001We will now reconvene to open session at 6:48. We will start with the Pledge of Allegiance. Ready, begin. I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America, and to the Republic for which it stands, one nation under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all. May I get a motion to accept tonight's agenda for June 16th, 2026? So moved. Moved by Roberta, second by Pete. All in favor, aye. Aye. Any nays? 5-0. May I also get a motion to accept the meeting minutes for the June 9th, 2026 regular meeting? So moved. Second. Moved by Bianca, second by Pete. All in favor? Aye. Aye. Any nays? 5-0. Action resulting from the closed session. Be it resolved that the Board of Education readmit student 25-0072 MUSD, passed and adopted the 16th day of June
0022026 in the County of San Bernardino, California. Passed by a vote of 5-0. Be it resolved that the Board of Education accept stipulation and agreement for expulsion and suspension of expulsion for student 25-022, passed and adopted the 16th day of June 2026 in the County of San Bernardino, California. This also passed 5-0. Be it resolved that the Board of Education accept the stipulation agreement for expulsion and suspension for student 25-021, passed and adopted the 16th day of June 2026 in the County of San Bernardino, California by a vote of 5-0. Be it resolved that the Board of Education accept the panel's recommendation from June 8, 2026 for a hearing for the student 25-020, which is passed and adopted the 16th day of June 2026 in the County of San Bernardino, California. That was a vote
003of 5-0. Lastly, be it resolved that the Board of Education accept the recommendation of Assistant Superintendent of Human Resources that employee 8750 be immediately suspended without pay, pending termination and separation from employment. Passed and adopted the 16th day of June 2026 in the County of San Bernardino, California. Also a vote of 5-0. Do we have a legislative report tonight? Nothing to report tonight. Thank you. Looks like no classified, so we'll go straight to certificated. Good evening. MTA would just like to thank the board for their vote tonight regarding the contract and the district for working with us. We also want to acknowledge our team for putting in the hard work. Jason Bolt, our chair, in the back there trying to hide. Connie Collins from CTA, Julie Williams, Alexander, Doug Walters, Heather Cassell, and Jordan Bush.
004Thank you. Well done. Three year deal, amazing. Great job to all involved. Marine core rep not here this evening. I believe this will be our last, but not least report from Stacy Smalling, Assistant Superintendent of HR. You are correct, President Claire, and thank you so much for the opportunity to come speak to you one last time. Members of the board and Dr. Vargas, I'm going to introduce to you today Dennis Zink, who you approved on June 9th to serve Morongo Unified School District's new Assistant Superintendent of Human Resources. Dennis began his career in education as a special education teacher. He served as an assistant principal and then principal of Palm Springs High School for nearly a decade. From there, Dennis moved into human resources, working first as a classified director in Palm Springs and most
005recently as a certificated director of HR for Desert Sands Unified School District. Dennis brings with him a wealth of knowledge and experience in human resources and school district leadership, and a love for and an understanding of our desert region, and I'm confident that he'll be a tremendous asset to our district. Dennis. Thank you, Stacy, for kind words. President Claire, board of trustees, I want to say thank you for this opportunity to join the Morongo team. Dr. Vargas, thank you for the opportunity. I really look forward to working with all of you and serving the high desert as I have the low. I'm super excited to be here and want to thank my wife for being supportive and driving up here with me tonight and meeting you all. So thank you, and I look forward to
006starting very soon. Thank you, Mr. Zink. Welcome to the team. Thank you. The drive's not that bad. It really isn't. It's kind of fun. Next up would be our Measure C bond update. And I don't see Jeff out there, so we're going to go ahead and skip that. At this moment, we'd like to do a public hearing for AB 1200, which is the MTA A public hearing on the tentative agreement reached between MTA and the district. Do we have any board comments? Any public comments? Okay. I guess I should have opened it. May I get a motion to open the hearing? Sorry. So moved. Moved by Pete. Second. Second by Roberta. All in favor? Aye. Aye. Any discussion? Okay, may I get a motion to close the hearing? So moved. Second. Moved by Bianca, second
007by Pete. All in favor? Aye. Great. Thank you, guys. All right. That gets us to the public comment section. In disclosure time, individuals may address the board on issues within the jurisdiction of the MUSD Board of Education that are not on this agenda. There is a time limitation of three minutes per person and 20 minutes per topic during public comment. Please refrain from applause or side commentary to ensure the board members can properly hear all public speakers. Members of the public are expected to maintain a professional, courteous decorum during comments. Inappropriate behaviors which disrupts, disturbs, or otherwise impedes the orderly conduct of the meeting will result in forfeiture of your public comment privileges. The board is prohibited by state law from taking action or discussing items not included on the printed agenda. Public comments on
008specific agenda items will be deferred until consideration of the item on the agenda. So right now we have two public comments that are non-agendized, so we will start with those two. Number one would be Alexander Altschuler. And this is in regarding-- Alexandra, I'm sorry. This is regarding budget. Last meeting, the enrollment committee recommended every school stay open, but keeping it open starts with a budget. And this budget, the approved budget, doesn't keep up. Here is the trend. The revenue up almost 3%. Expenditures basically flat- Alexandra? Yes. Can you move a little closer? The budget doesn't keep up. So here is the trend. The revenue up almost 3%, expenditures balance is basically flat, but deficit still doesn't close. So it was $7,360,000 million, and now it's like five, almost three, $300,000. That means money is basically
009getting evaporated because we do not meet our deficit, which is a crucial thing for keep the school open. The reserve is just, for an economic uncertainties, just only five, sorry, $4 above the mandated. So where did the money go? Classified administrative salaries, they're up to 4.4%. It's doubled from the last one. So services operation, 9%, which is like one and 400 millions higher. And just like, say the explanation's just computer licenses and transportation, utilities. This is not an explanation for us. And also, this is where the district ranks number one in eight tiers, according to the comparison report, which the district obtains itself. So when Mr. Vargas said that, "Our district is not much of an outlier when it comes to administrative expenses," this is not true. And documents confirm that. So unrestricted administrative spending
010per person is 1,230 per students when the average is 836. It's like it costs our district $2,060,000 per year just like sitting there, which is like you've taken. Budget stabilization review said that reconsidering rearranging the central office, it just immediately gives us almost $6 million right away savings. None of this I have seen in the adopted budget, none of this. So we spent, we parents spent five months fighting to keep all our schools open, and I want the board to hear this clearly. The addendum that is today on the agenda to secure superintendent hefty salary, the increased salary, that he is staying with the district until 2030, the absolutely outrageous determined benefits. And along with that is that by law that is limitating the authority of the board, basically making all the communication coming through
011the district and putting the superintendent as the major body which the board has to refer to. This must stop and stop now. Thank you. Now we have Ashley Sienkowski. Hi. Hello, hello. Good evening. Good evening, Superintendent Vargas. A little closer? Okay. Good evening, Superintendent Vargas, President Clark, members of the school board, and cabinet. Thank you for the opportunity to speak with you tonight. Am I clear? Okay. My name is Ashley Sienkowski, and I'm an educator from the Coachella Valley Unified School District. I've been serving Coachella since 2008 as a special ed teacher and induction coach, and currently I'm one of their behavior specialists. But I'm also one of only eight educators across the four school districts, Morongo, Palm Springs, Desert Sands, and Coachella, who hold National Board Teacher certification. And for anyone unfamiliar with the
012credential, National Board Teacher certification is a nationally available voluntary advanced credential offered by the National Board for Professional Teaching Standards, and it signifies that a teacher is an instructional expert in their grade and subject And I'm here today to introduce to you the Low Desert National Board Cohort, which is coordinated by Arnita Morris, current Teacher of the Year for Twentynine Palms High School right here in Morongo, and myself. The cohort was created with a CTA local grant and a vision to close the gap in accomplished teaching. With only eight board-certified teachers in the entire region, most educators pursuing this credential have no local support system, and this cohort changes that. We bring together educators from across all four districts into a structured, collaborative environment. In our first year, 84% of candidates submitted at least one
013of the four required components, and 52% of candidates completed two components. And I have with me tonight Lindsey Cubit, one of our candidates who completed two components this year and just sat for the exam a few days ago. Forty-one of our cohort pursued the Exceptional Needs Specialist certificate, and 45% of participants identified as BIPOC, Black Indigenous People of Color. Now, the certificated bargaining agreement for Coachella provides five release days for 10 teachers pursuing board certification, but none of the remaining three districts have any kind of national board language in their contracts. So I have a project proposal, which is a comprehensive system of support that relies on all eight entities, four districts, four locals, to contribute. My full proposal with all the details was sent out last week to the HR directors and the presidents
014of all of the teachers' associations and the school districts. Desert Sands Teachers' Association, Coachella Valley Teachers' Association, and Coachella Valley Unified have already approved the proposal in full. And I'm not here tonight to ask for a decision. I know decisions take time, but I know this is where the decisions are made. So I'm just here to put a face to the name so that if you do see this proposal cross your desk, you know who's behind it, and you know why it matters so much. So thank you so much. Thank you. All the rest of public comments are agendized requests. So at this point, I would like to see... We have the adoption of the consent agenda. Do we have any items that need to be pulled for further discussion? I actually had a comment
015for public comment there. Public comments. What's-- Excuse me? I had a public comment here for public comment. Yeah, public comments. Yeah. For number seven. Public comment. So you have limits. What you wrote is limits on school board member authority, which is item 10B. But it's more than that. So I'd like- Okay, then go ahead and come on up. Yeah. You can sit alongside of that. Thank you for letting me speak. Good evening. I will speak plainly about trust. After months of public conflict about possible school closures, after parents and community members had to fight for basic transparencies, and right before November elections where three out of five board seats are before voters, the board is now considering rules that appear to weaken individual trust authority and route public concern through the superintendent's office. That should
016alarm people. The board is an elected body. The superintendent works for the board. The public elects the board. This is the chain of accountability. But this turns the power dynamic upside down. If trustees' questions, information requests, complaints, and public concerns are pushed through the superintendent or filtered through board leadership, then the superintendent becomes the gatekeeper of oversight. This is not accountability. This is control of information flow. And the irony of timing, this is happening right after the district pushed the closure narrative to the public before the enrollment committee has finished its work. Families received messaging that made closure feel like the direction of travel before the committee ultimately said school closures should not be last resort. So now, after the process damaged public trust, the answer is to give the same administrative structure more insulation
017from direct trustee and community oversight? How is this acceptable? What message does this send to public, especially when the majority of the current board was appointed, not elected by voters in the regular election? Especially when three seats are on ballot in November, especially when the district is still asking the public to trust its fiscal decisions. I will say personally, I came to this country from Putin's Russia. I know what it looks like when power consolidates itself under the language of procedure, stability, and proper channels. When constitutions are rewritten before elections. This is familiar enough to be disturbing. Don't tell the public this is housekeeping. When power is routed away from elected representatives and toward one administrative office, people notice. We're not stupid. The board should not reduce its own oversight power before the election. The
018board should not make the superintendent's office the gatekeeper of public concerns. The board should not lock in power structures while voters are waiting for their chance to speak. This must be tabled until after the November election. The board is a unit of authority, and superintendent should not become the gatekeeper of public concerns. Thank you. Thank you. Do we have any discussion on the current consent agenda items? Any items to be pulled for further discussion? I have one item, which would be item eight, awarding of the bid of the HVAC replacement at various sites. Any other items? May I get a motion to approve the consent agenda minus item number eight? May I get a motion? Move. Motion Pete. Second. Second by Roberta. All in favor? Aye. Aye. Any nays? 5-0. Okay, on eight, this is
019going to be questions for Mr. Daniels. Can you clarify, did we only get one competing bid on that? That is correct. And then why would that be the case? Well, we had a really robust bid process. Advertising went well. We had a lot show up to the bid, but we only had one responsive bidder in total. We're happy also to give you a responsible bidder in total How many HVAC contractors are approved by the district to make bids on our projects? Because my concern is, and it's a $500 million bid, so my concern is we have one qualifying bid. Mm-hmm. Which qualifying is very risky. It's the lowest bid. When it's one bid, it's the only bid. So do we have a robust, or who else is approved on that approved list that pays prevailing
020wages, that has the bond? Do you know that number off the top of your head, or ballpark? Mike, I'm going to say we don't have any others. So 10 days before the bid is due is we're supposed to have people pre-qualify because of the project being over a million dollars. And so whenever we fail to see a lot of contractors pre-qualify for that, it's usually an indication to us that we're probably not going to get a lot of bids on this. However, in this case, I think we might have had more than one pre-qual. I'd have to check with purchasing or even with Mike on that, but it doesn't change the outcome that we only, in fact, received one responsible bidder. Yeah, I'm just concerned because we're in a no-bid society now for some reason.
021I know we got a bid, don't get me wrong. I would just like to see the district have a more robust way of screening and getting more contractors, HVAC across the board, so that we're not facing a bid that we're going to try to approve because we want to help our kids, because these HVACs are sorely needed. Yep. Without really knowing, is it the best bid for our district? I don't know. I mean, I hate to say it, but that's where I feel. Well, I don't need to really reiterate, I guess. You've seen the pattern that we typically deal with here in our area, High Desert. The remoteness has a lot to do with it. The size of the project has a lot to do with it. How many HVAC contractors are willing and able
022and are financially and size-wise equipped to be able to handle a project of such magnitude? So those are additional factors in that. I can tell you that the contractor that is performing has experience working with our district, and they've completed successful projects for our district. In some ways, it doesn't surprise me that they're competent and able to be able to take on this project. I can't explain, however, why some of the other competition decided not to move forward with submitting a bid. So it was trained. So are they certified to self-train, or is there like training corporation that will be doing this work? They are both. Okay. If that answers your question. Okay. Any other questions around that? Oh, I know what my last question was. This is a big scope. Since it's so big,
023was there any consideration to saying, "Hey, can we get a bid on 29L? Can we get a bid on Yucca High? Can we get a bid on 29?" Instead of making it such a big-- Because when you make the project so big, you're going to limit the number of people that'll actually... Because if I'm High Desert Air and I see this, I'm probably not even going to pursue it. That's just- Understood ... my organization. But if I'm like, "Oh, it's six classrooms at 29L," I'd put in a bid. No, totally understand. So one of the rules that we have to follow in the procurement process and when it comes to awarding public projects is we're not allowed to bid split projects. So if there's like type work that is taking place across the district, we
024have to accumulate those into one bid. And I can only speculate why that is. Maybe it's to try to create economy of scale if you're bidding out different types, because there is cost involved with each individual bid. But that's just public works contract rules. Okay. Thanks for the clarity. Anybody else? All right. May I get a motion to approve consent agenda item eight? Motion moved. Moved by Pete. Second. Second by Bianca. All in favor? Aye. I'm just going to clarify what this is. I know it's on the agenda, but 29 Palms L is going to get about seven classrooms, the H wing. Onaga's going to get cooling towers for the MPR, kindergarten, and administration building. 29 Junior is going to get the gym and MPR. If you've been in that room, you know it's a
025sauna. 29 High and Yucca High are finally going to get gym, actual air conditioners for the gym, along with the H wing at Yucca High, which is where the band room is. And then the CTE construction room, which is another sauna at 29. It's a great program, but the kids are losing 15 pounds of water weight every day, it seems like. So these are good projects. I just wanted to ask the questions. Thank you. Action items. Resolution 26-24, order of election. The Board of Education has requested to adopt Resolution 26-24, ordering the school district elections for governing boards whose terms expire December 11th, 2026. May I get a motion? So moved. Second. Moved by Roberta, second by Bianca. All in favor? Aye. Aye. Any nays? Five zero. Next up, the LCAP plan and budget overview
026for parents. The board is requested to adopt MUSD's LCAP plan and budget overview for the '26, '27 school year. May I get a motion? Moved. Moved by Missy. Second. Second by Pete. All in favor? Aye. Aye. Any nays? Five zero. Next up is item C. May I get a motion to adopt a budget for '26-'27 for MUSD? Yeah, may I get a motion? So moved. Moved by Bianca. Second. Second by Pete. All in favor? Aye. Next up is the LCAP federal addendum, which is meant to supplement the LCAP to ensure eligible LEAs have the opportunity to meet the LEA plan provisions for Every Student Succeeds Act, the ESSA. Is that right, Melissa? Yeah. May I get a motion? So moved. Second. Moved by Missy, second by Roberta. All in favor? Aye. Next up, resolution 2618,
027self-certifying micro-purchase threshold for the '26-'27. This can be resolution 2618 authorizing the district to self-certify an increase in the federal micro-purchase threshold for this coming school year. May I get a motion? So moved. Moved by Pete. Second. Second by Roberta. All in favor? Aye. Any nays? Five to zero. Next up, resolution 2620, speech-language pathology contract to employ. The board is requested to authorize a resolution to contract with or employ Christine Clayton to provide speech-language pathology services for the '26-'27 school year. Christine holds a license issued by the Speech Language Pathology and Audio Board and has earned a master's degree in education pursuant to Ed Code 44831. May I get a motion? So moved. Second. Moved by Roberta, second by Pete. All in favor? Aye. Aye. Five to zero. Next up, resolution 2621, TK professional experience.
028The board is requested to authorize a resolution pursuant to EC 48000 regarding professional experience as related to units earned for early childhood education for the TK program. May I get a motion? Can I just say something about this real quick? You may. Because I did get some clarity on it because when I read it- Please ... I wasn't too sure about how to read it. But I did find out from Stacy that the resolution will help us in hiring when we have a credentialed teacher who doesn't have the... Is it CDE? Yeah, the California Department of Education requirements of 24 early childhood units. For some reason, the CTE and the CDE don't agree on exactly how that has to work for TK since it's so new. Hopefully, they'll find some understanding in the future. But
029this is just going to help us hire someone who might not have already taken the 24 units that are specifically mandated by the CDE, California Department of Education, for teaching TK. So another teacher who's been teaching kindergarten or first can be hired to teach TK as long as they're enrolled and getting their proper units. I just wanted to clarify that for everybody because it was confusing for me. Thank you, Bianca. That's very helpful, actually. Any other comments? May I get a motion? I thought for sure you would make a motion. Missy, second by Pete. All in favor? Aye. Aye. Any nays? Five, zero. Next up, a big one, MUSD and MTA tentative agreements. The Board of Education are requested to approve the tentative agreement between MUSD and Morongo Teachers Association, CTA/NEA. May I get a
030motion? So moved. Second. Moved by Roberta, second by Pete. All in favor? Aye. Aye. Any nays? Five, zero. Salary schedules. Excuse me. Morongo Teacher, okay. I actually have one other piece. AB1200 2756 for MTA. The board is requested to approve AB 1200 2756 for recording for the tentative agreement reached for the MTA for '25-'26, '26-'27, and the '27-'28 school years. May I get a motion to approve? So moved. Moved by Pete. Second. Second by Bianca. All in favor? Aye. Aye. Any nays? Five, zero. Next up is item J, salary schedules for MTA. The Board of Education is requested to approve the salary schedules for '25-'26, '26-'27, and '27-'28. May I get a motion? So moved. Second. Moved by Roberta, second by Bianca. All in favor? Aye. Aye. Any nays? Five, zero. Next up, salary schedules
031for management, supervisory, and confidential employees. The Board of Education is requested to approve the '25-'26, '26-'27, '27-'28 salary schedules for management, supervisory, and confidential employees. May I get a motion? So moved. Moved by Pete. Second. Second by Bianca. All in favor? Aye. No. So we have four to one? Okay. Missy, yes. Bianca, yes. Pete, yes. Roberta, yes, and I'm a no. Four, one Salary schedules for superintendent and assistant superintendents. Board of Education has requested to approve the 25/26, 26/27, 27/28 superintendent and assistant superintendent salary schedules. May I get a motion? Motion moved. Moved by Pete. Second. Second by Roberta. And the vote? May I get it? Is there a line? Sure. Well, we can do that way. Missy? Missy's a no. Okay. Bianca? Yes. Bianca's a yes. Pete? Yes. Pete's a yes. Roberta? Yes. Roberta,
032yes, and I'm also a no. Motion passes three-two. On this particular item, contract addendum to employment agreement for Dr. Vargas, we do have a public comment, and that's Vadim Altshuler. Good evening. Thank you, Board. I'm asking not to approve the superintendent contract addendum. At minimum, table it until the November election. Trust has been overly damaged in this district. For months, families were told that hard fiscal decisions may be necessary. We were asked to live under the threat of school closures, consolidation, longer bus rides, receiving school impacts, staff disruption, damage to rural communities. During the same process, district communications reached families directly and helped push the impression that closure scenarios were moving forward before the enrollment committee had even finished its work. Then the committee did not recommend school closures. The committee direction was the school
033closures should be a last resort. So I have to ask, how can the board now turn around and extend and sweeten the superintendent's contract through 2030 before the public gets full answers about the closure process, before we see a real deficit control plan, before administrative spending is fully addressed, before voters have their say in November when three out of five board seats are on the ballot? This is not just bad timing. It sends a terrible message. It looks like leadership is being protected before schools are protected. It looks like one person's contract is being secured while families, staff, and rural communities are still awaiting for accountability. People remember Measure C promises. People remember being told to vote yes for shape modernization student needs. Many of those basic needs are still sitting there. People remember the
034lender closure message going out before the committee made its final recommendation. People remember the district narrative moving faster than the public process. And classified workers, they remember, too. Negotiations dragged on. Working people who keep this district running saw 0.14% raise. And now, in the middle of fiscal crisis language, the board is being asked to improve the superintendent's deal. This feels like biting your feet on working-class employees and asking them to smile about it. If there is a fiscal crisis, the leadership compensation belongs inside that conversation. If the district faces hard choices, then the superintendent's contract should be not insulated from those hard questions. If public trust matters, then you do not lock the leadership through 2030 right before an election. Do not approve this tonight. Table the addendum. Thank you. May I get a motion
035on item N, contract addendum to employment agreement for Dr. Vargas? Addendum number six. I so move. Moved by Pete. Second. Second by Bianca. Missy? Yes. Yes for Missy. Bianca? Yes. Whoo. Pete? Bianca, you were yes. Pete. Pete. Roberta? Yes. And I'm a no. So it's going to pass by four-one. Next up, contract addendum for employee agreement, Amy Woods. The Board of Education has requested approved addendum two to the contract of Assistant Superintendent of Secondary Education, Amy Woods. May I get a motion? So moved. Moved by Roberta. Second. Second by Pete. All in favor? Aye. Aye. Any nays? Five-zero. Next up, contract addendum to employment agreement for Gracelia Gutierrez. May I get a motion to approve addendum number two to her existing contract? So moved. Second. Moved by Bianca, second by Roberta. All in favor? Aye.
036Aye. Any nays? Five-zero. Contract addendum to employee agreement, David Daniels. We are requested to approve addendum number one to the contract for the Assistant Superintendent of Business Services, David Daniels. May I get a motion? So moved. Moved by Pete. Second. Second by Bianca. All in favor? Aye. Aye. Any nays? Five-zero. And now the new guy, Dennis Zink. The Board of Education has requested to approve-- Dennis, please don't leave. The board never gets a chance to say hi to the new people ever. If you can hang on. We're almost done. Thank you, sir. Requested to approve the employment agreement between MUSD and Dennis Zink for the position of Assistant Superintendent of HR. May I get a motion? So moved. Moved by Roberta, second by Pete. All in favor? Aye. Aye. Any nays? Five-zero. Welcome aboard. Items
037for review. We do have two public comments on item 10B. We will start with Kaylee Neiman. Is it Neiman or Niemann? Neiman. Oh, it is Neiman. Got it right. Yeah. Thanks. So I just got back into town. I've been working a lot, so I didn't prepare anything. But I did quickly go over the bylaws, and in contradiction to some of our meetings we've had with you guys, it seems like it's just solely consolidating power for the superintendent to make it harder for us to communicate with all of you. And I think with the lack of transparency MUSD has given to our community, especially our parents on a whole, we were hoping for more town halls, perhaps a parent task force, perhaps a student representative on the board like LAUSD has. And it seems like this
038change in the bylaws just silences all of the board members and silences us parents. So I would just please, before you go to vote on this, I would highly recommend a vote no, so that the public has greater faith in MUSD, because with your narrative of closures, we all know the public's confidence in MUSD has been largely shattered. And consolidating these bylaws to give Vargas more power is only going to make things worse for you guys, and it's going to lead to a decrease in enrollment. So please, before we make the bylaws more strict on limiting communication, let's do the opposite and open communication to our community. I was also disappointed to see that Jeff wasn't here. I love Jeff. He's been a great advocate on the enrollment committee, but I really wanted to speak
039to Measure C because the four schools that are up for closure had a lot of Measure C expenditures that need to be addressed. Palm Vista needs a PA system, roofing replacement, special ed play equipment. Landers needs a PA system. They don't have any shade structure of any kind. Mirando needs a PA system and shade. Friendly Hills also needs a shade structure. So what's happening with that money now that closures are off the table? Will closures be reintroduced? How will the Measure C funds be spent now? And hey, if you guys need more board members on Measure C, I'm right here. Let me know if there's an opening. I would gladly be on that committee because I want to fight for our schools up for closure. When everyone voted for that bond measure, it's supposed to
040include all schools, not just some schools. So I wanted to remind everyone of that with Jeff not here to be able to tell us what's going on. And then also in the prelim budget, there was nothing that spoke to the school leaders' different proposed methods for saving and protecting the budget over the course of the next few years. All their measures for implementation that they recommended, there's a lot of good ways that we could save money in lieu of closing schools, but we didn't see any of those solutions in the preliminary budget for next year. So we're just wondering, when are the school leaders' measures for success to help protect our budget, when is that going to be kicked off the ground? Can we do anything next year to start implementing what school leaders is
041recommending? So I would encourage you guys to revisit that, and hopefully the final budget will reflect some of the measures that school leaders is putting forward because why else are we paying them if we're not going to start to implement this stuff right away? And then also with Vargas being paid 80% over five years when he retires, Vargas, if you feel like you don't need that money, I know our district could use it. That's it. Thanks. Thank you. Same name, I believe. This is a Graham Brockman. I hope I have that right. Sorry. It's close. Thank you. Thank you guys for allowing me the time to make this comment, and I appreciate all the work you have been doing, and I really do cherish this school district. It's the first time I've been part of
042a process, first time I've ever stood before a board, a superintendent. So this has been really eye-opening and also heartwarming and also soul-crushing. I think the thing I'm mainly here to speak to is echoing Kaylee's comments. The new restrictions on-- Here. The limits on the board's authority. I think it's kind of gross that after we've gone through this whole big process of the potential school closures and us communicating with you guys, now all of a sudden, we're facing that restriction, that you guys are going to try to limit your relationship to us according to what it sounds like in the bylaw 9200. And the one thing that struck me as well that was omitted from that bylaw in this one that you're reviewing now is the first line, which is, "Board members shall hold the
043education of students above any partisan principle, group interest, or personal interest." Now, I'm assuming that this sentiment echoes on in the souls of any board member, but it was weird that that was omitted from the new language of this bylaw. Secondly, I think I was looking up the idea of school board is locally elected to act as a bridge between the community, this is according to, of course, Google, the bridge between the community and the schools, ensuring that local public education remains accountable to the values and needs of the taxpayers and students. And I find it disturbing that after this whole big kind of fight that we've had over school closures, that now you're moving to restrict that relationship between the community and you guys. And I think power consolidation at the top through the
044superintendent's office is deeply concerning. Anyway, and then again, just to mention Measure C, yeah, we're waiting for those shade structures. Our kids' skin are taking in all the radiation I know part of the problem is you were waiting to see if these schools were going to close or not. But please, let's just get these exchange structures in place and save our kids many years from now down the road when we're facing who knows what. So please, thank you guys for hearing me out and godspeed. Thank you. Next up, first read of board policy 1240, volunteer assistance, board policy 4100, certificated personnel, board policy- Sorry. Can we pause for just a moment? We can. Can I talk about board policy 9200, limits on board member authority? Of course. Because when I read that, just for clarity,
045the process and the way I understand it is that the language has changed from CSBA. This is where we get our revisions from, it's California School Boards Association, so they're sending this out to all school districts. But also, I think it's important to know that although the language has changed, the intent has always been there. It talks about our authority in the same way that we aren't able to resolve complaints on our own, that we don't personally direct any employees or singularly direct the superintendent. These things have to be done as a board. So I just want to make sure that when people are reading it, that they're understanding that the overall message is the same. It's just updated wording to provide clarity. Because that's the way I read it. Yeah. And that's direction from
046the California School Boards Association. Right. No, this is not okay. Any other comments? Thank you. Back to first read, board member policy 4100, certificated personnel. Board policy 4111, 4211, and 4311, recruitment and selection. Information items include the cash receipts and the budget transfer transaction report. Future agenda items. Do we have any suggestions for future agenda items? The board will be off in July, so this would be an August suggestion at the earliest. I think we spoke about it already, but another dive into the budget. And I think as a board, if we have during a study session or something with Faith and Mr. Daniels about the budget and just trying to help us round out our knowledge about it, too, and ask more questions about it, because it seems like the more we dive in,
047the more questions we have. And so more clarity is always appreciated. All right, that's a great suggestion. We do have the school leaders report. There's a lot that we need to discuss. Action items that need to take place, obviously, based on our current financial situation. So I think that's a great suggestion. Any other agenda items? Nope. Next is special board meetings. Superintendent's evaluation, June 17th, 2026, 08:30. So that'll be tomorrow at Joshua Tree PD. Next up will be the welcome back leadership team meeting, July 30th and 31st, 2026. The welcome back kickoff for all staff will be August 6th, 2026. Next regular board meeting will be August 8th-- or excuse me, August 4th, 2026. And the first day of school, how many teachers out there? Probably like, "Yeah, yeah." So August 10th. Margo, are you
048listening? August 10th, 2026, you're reporting back. All right, very good. Thank you guys. Board comments. We're going to start with Pete tonight. Tonight, I don't have any comments. Okay. Pete's the only one that doesn't need a microphone. Next up is Bianca. As usual, thank you all for coming. I wanted to say a heartfelt see you later to Stacy in a different role. We're going to miss having you up here, so you have some large shoes to fill, Mr. Dennis, over there. We are excited to have you on board. I look forward to meeting you and shaking your hand. I look forward to the summer and getting reset and hitting the pavement hard again with everyone in August. So thank you all. Thank you, Bianca. Missy? I just want to thank all of you for your
049attendance and for your comments, and welcome aboard to our new HR student assistant, too. Welcome, and that's it. Thank you, Missy. Roberta? I'm with Pete tonight. I do thank everybody for coming and for the comments that we've heard. Thank you. A lot of tough votes tonight. Very, very uneasy about it. Shame. I take this-- Please, customers are coming, please. This isn't a circus. This is our public. This is our children. We had a lot of tough votes tonight. We had a split vote on some things, and sometimes that happens. I know a lot of people think, "Oh, that's horrible." I don't think that's horrible at all. I think we can have differences of opinion and still move forward and still do great things for our students. We have a lot of great things moving. There
050was a lot of discussion about what we're doing. There's a lot of things that are going on that the public doesn't know, so maybe one of our goals next year is to explain that even further, including Measure C, including how seriously we took the leaders' recommendations. That's not our Bible. We don't have to follow everything they said. These are suggestions. We ultimately make the decisions, right? You guys are our constituency. We listen to you guys. So feel free, you can still talk to us. The whole issue with that member with the-- You're allowed to talk to us, we just can't take action, to clarify. We have to bring that to Dr. Vargas. He's our one and only employee, and then he has to take action, and we have to hold him accountable for those actions.
051So it's not like we're losing any sort of authority or anything. But I do appreciate everybody being here. It looks like it's mostly staff. I'm sorry, guys. But I hope everybody has a wonderful summer. I appreciate the steps we've done this school year. We've made a lot of progress. Very excited to have Mr. Zink join us. Stacy, I gave you a hard time on a lot of issues, so thank you. But that's our job, partially. But you've done a great job. I'm really looking forward to what you do in the STEM program, because bringing a lot of new teachers is going to be really helpful. So with that, I will quit speaking. Have a good evening, everybody, and have a great summer. Meeting adjourned at 7:37.