The vice president of San Rafael’s school board withdrew a controversial resolution Monday night that would have recognized “the indispensable role of young men in our community and commit[ted] to support their needs and acknowledge their contributions.”
Mark Koerner pulled his legislation before the vote in front of a room filled almost entirely with women after facing intense backlash following the introduction of the resolution Friday.
The resolution, “Recognition of the Essential Role and Needs of Young Men in Society,” aimed to “recognize and support the needs of young men, promoting their mental, emotional, and physical health” and draw attention to the “critical condition” of young men that “requires immediate and broad-based interventions.” It criticized the term “toxic masculinity,” saying it “does not reflect the vast majority of men and can detract from constructive dialogues.”
Koerner’s attempt to center the needs of boys came amid conversations prompted by U.S. Vice President J.D. Vance about best practices for supporting all students while addressing gender-specific challenges in educational settings. This line of thinking has seen increasing support in the last two decades, as research has shown boys lagging in certain academic measures. In recent years, some on the right have latched onto this as a culture-war wedge issue.
On Monday night, roughly 30 women packed into the small board room at Terra Linda High School. Nearly all grabbed forms to submit their desire to speak during the public comment period. Around 100 others logged in via Zoom.
“What the heck is going on in these meetings that they’re thinking of this stuff?” asked Olivia Vos, mother of a second grader, before the meeting.
During the 40-minute public comment period before the vote, nearly two dozen speakers described the resolution as “strange,” “ridiculous,” “offensive,” “a mockery of women’s history month,” and “a vanity metric.”
“The resolution put forth is insensitive at best and at worst driven by a personal political agenda,” said Carmen Dowell, a mother of two at San Rafael City Schools. “I not only encourage scrutiny of this resolution, I also invite [the] question[ing] of the motivations of Trustee Koerner and his fitness to serve as an elected official of this board.”
Multiple speakers pointed out that the district has the motto “Equity, Community, and Joy,” which was posted directly behind Koerner in the meeting room, saying it stood in stark contrast to his resolution.
The resolution stated that the term “toxic masculinity” “implies young men need to be ‘fixed’ by women.”
“It was very hard to ignore the parallels between J.D. Vance’s speech a couple days ago,” said Susanna Farber, a mother of two in the district.
“I think that our culture sends a message to young men that you should suppress every masculine urge,” Vance said in February in a speech at the Conservative Political Action Conference. “My message to young men is don’t allow this broken culture to send you a message that you’re a bad person because you’re a man, because you like to tell a joke, because you like to have a beer with your friends or because you’re competitive.”
Koerner’s resolution would have gone into effect immediately at the 12 schools covered by the San Rafael City School Board.
Almost all public comments at the meeting were staunchly against the resolution. The resolution emphasized that young men face emotional, educational, and financial challenges requiring “immediate and broad-based interventions” to ensure their successful integration into society. Koerner, a member of the American Independent Party, was appointed to the school board in January 2024, filling a vacant seat. In November, he was elected to serve four years.
ShayAne Hakala, a teacher at Coleman Elementary School, asked for clarification on how the resolution would be implemented at schools and in the community.
She described how her younger brother “passed after struggling with mental health issues.”
“This profound loss led me to ask, ‘What were the resources and support he needed during his struggles?’” she said. “How will this resolution support education programs to help students … recognize signs of depression and suicidal behavior and monitor mental health over time?”
Koerner, who leads an innovation and design consulting firm that works on education projects, according to his LinkedIn profile, addressed the crowd after public comment. He conceded that the resolution was “not appropriate at this time,” adding that his proposal stemmed from concerns raised at a board meeting in April 2024 over the well-being of boys at district schools.
Koerner that month proposed a resolution to instate an “International Boys Day.” It was denied. Koerner said he did not intend for the resolution to be divisive and admitted he was “open to revising language.”
“I drafted the language you see today understanding it was a starting point for discussion,” he said Monday. “My aim is to create a resolution that is inclusive and beneficial. The core reason I believe it’s important for people to have this conversation is we cannot develop effective solutions if we ignore the underlying trends. The resolution is not intended to detract from the progress of women. It is about recognizing the challenges facing young men.”
Nationally, men are less likely to graduate from college than women, according to research from the American Institute for Boys and Men. A report by the National Library of Medicine that tracked deaths in 183 countries from 2000 to 2019 concluded that men are 3.3 times more likely than women to die by suicide or from drug or alcohol abuse.
San Rafael City Schools displays inequality among male and female students. According to the most recent audit from 2019, though there are more males in the school district – 54% – their grades and educational attainment levels are lower. Female students have slightly higher GPAs. But perhaps most tellingly, a measure of students’ eligibility for the UC and CSU systems showed that 51% of girls in the district qualified, while only 33% of boys did.
But those at Monday’s meeting questioned whether the resolution was the appropriate way to address such issues. Morgan Agnew, president of the San Rafael Federation of Teachers, said the resolution was brought forward without consultation with educators or administrators.
“We would have told you about the important programs we already have to support our male students: the Boys Group at Madrone, Dudes and Donuts, the Champion Men’s Zone, just to name a few,” he said. “Supporting young men and recognizing systemic gender inequalities are not mutually exclusive.”