delivered from September through November.  Due to the size of the portable buildings and requirements limiting when they can travel on freeways, portables will need to be delivered between 4 and 5 a.m. All trucks will be offloaded and leaving campus by 7 a.m.

Delivery trucks will travel down E. Blithdale Ave., turn left onto Camino Alto and then left onto Sycamore Ave. There will be traffic impacts around 5 a.m. as the portables are staged and ready to be placed in sequence. Any deliveries of portables later in the day will be staggered so only one portable building is delivered at a time to minimize traffic impacts.

The following map shows the path trucks will take when delivering portables in 4 clusters.

Construction Travel

To avoid traveling through campus, a temporary bridge will be constructed over Ryan Creek to transport construction vehicles. The bridge will be built in sections on-site behind the construction fencing. It will then be rolled and set into place. We anticipate the bridge will be installed in early August 2026, pending coordination with various regulatory and permitting agencies. The bridge would be removed after the portable buildings are set in October 2026. The bridge would be re-installed once the modernization project is complete in early 2029.

Day-to-day Impact on Students

The District is working closely with the construction team to minimize day-to-day impacts on students. More information will be provided as it gets closer to the start of the 2026-27 school year.

Protecting the health and safety of students and staff is the District's highest priority.

Mill Valley Middle School is located on a former landfill. Over the past year, extensive environmental studies have been completed under the oversight of the Marin County Local Enforcement Agency, the Regional Water Quality Control Board, and the California Department of Toxic Substances Control. These studies found that the campus is safe for students and staff under current conditions.

Because interim campus construction will involve removing asphalt and concrete and disturbing soil, additional protections will be in place throughout construction. Air quality will be monitored during all soil-disturbing activities, and construction will be conducted under the oversight of regulatory agencies and environmental professionals.

The District has retained Langan Environmental to oversee environmental compliance during construction and confirm that all work is performed in accordance with approved health, safety, and environmental requirements.

Construction controls and student protection measures will include:

• Continuous air monitoring during soil-disturbing work, with results available to the public
• Clear separation between student and construction areas, including an eight-foot fence with sound blankets
• No interaction between students and construction crews
• Controlled access points, fencing, and flaggers throughout campus
• Water, foam, tarps, and other dust-control measures
• Covered and decontaminated trucks transporting soil off site
• Enhanced air filtration in interim campus buildings
• Ongoing environmental oversight throughout construction

The plans governing construction activities, including the Post-Closure Land Use Plan, Community Air Monitoring Plan, Health and Safety Plan, Soil Management Plan, are undergoing final regulatory review.  Work will not start until these plans are approved and all plans will be posted on this website.

Community Impacts

Parking

The majority of street parking on Sycamore Avenue will remain available for staff and visitors. The District has secured additional staff parking at Mt. Tamalpais Unified Methodist Church.

Contractors will park at Terra Marin School and be shuttled to campus. The shuttle will drop workers off between 6:30 and 7:30 a.m. The shuttle will resume service between 3:30 to 4:30 p.m. to take most workers back to the parking lot. The shuttle will pick up and drop off workers at the site trailer located outside of the construction fencing.

We will do our best to minimize traffic disruptions, but this may cause additional traffic periodically in the neighboring residential area. We will avoid worker travel during student drop-off and pick-up times as much as possible.

Student Drop-off/Pick-up

Modifications to the student drop-off/pick-up area will be made prior to the start of the 2026-27 school year. This includes a new student drop-off and pick-up entrance in the area shown in black in the figure below to separate student and construction traffic.

The existing drop-off and pick-up location will be closed with fencing and used as a construction entrance. There will be signage, delineation and crossing guards and flaggers to direct traffic.

Pedestrian/Bike Access

Pedestrians and cyclists can use the south side of Sycamore Avenue (sidewalk and bike trail available as shown by the red arrow on the map below). There will be a crosswalk available to access the school between the sewage plant and Mt. Tamalpais United Methodist Church as the sidewalk along the cul-de-sac will be closed. There will be signage, delineation and crossing guards and flaggers to direct traffic as shown in the figure below.

Friends Field Access

The Friends Field baseball field and community center will remain open during the project. Users of Friends Field will need to park at the community center.  Access through the middle school will no longer be available. 

Truck Traffic

Approximately 3-4 trucks per day will be used to haul soil to a licensed disposal facility. Trucks will follow an approved route that minimizes trips through residential areas. Trucks will also limit idling to under 5 minutes and will not line up on Sycamore Avenue. Trucks will exit the site and take Sycamore Avenue, turning right onto Camino Alto, right onto E. Blithedale Avenue and onto US-101.

Harrison Skate Park

A retaining wall will be built between the skate park and the interim campus as the campus will be raised to prevent future flooding. The District will keep the skate park open as much as possible during the interim campus construction; however, short-term closures will be needed to install temporary fencing and to relocate the skate park entrance to the east side of the park, including constructing a new ADA-accessible ramp.

Date	Activity
June 29	Temporary skate park closure to install fencing and ADA-accessible ramp
July 1	Skate park reopens with fencing in place and new entrance
July 1 – August 12	Retaining wall construction
August 13	Temporary skate park closure to remove fencing
August 15	Skate park reopens
January 2027	Temporary entrance closed for 2-3 days to move skate park entrance back to front of the skate park

 

Construction and public areas will remain clearly separated during work.

Signage will be posted at the skate park with this construction schedule to provide advance notice of closures. Closures will also be described in the weekly construction email updates.

For More Information

We encourage questions from the school and larger community and will continue to provide updates as the project moves forward. Call (888) 889-MVMS (24/7) if you have any questions or would like a briefing for your organization. A representative will get back to you either the same or next business day.

FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS

When will interim campus construction begin?

Site preparation for campus construction begins on June 1. Interim campus construction begins on June 15 and will continue through December 2026. Construction will occur between the hours of 6 a.m. and 6 p.m., Monday through Friday, with weekend work as needed to maintain schedule. Noisier work and most deliveries will occur between 7 a.m. and 5 p.m. Some work, including portable classroom deliveries, concrete pours or utility tie-ins, will occur outside of normal work hours. For example, the longest concrete pours will last between 10 to 12 hours and portables will be delivered as early as between 4 to 5 a.m. We will provide advance notice of this work and the associated hours via this webpage and our weekly construction updates.

When will students move to the interim campus?

Students currently in 5^th, 6^th and 7^th grade are anticipated to move to the interim campus in January 2027. They are expected to remain there for approximately two years during the campus modernization construction.

What will the interim campus look like?

The interim campus will consist of 29 portable buildings that include classroom spaces, art and science rooms, administrative areas, student support spaces and outdoor areas for circulation and lunch. Students will still use Friends Field for P.E.

How will health and safety be protected during the interim campus phase?

Protecting student and staff health is a top priority. Environmental testing has shown that the existing campus is safe under current conditions. Interim campus construction is being conducted under the oversight of the Marin County Local Enforcement Agency and the Regional Water Quality Control Board and in accordance with the following approved plans: Post-Closure Land Use Plan, Project Health & Safety Plan, Community Air Monitoring Plan, Soil Management Plan, Stormwater Pollution Prevention Plan and others.

As part of these plans, the following construction controls and student protection measures will be in place:

• Ongoing air quality monitoring with results available publicly.
• Clear separation between student and construction areas, including an eight-foot-tall fence with sound blankets separating the two areas.
• No interaction between construction crews and students.
• Controlled access and flaggers throughout campus.
• Water, plastic tarps and foam to control dust and odors.
• Trucks carrying soil for off-site disposal will be covered and cleaned before leaving the site.
• Enhanced HVAC filtration in portable buildings.

When will renovation of the existing campus begin?

Renovation of the existing campus is expected to begin in January 2027.

When will the renovated school be complete?

Students are expected to return to the renovated campus in January 2029, after about two years at the interim campus.

Plans for the renovation are currently under development and are anticipated to be shared with the community in fall 2026. The District will continue to provide schedule updates as the plans are finalized.

What is included in the modernization project?

The project will modernize the existing campus while remaining within the $95 million in hard construction costs funded through Measure G funds. Improvements include:

• Replacing aging infrastructure, bathrooms and elevators
• Upgrading interior and exterior spaces
• Improving safety and accessibility
• Enhancing STEM learning environments

How will health and safety be protected during renovation?

The school site was historically used as a landfill prior to construction of the campus in 1970. Extensive environmental testing completed in 2025 and 2026 shows that the campus is safe for students and staff under current conditions.

As part of the modernization project, the District will conduct additional work to ensure that the campus remains safe for long-term use. All environmental work is overseen and approved by the Marin County Local Enforcement Agency and the Regional Water Quality Control Board. Planned measures include:

• Installing an engineered barrier beneath the main campus building to protect indoor air quality
• Adding clean material in landscaped areas to prevent contact with underlying soils
• Enhancing areas along Ryan Creek with protective vegetated cover
• Installing methane monitoring systems in classrooms and common areas
• Ongoing inspection, oversight and site management by regulatory agencies
• Recording a land use covenant on the property to prohibit certain land uses and ensure any soil that is disturbed is managed and disposed of in accordance with all regulations

What happened with the Preliminary Endangerment Assessment?

The California Department of Toxic Substances Control (DTSC) oversaw and approved the Preliminary Endangerment Assessment in December 2025. As part of its approval, DTSC recommended additional sub-slab testing and site investigation work. Data from this work is being used to help design protective systems beneath campus buildings.

Oversight of the next phase of work has transitioned to the Regional Water Quality Control Board and is being coordinated with the Marin County Local Enforcement Agency.

What are the plans for Ryan Creek?

Ryan Creek is currently fenced to prevent access and ensure student safety. A separate division of the Regional Water Quality Control Board will oversee planned creek mitigation work, which will include installation of a vegetative cover along the banks of the creek. This work will occur in summer 2027.

Multiple agencies will be involved in reviewing and overseeing this work to ensure that all work is conducted safely and in compliance with environmental regulations. These agencies include:

• Regional Water Quality Control Board (lead agency)
• U.S. Army Corps of Engineers
• California Department of Fish and Wildlife
• Marin County Local Enforcement Agency

How can I get more information?

The District will continue to provide updates via this website, at school functions and via Parents Square. You can also call (888) 889-MVMS (24/7) with any questions.