Shun Graves serves as editor-in-chief and first joined The Blazer in 2019. He covers Branson sports, local government and transportation. His work also appears in the Marin Independent Journal.
The Branson boys lacrosse team plays against Marin Academy, April 6, 2022, in a game that ended in a loss. The team has concluded a season marred by injuries but also marked by skill and rapport.
Parents volunteer at the Snack Shack, March 30, 2022. The Student Senate has decided to close the store after spring break if trash conditions do not improve.
Solar panels atop the commons on March 14. Planned solar and environmental projects this year will boost Branson’s commitment to sustainability, school leaders say.
Ross Mayor Elizabeth Robbins says the Town Council will likely consider the school’s growth application in January. But emails show the complications, and progress, the project has experienced.
In a culmination of a year of preparation after the passage of Measure F, Branson submitted its plan to increase enrollment by a hundred students to the Town of Ross in March, and has since worked with the town on various aspects of the application.
The decision on whether to amend the school’s...
They line the buffet, dozens deep, and never fail to appear every school day. Crowded and anxious, they await their daily midday meal. But these Branson denizens cast into the Commons not a din of chatter but a pall of silence.
These green, plastic lunch boxes and the space they temporarily inhabit...
A group of Branson students established a chapter of a food-donation program in January, partnering with a San Rafael organization and the school community to alleviate food insecurity in Marin.
For Doorstep Donations, the student-led, New York-based nonprofit, the chapter represents another step...
Branson administrators modified the school’s transportation plan, increasing reliance on smaller-occupancy vehicles and initiating an e-bike program as the coronavirus pandemic wears on.
Though the school has seesawed between on-campus instruction and distance learning this fall, the school’s...
A voluntary COVID-19 test offered to the entire Branson community Aug. 29 produced no positive tests — and reflected the school’s growing COVID-19 plans, though still nascent, as it faces the prospect of a return to campus.
Emily Easom, Branson’s COVID coordinator, said approximately 165 people...
The Branson School, like high schools across the nation, has had to adjust its instruction as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic.
The school’s distance-learning plan was the result of input from members of the Student Experience Committee, and online learning started on Wednesday, March 18.
With...
The Student Experience Committee released a new grading policy in early April in response to the new distance learning reality. Given they are adequately engaged, Branson students' grades can no longer decline from their third-quarter ones.
The plan for student evaluation places emphasis on completion...
Branson celebrated the narrow-margin passage of its Measure F, which increases the maximum permissible enrollment of a Ross school to 420 students from 320.
For Branson to gain any more students, however, it still must apply for a Use Permit by the Town Council. Meanwhile, teachers and students lauded...
Branson theater students continue to prepare for “Not By Bed Alone,” a French comedy and the school’s spring play.
Actors have been investing several hours weekly for nearly a month for the March performance.
“We started rehearsals a few weeks ago, so we have been rehearsing twice a week...
Sales continue to increase for a shirt quickly becoming a symbol of Branson’s community doing what it can to honor Kwentyn Wiggins — one of its own who died this summer.
Wiggins, a rising senior who died in a car accident, was special to the community, wrote basketball teammate and classmate Peyton...
Public safety power shutoffs proliferated across Marin County starting late Oct. 26, forcing Branson to close for three days. Pacific Gas and Electric Co. shut off power across much of Northern California, attempting to prevent fires in the region.
At the shutoff’s peak, 99 percent of Marin lost power...
Branson officials say that a March ballot measure to allow consideration of a 100-student increase is the only viable way to stabilize Branson’s financial situation.
Many current classes and programs are substantially under capacity, they said. Officials also say that the enrollment increase will...
Capped at 320 students for decades, Branson now seeks to increase its permitted enrollment, first through a March ballot measure aimed at Ross voters.
The measure, if passed, will only give the town council the power to allow an enrollment increase of up to 100 students; it does not immediately permit...
