Nick and Jessica Schmear addressed the Belmont‑Redwood Shores School District Board during the public comment period, asking the board to allow their daughter, a sixth‑grade student currently at Sandpiper, to transfer to Ralston so she can access a larger peer group and more extracurricular options. The couple said the grade cohort at their child’s current school has declined and left too few same‑gender peers: “She shouldn’t have to go play with 7 Ed Ray girls in order to have friends and develop,” Jessica Schmear said.

The Schmears said their daughter began the previous school year among roughly 49 students in the cohort and that the class is now smaller; they told the board there are “8 girls” in sixth grade at Sandpiper. They described the student as academically successful — “a straight A student,” Jessica Schmear said — and said social isolation has produced crying and headaches. They urged the board to “let her have every opportunity that Ralston allows.”

The remarks were delivered during the public comment portion of the meeting. No formal board action or response occurred during the comment period, and the board chair reminded speakers that under the Brown Act the board cannot act on non‑agenda items during the meeting.

The Schmears also asked the board to consider broader policy changes to enrollment or transfer rules that they said exclude students who were not in the district the previous year; they described that as a fairness concern for future consideration. The board moved on to the posted agenda after public comment ended.