001We will reconvene to open session at 6:00 PM. We'll start off with the Pledge of Allegiance. Satori Mark has been employed with MUSD for 10 years, including the past eight years at Plus, where she serves as the lead behavioral instructional assistant. In addition, Satori is a certified Pro ACT instructor and provides training to district staff on effective strategies for de-escalating students who are experiencing emotional dysregulation. She is regularly called upon by school sites across the district to support students at all grade levels with behavioral needs. Satori consistently shares her expertise and models effective strategies to support site staff in increasing student success within the classroom. She is highly collaborative and demonstrates a strong commitment to supporting students and staff, always willing to assist in any capacity for the benefit of all MUSD students. Thank you.
002I'd like to ask everybody to stand for the Pledge of Allegiance. Please place your right hand over your heart. 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. I turn around right now? Yes. Yes. Thank you. Thank you. I'm going to look at you first. One, two, three. Okay, sorry. Turn. Three, two, one. Okay, thank you. Thank you. Good job. May I get a motion to adopt the agenda for tonight's meeting? Was that Missy? Yes. Okay, first by Missy, second by Pete. All in favor? Aye. Any nays? Five to zero. Next up, adoption of the minutes for the April 21st, 2026 regular meeting. So moved. Moved by Roberta. Second. Second by
003Bianca. All in favor? Aye. Any nays? Five zero. Next up will be the approval of the board study. We do have three public comments about this particular item on the agenda. We will start with Chelsea Hamlin. I think she's running late. I actually need to read my little disclosure as well. Sorry. 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 that the board members can properly hear all public speakers. Members of the public are expected to maintain a professional, courteous decorum during their comments. Inappropriate behavior which disrupts, disturbs, or otherwise impedes the orderly conduct of
004the 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 specific agenda items will be deferred until consideration of the item on the agenda. Thank you. Kaylee Neiman? Thanks, Chris. I'm here to urge the school board to give the enrollment committee more time to make their recommendations on school closures. At the EC meeting on April 29, the vice chair miscommunicated to fellow members that the school board had given them a June 9th due date for recommendations. However, that date was not voted on by the school board, making that deadline a suggestion, not a requirement. During the meeting, it became evident that members did not have enough time to review the budget stabilization plan
005or presentation by school leaders. It took the school board six hours to review this material the day before. Some EC members said they didn't even have time to review the materials because they had only received them that same morning. Implementing just the attendance and SPED Plus MTSS initiative school leaders outlined would generate and save nearly double the dollar amount annually that closing Morongo, Landers, and Palm Vista would. Closures are not the only charge of that committee. They also couldn't remember the list of surplus property they're evaluating. That's their main job, and they needed a refresher because the agenda of school closures is always dominating these meetings. Towards the end of the meeting, Stella Kemp from school leaders was pressuring the committee to come to a consensus on closures while withholding all the other cost-saving options
006that MUSD could pursue instead.The EC nearly voted to close Landers based on a misunderstanding by the committee chair that their enrollment was projected to drop from 120 to 92 students next school year. I had to shout from the audience that Landers' enrollment would only drop to 108 students. In their defense, it's hard to retain information you just learned, had little time to comprehend, and then vote on unprepared. For the record, there was no official vote to close Landers. I have the recording that proves this. You've all been to enrollment committee meetings. I've been to every single one. Tell me you're not seeing this pattern of Kemp speeding up the process. When the enrollment committee is not crystal clear on critical information being presented, it's obvious their recommendations to the school board are being rushed and
007can be misinformed as a consequence. They're working in their own silo, which Kemp said should be avoided by MUSD in the future. Let's break that cycle. Please meet with them in groups of two and hear their concerns. The school leaders' presentation even says that they've already met six times, and they have to make recommendations by June 2026. According to California Ed Codes, there is no legal due date that binds a 7/11 committee to present recommendations. Please give them the right and respect to have ample time to make educated decisions. MUSD stakeholders want to ensure the enrollment committee is not pressured to make recommendations at the June 9 board meeting. It's imperative as well that they're given the exact same study session the school board had. Please issue a statement to the enrollment committee that they
008can take more time to formulate their recommendations with no imposed deadline. School leaders themselves said MUSD has plenty of time in the study session. We understand there's elections soon, but we shouldn't rush this process when so much is at stake for our children's education- Thank you ... and their communities. Thank you. Next up, Vadim Alshuler. Good evening, board. Good evening, cabinet, superintendent, and public of the Morongo Basin. I'd like to comment on the adoption of the school leaders study session minutes because those minutes document a presentation that is now central to the closure and stabilization discussion. This report matters because many parents are still trying to understand why school closure is being discussed so heavily. For weeks, the public has been hearing about declining enrollment, budget pressure, underused buildings, and the possibility of closing schools.
009Enrollment numbers are being compared to a peak from decades ago to make the situation sound shocking. But the schools leader report shows something very important. Closures is not the whole stabilization plan. The report identifies multiple district-wide strategies, attendance recovery, MTSS and special education reform, technology savings, maintenance and operation savings, human resource changes, instructional service changes, and facility use revenue. In plain language, there are many levers on the table besides closing schools. The report identifies more than $4.2 million in annual recurring savings, more than $2.9 million in annual revenue opportunities, and $2.9 million in one-time capital and grant opportunities. That is more than $10 million identified in savings revenue, one-time opportunities before closure savings are even proven. Yet, the district is putting closure in front of the public as it is the most concrete answer. It
010is even sending superintendents letters about closure scenarios even before the committee has formally voted on them or presented them to the board. Meanwhile, the actual savings from closures are still unfinished, still TBD, while many other savings and revenue options are already identified in the report. So closure is not fully proven answer. It is only one unfinished variable inside a much broader stabilization plan. And even if closures produce some savings, the board must weigh that against the social cost. Children losing their schools, families traveling farther, receiving schools absorbing disruption, staff being displaced, and communities losing a public anchor. That creates a serious process problem. The board received the full school leaders presentation about the enrollment committee, excuse me, the volunteer committee being asked to discuss closure, consolidation, boundaries, facilities, and recommendation to the board, but has
011not been given the same full public study session. That makes absolutely no sense. If the board has the full map, the committee should not be left only with the road to closure. The final slide of the school leaders report clearly says the district is not in crisis. It says MUSD is at an inflection point and that the work ahead is deliberate structural adjustment, not emergency response. So if this is not emergency, do not use emergency tactics. Do not turn an inflection point into manufactured deadline. Do not turn a planning problem into manmade crisis. Why rush a closure recommendation while the committee and the public still have not fully studied the alternatives? Before any closure recommendation come to this board, I ask you to direct staff to give the enrollment committee the full school leader stabilization
012presentation in a public study session. And I ask you to make it clear that June 9 is not forced deadline, and the enrollment committee needs more time. The community has done its homework. Now the board must- Thank you ... do its own work. Thank you. Thank you. Chelsea Hagler. Good evening, board. Some of what I'm going to say has already been discussed, but I'll highlight a few notes. During the study session with school leaders, you were presented with a comprehensive budget stabilization report outlining dozens of saving strategies across seven operational categories. According to that report, it is entirely possible to stabilize this district's budget without closing a single school, ending with $51 million in reserves in five years, which is exactly where we are today in reserves. So that's stabilization, and that raises a simple
013question. If it's achievable without closures, why are schools, any of them, still on the chopping block? The closure narrative also continues to rely on a number that has never been substantiated, $500,000 in savings per school per year. That number gets repeated and repeated, but it's never been shown. No line-by-line itemized breakdown of how we're saving that money. No site-specific breakdowns, no accounting of real variables per site like staffing or transportation, which is obviously different between locations. So we're being asked to accept that closing any school, regardless of size or location, produces the exact same savings, a clean round number, 500? It doesn't seem to hold up. If that number is real, it would be easy to show. And if it can't be shown, it shouldn't be used. Even if we're generous and assume it is
014real, closing multiple schools does not fundamentally solve our deficit spending. When our parent group spoke with Mike Fine at FCMAT, his guidance was clear. Do not overestimate the savings of school closures. He pointed to districts where their superintendent admitted 10 years later it was a wash. So, data isn't optional, it's essential. And you know me, you've heard from me a few times, I love data. Data is beautiful. And now you're one month away from being asked to act without it, and the optics of that are not good. So we have to ask, is this the right strategy? Because districts don't recover financially by shrinking their way to stability. They recover by growing, by increasing enrollment and building programs that families actively seek out. And we already know projections can be fundamentally wrong. We've seen that
015this year. We've already blown away the projections made last year. So let's challenge the assumption that decline is inevitable. This community is a place where people visit, they fall in love with, and they consider calling it home. And when they ask, "How are the schools?" Which is always their first question, the answer matters. I spent 17 years in PR and communications for billion-dollar companies, and it is so important what the public believes. And if the answer is, to how are schools, they're strong, they're thriving, it attracts people. And if the answer is they're struggling. Geez, the board voted to close their precious community schools. That's not strategy. That's spin. Thank you. May I get a motion to approve the minutes from the April 28, 2026 board study? Motion. Moved by Pete. Second. Second by Roberta.
016All in favor? Aye. Aye. Any nays? Five zero. Actions resulting from closed session, there was nothing to report on. And now we have a positive moment here. We have recognitions. Two folks that we would like to recognize this evening. The Morongo Unified School District is proud to celebrate a special moment of recognition for outstanding leadership in our district. On April 28th, CALSAS Region 6, the California Association of Latino Superintendents and Administrators, came together to highlight leaders who make a lasting difference in their communities. We are especially proud to recognize our very own honorees. Assistant Superintendent of Elementary Education, Dr. Gracie Gutierrez was named Central Office Administrator of the Year. She is deeply committed to building capacity in others and models that commitment through her own growth as a lifelong learner. In addition, our superintendent, Dr.
017Patricio Vargas, was named Superintendent of the Year. He was recognized for his intentional leadership, which was expanded access to resources and ensured that all students, especially those historically underserved, are positioned for success. Congratulations to both of you, and thank you for all that you do for the students in MUSD. Next up are our reports from student representatives, and tonight we will start with Twentynine Palms High School. Good evening. Hit the button on the mic. Oh, is it? I'll make sure you get... There we go. Okay, let's start that. Good evening. I'm Twentynine Palms High School senior William Assumption, the student representative to the Board of Education. There's a lot of exciting news to share about TPHS from these past few months. In academic news, TPHS would like to share that all California state testing has
018been completed for the school year, and this week our Wildcats have begun taking the advanced placement exams, so good luck, Wildcats. In recent weeks, we've also been very busy celebrating all Wildcats seniors on the oath of Places You'll Go wall. We're very proud of the seven seniors that have sworn in to serve in the US military. We've also had many seniors commit to a variety of Cal State, Cal Poly, and UC schools, and tomorrow we'll add UCLA and UC Berkeley to the wall as well. With a special shout-out to Aviana Lipkins, who's received the prestigious UC Berkeley Regents and Chancellor Scholarship. Additionally, Ms. Rogero also made me promise to share that I, William Assumption, have been accepted and will attend the United States Air Force Academy in Colorado Springs. In sports action, our track and
019field team have had a record-breaking season, with Coach Ford reporting that we've had 51 athletes competing in track, and she's very proud of her team's athletic and academic success. The Wildcat track and field team had a combined 3.4 GPA this season and 12 Track Cats have a 4.0 GPA. Last week at DVL Finals, 12 personal records and 19 all league performances were earned by the Wildcats. Seven of them named DVL champions. And this is the year three long-standing school records were broken as well. Boys tennis has wrapped up for the season, and Coach Shay reports that all Wildcats, including Jeremy Burks, Shad Johnson, and Michael Acosta, were all named league first team. Both baseball and softball had big wins this season, but it appears both teams will fall short of making it to CIF, while
020golf and swimming had good turnouts for rebuilding seasons. In news from our Wildcat community, prom was held at the Desert Princess Resort in Palm Springs Saturday night. The theme was The Great Gatsby, and a wonderful time was had by all. Prior to prom, ASB conducted the Every 15 Minutes program to raise awareness of the perils of drinking and driving, or driving under the influence. With the help of the CHP, Morongo Basin Ambulance in San Bernardino County, as well as the base fire departments, our Wildcats learned a powerful lesson that will help them make good choices to support their bright future. TPHS also hosted a Special Olympics bocce tournament this morning, and our football students with special needs and their buddies came from Oasis Elementary and Twentynine Junior High to join our Wildcats to have some
021fun playing a wonderful game. Important upcoming dates are the scholarship night on May 19th, the grad night to Universal Studios on May 21st, and all-school awards night on May 26th, and of course, graduation on June 4th. I hope you'll be able to join us for some of these events. That's all I have today. I've enjoyed serving you for the past two years as a TPHS Board of Education student representative. Thank you for this opportunity. Go Wildcats and go Falcons. You guys have any questions? Any questions? Thank you. Well, I don't have a question. I'd just like to say that I had a fantastic conversation with you out at that 15-minute demonstration at your high school. I completely understand why you were accepted at the Air Force Academy. Thank you. Congratulations. Appreciate it. Thank you. Next,
022Twentynine Palms Junior High. Good evening, Board President Claire, Superintendent Dr. Vargas, and esteemed members of both the board and cabinet. I'm James Zarowski, an eighth grader at Twentynine Palms Junior High. Happening at TPJHS. GATE students are heading to Angel Stadium tomorrow for Angel STEAM Day. Led by Science of Sport, they get to watch essential concepts from math, physics, engineering, and technology come alive through hands-on sports science. This ties directly to Common Core and next generation science standards. They also get to watch an official Angels game live. Activities. Sixth, seventh, and eighth graders are heading to the Palladium May 26th and 28th, along with June 2nd as end-of-year field trips. Eighth grade students that are promoted have the opportunity for a fun in the sun day at Lucky Park after promotion practice June 4th. Eighth grade
023promotion is Friday, June 5th at 7:30 AM in the gymnasium. The STEAM Cats. TPJHS robotics have started back up and getting ready for the 2026 through 2027 school year. Cafeteria. The cafeteria is getting closer to completion as you saw in the MUSD weekly update. They are now just worrying about the landscaping. Athletics. TPJHS had tryouts for the baseball season on April 29th and are currently practicing for their game against La Quintana this Thursday, May 7th. Do you have any questions? Any questions from the board? Thank you very much. Thank you. La Quintana Middle School. Good evening, members of Morongo Unified School District Board of Education, Superintendent Dr. Vargas, and cabinet members. My name is Briley Doty And my name is Peyton Jordan. We are both eighth-grade students at La Quintana Middle School. We would like
024to thank you again for the opportunity to speak about our school this evening. Ms. Christina Smith and her ESN students visited Yucca Valley High School on April 10th for a unified PE track meet. The students had a great time. Yucca Valley Youth Commission visited seventh and eighth grade students at lunch times on April 21st. GAY students will have two upcoming field trips on May 6th to Angel Stadium, and May 8th to the Escape Game. Chief Gonzalez and several cadets went on a weekend field trip to USS Iowa in San Pedro, California. On May 7th, local water agencies will be visiting eighth-grade students for an annual water education festival. We would like to thank the agencies to bring out this terrific event to our school again this year. On May 7th and May 14th, our baseball
025team will be playing against Twentynine Palms Junior High School. Go Lions. The La Quintana staff will try to beat the softball and baseball players for a fun softball game on May 12th after school. May the best team win. Mojave Freeze, an ice cream parlor in Yucca Valley, is hosting a La Quintana Parent Association fundraiser on May 12th from 4:00 to 8:00 PM. Please join us for a fun opportunity to help and support our parent group. Eighth-grade students have been reading "The Diary of Anne Frank," and will be visiting the Tolerance Education Museum in Rancho Mirage. We will celebrate our La Quintana students at our third quarter LCMS Pride Awards celebration on May 13th at 6:00 PM. Eight LCMS students will travel to Cisco headquarters in San Francisco on May 20th to find out more information
026about this networking company and to visit their headquarters. Mr. Joshua Griswold, our ASB leadership teacher, and students will have a fun day at Universal Studios on May 21st. The students, including the two of us, are very excited for the trip. Mr. Jonathan West, our music teacher, will have a choir and band concert on May 28th at 6:30 PM. We hope you can join us. On May 29th, our eighth graders will have a fun eighth-grade promotion dance at 6:00 PM. The theme of the dance will be a masquerade ball. On June 2nd, we will have a yearbook signing party for students who have purchased a yearbook. And that afternoon, during seventh period, we will have our academic celebration, and students will be treated to a live music performance by a La Quintana instructional assistant, Mr. Brandon
027Simpson. We will celebrate our promoting eighth-grade students on Thursday, June 4th, at 8:00 AM for our eighth-grade promotion celebration. Way to go, Lions. Thank you again for the opportunity to appear before the Board of Education, Dr. Vargas, and his cabinet. This will be our final presentation this school year. Not only was this a great opportunity to share all the great things about La Quintana, but also a great learning experience for us. Do you have any questions for us? Any questions? I just have a comment. I want to thank all four of you for presenting all year, and I know it's tough, and the crowds are bigger now. So excellent job to all of you. It shows your leadership, and I think all of you are going to go very far. So have a wonderful summer,
028and thank you for all of your commitment to the board and to the cabinet. Thank you. Thank you. The student reps you have, you know what you can do. Thank you, guys. Have a good evening. Yeah, good luck, man. Next up is our legislative report. Nothing to report. No report. Classified is not in. Certificated. Good evening. Just a quick report. We'd like to report that bargaining is going well right now, and we do expect to settle very soon. Hopefully, we can get that all done by the end of the school year. And our MTA banquet is this Thursday. We are excited to celebrate the year's successes with our members and their friends and family. That's it. Thank you. Thank you very much. Marine Corps rep? Nothing tonight, but I will have something for you next
029time on our job shadowing that happened today. Perfect. Thank you, Lorraine. Have a good evening. Thank you. Now reports by the superintendent and staff members. We will start with Stacy Smolley. Jeremy James is going to be presenting our introduction tonight. We will now have Jeremy James. Good evening board members, Superintendent Dr. Vargas, and members of the cabinet. It's my pleasure to introduce Sherry Bailey Gammon. She has accepted the assistant principal position at La Quintana Middle School. She actually started last week. She comes to us with 20-plus years of experience in education. She worked for many years as a secondary English teacher, several years as a headmaster, and most recently as a dean of students at the Aztec Charter School in Oklahoma City. Good evening. I'm so excited to be here. So excited. I am thrilled
030to be part of such a great school. This board is fabulous. I'm excited to have this opportunity to serve the school and the community. I'm looking forward to Hopefully contributing in great ways. Sorry, I'm really nervous. But I'm especially grateful that I was provided a retired administrator to help show me the ropes for the last five days. Thank you so much. Thank you. Well, welcome to our community. We're excited to have you join us. Thank you very much. Next up, Dr. Gracie Gutierrez. Good evening, everyone. So I am very excited to announce that our elementary inter-district track and field competition is back this year. This is not a new event. It is something that had taken place in the past, and for one reason or another, the last couple of years, we only had a
031couple of schools participating with each other. But on April 16th, we had the West End schools. It was Onaga, Yucca Valley, Morongo Valley, Joshua Tree, and Friendly Hills who participated in a friendly competition. And last week, we had the East End schools. We had 29 Palms and Oasis Elementary, who Oasis also brought their cheerleaders to pump up the crowd. So, we had seven out of the 11 elementary schools participate. This would not have been possible without the leadership of our PE teachers who came together, organized the event, particularly Coach Jackman, who is at Yucca Valley Elementary and Joshua Tree. He was instrumental in bringing the team together, also identifying other staff members that are not PE teachers to do their part in making sure this would happen. I also do want to take a moment
032to recognize our ELOP program staff, because we could not have done it without them. They were able to step in and provide financial support for the equipment that we needed to host the event after school. So again, this is a great example of how when we collaborate, we build true partnerships. So thank you to our PE teachers, our ELOP staff, our site administrators who were advocating for this event to happen. We do look forward to bringing it back again next year and adding additional sports. So thank you. Thank you. That was a great update. Any questions? Just want to say thank you so much because I loved being in track in elementary school. I saw the photos online, and I am so happy to see those smiling faces and the good-hearted competition between schools and
033their classmates. It was wonderful to see. So thank you again for all the support. Thank you for your teachers, and thank you ELOP for making that happen, because that's huge. That's a really big thing for our students. Thank you again. Thank you. I have a comment. Go ahead, Pete. Excuse me. I agree. Those track meets were always a fun time for the kids, a fun time for staff, just a good time to get out and enjoy our desert air. I'm glad they're back. Really great. And I would like to give a shout-out to those cheerleaders- ... the Bobcats from Oasis, because they were out today with good cheer and fun antics at the Bocce demos-- I don't know what we call it. A track meet? Bocce. A what? Bocce. Bocce. Yeah. At the Bocce festivities
034today. They did a great job for all the participants. So great job there, Bobcats. Thank you, Pete. Next up will be public comment. We will exceed the 20 minutes, and we're willing to exceed that, but we do, out of respect for time, please observe that three-minute rule, please. Thank you. We're going to start off with Ruben Rodriguez. Hi. Hello, I'm Ruben Rodriguez. Two weeks ago, I came here requesting that the board delay consolidation decisions until after the November election. I now realize that I was wrong. After attending the April 29th enrollment committee meeting, I realized to put these communities through that anguish would be cruel. Here are my observations from the committee meeting. The reason people have lost faith in the process is because the committee is supposed to present the board with options. But
035those options aren't of their own conclusion, but rather from a list of options presented to them. So people feel that whoever controls the options controls the outcome. I also noted that there are multiple people on the committee who have requested to slow down the process. Mr. Hamilton questioned why any decisions were being made prior to November, when we might be looking at a whole new funding equation. Also, in that meeting, Ms. Mays commented on the speed at which they were being asked to work. She later stated that there was reference in the packet that they had received stating that the board had asked them to be done by June 9th. As I recall, the board meeting held here two weeks ago, the board received an update on the enrollment committee where Dr. Vargas said the
036enrollment committee is on pace and wants to be done by June 9th. So when that became public record, Mrs. Mays' concerns were suddenly invalidated, seemingly by this board. Ms. Mays also noted that she did not receive the updated report from Dr. Camp until a couple of hours before the meeting and hadn't had the time to digest its contents. Actions like these erode confidence. The reason I believe we must come to a resolution sooner than later is not due to the irregularities that are happening between the committee meetings and these meetings, nor is it due to the long-expired geological consultations that explicitly state they should not be relied upon after a period of one year.The reason why we need to resolve this is the turmoil it is causing our communities. Tears from students and parents, fears
037from our teachers and staff. The word consolidation can mean coming together, but these consolidation talks have resulted in a fracture. Not between school communities, for we stand as one, united more than ever. It is a fissure between the communities that make up these schools and the district itself. So how do we fix it? What is the quickest method to resolution? The power lies with the board. At any time, the board can dissolve the enrollment committee, thank them for their hard work, and let them go. It is important to recognize when we are wrong, and we must have the guts to follow through with what is right. Thank you. Thank you. I believe it's Amy Thompson? Maeve. Oh. It starts with an A, and it says Thompson. Maybe they're not in attendance. Okay. We'll call toward
038the end. Juan Perez? Kelly Neiman? Neiman? Kaylee. Kaylee. Sorry. It's okay, Fred. I'll forgive you. I'm going to read a speech on behalf of Ryan James, who's a dad from Palm Vista. But I think it's a speech that kind of interconnects all of our communities, especially if you're from a receiving school or a school up for closure. Any MUSD student, I think this kind of applies to. There is something fundamental being missed in these decisions. This community is not something you can simply observe from a distance and assume you understand. It is depth, history, knowledge, and a lived connection to this desert that cannot be replaced or overlooked. Our schools are not separate from this environment, they're part of it. They are where generations of families in this desert have learned, grown, and built the
039understanding that continues to shape how this region survives and thrives. These schools are not just institutions. They are anchors of community knowledge and continuity in a very unique and fragile desert ecosystem, and that matters, because we are not just talking about education in isolation. We are talking about the long-term preservation of this desert, its communities, its stability, and its future. Schools play a direct role in that. They keep families rooted here. They support local identity. They sustain the next generation of people who will live in, understand, and care for this environment. So when decisions are made that affect these schools, it's not just an administrative adjustment. It's an impact on the long-term structure of this entire community, and by extension, the future stewardship of the desert itself. What this community is saying clearly is that
040we are not disconnected from this process. We are not passive observers. We are the people who live this reality every day. We are the families who were raised in these schools, who are raising our children in them now, and who intend to preserve them for the future. And what we are also saying is this: You cannot make decisions about a community you do not fully understand without expecting that community to respond and speak for itself. There's a deep expertise here, not abstract, not theoretical, but lived, and it's rooted in generations of experience in this desert environment and its schools. That knowledge matters. So as these conversations continue, understand this clearly. Our schools are part of the desert's future, and our community is part of its preservation. Thank you. Oh. Thank you. Lisa Wellman? Good evening.
041My family's been in this district for 14 years. Well, longer than that, but with my girls going to school for the district for 14 years. My middle daughter is graduating in June. She started off with-- Well, she still has a disability. But the teachers at Morongo Elementary, they helped carve her path. The small class sizes, Ms. Brooke, and the special ed department helped her learn what her disabilities were and how to overcome them. They gave her wonderful fundamentals. Excuse me. And today, she's going to be graduating in a couple of weeks. She has all A's and one B+. She had an IEP and graduated on her freshman year to 504, and to this day, she's in all general ed classes. And she's, like I said, she's just doing wonderful. She wants to go to college
042and become a teacher because Ms. Brooke encouraged her, and she loved how she loved her students and developed their passion and pride for their learning. But most importantly, I went to the committee meeting last Wednesday as well, and when we left there, we started a poll on Thursday just for the people of Morongo on social media. We started out with a group of homeschooling your children, how many people were interested in that, in the groups of Morongo Valley. 42 people said that they would take their children out of the district-and have them homeschool. We also had an option to start a local charter program or a private school by the community. Thirty-five parents said that they would join that. And not only that, the junior high and high school parents had asked me to make
043a portion for junior high and high school, and seven parents stood up. That's 84 total students that come from Morongo. 184 is what was given to us for the enrollment, the current enrollment for Morongo Elementary. So you can see how we want to stand up for our children. We want them to have a great education, and we don't feel that them going to another school is going to help that. So please consider keeping Morongo Valley Elementary open. Thank you. Hopefully, I get this right. Justin Savey? Close enough. Good evening. At a previous meeting, I introduced the idea of the magician's choice, the illusion of choice, where options are presented but every path leads to the same predetermined outcome. What I witnessed presented at the enrollment committee meeting makes that idea even clearer, unfortunately. See, we
044deserve schools as beautiful and rich as the environment that we live in, diverse, creative, able to dispel a scarcity mentality, schools that will attract new families. And originally, the enrollment committee was told that they could recommend whatever they determined to be true and take as much time as they needed. But now there's a deadline, and now the committee is being asked to bring forward two or three recommendations. Examples were given: A, no closures, B, close this school, C, close that school, D, close this school. That's not a range of possibilities. That's a narrowed outcome dressed up as choice, a desperate magician trying to force the outcome to an audience with a process that has lost its plot. This process has become increasingly difficult to follow and to hold accountable. It's oversimplified. Dedicated parents and staff
045seem more invested in finding solutions than this board, this privately hired firm- Oh ... which was paid handsomely with public funds. Yeah. It's shifting goalposts, and at times it feels deliberately confusing and even insulting. Yep. I attended the school visits. We did not meaningfully engage on those campuses or explore their needs, their real challenges, their potentials. We're not seriously studying alternatives to closures, and we still don't have clear answers to basic questions. What are the real potential savings? What are the real transition costs? What happens to students, to families, to communities? We're told that these issues will be studied after the board decides what to do. So we're being asked to make these permanent decisions without complete information, and that process limits the outcome before it even begins. That's not good governance. That's not transparency,
046and that's not worthy of this beautiful community. Imagine the Department of War actively fighting for fewer bombs, and yet here we have a school board that feels our underserved community just has a surplus of educational facilities. Yep. If two out of the three options being advanced to the board all lead to school closures, then this is not a process that is asking real questions. It's presenting a predetermined answer. It seems to be setting up our enrollment committee to be the fall guy, the shield for the board to move forward with closures. So I urge this board to do something simple. Stop this wasteful process. Look where the real wasteful spending happens, and I'll give you a clue. It probably starts at the top. Yeah. Thank you. James Hassler. I am formally addressing serious concerns regarding
047the conduct we have all witnessed during the recent Board of Education and Enrollment Council meetings. There is a growing and undeniable sentiment in this community that our voices are being ignored, our concerns dismissed, and our trust broken. Leadership under David Daniels and Sela Kemp has, in the eyes of many, crossed the line of professional disagreement into conduct that feels unprofessional, inappropriate, and deeply concerning. We are not here out of convenience. We are here because we feel we have no other choice. We have seen voting practice that lack transparency. We have heard public statements made by Sela Kemp that reflect poorly on our teachers and staff, statements many believe rise to level of defamation. We have also watched decisions influenced by David Daniels unfold behind closed doors, including interfund borrowing. He himself described it as too
048complicated for this community to understand. That is not transparency. That is not accountability. So we ask plainly, where did the money go? Based on reported fiscal year beginning numbers, approximately 30 million is now missing or unaccounted for. We are demanding public spreadsheets and clear proof of funds. Because of this, I urge teachers, seek legal counsel to protect your professional integrity, to families and community members, seek legal counsel regarding the lack of transparency and fairness in decisions affecting your children at schools. Parents, understand your rights. No equity assessment has been presented, yet decisions with far-reaching consequences have already been made.That should concern every one of us. Beyond the legal issues, there is human cost, stress, anxiety, and disruption affecting families, relationships, and especially our special needs students. Take care of yourselves, and when necessary, hold those
049responsible accountable. As a community, we are formally requesting disciplinary action against David Daniels and Stella Kent for spreading disinformation and influencing proceedings without honesty or transparency. We are also calling for removal of their leadership. Their leadership requires trust and integrity, and when those are broken, accountability must follow. Let me be clear, we will not stop defending our rights. We are fully committed to protecting our schools. We will continue to stand together, speak out, and demand accountability from anyone who abuses their position of power until these issues are fully addressed. People have encouraged me to play nice on this, but you're not nice people. And in spite of heartfelt testimonies you hear in these rooms, I know none of you up here care. Kindness isn't a language you people speak, and I don't intend to continue
050being nice. Vadim Alshuler. Good evening again, and I'd like to speak about Landers. This district's message to families from superintendent's office says that no decision has been made, but the same message also publicly names one scenario mostly clearly, closing Landers Elementary and sending students to Jacomessa. So now the school placed most visibly under a threat is a remote school serving a high-needs rural community. Landers is not just a small dot on a map. It's not just an enrollment number. Landers Elementary is about 93% socioeconomically disadvantaged. Its largest student group is Hispanic students at about 48%. It also serves a 4% English learner population and about 17% special education students. That's not just enrollment data. That's an equity data. When a remote high-needs school becomes the named closure scenario, the board should slow down and see
051the warning light flashing on the dashboard. Landers cannot be treated as a quiet option just because fewer working parents can make it to the evening meetings. It cannot be treated as an easy option because it is far away. And Jacomessa cannot be treated as a simpler receiving campus on paper. Parents from receiving schools have already raised concerns about traffic, bathrooms, lunch lines, pick up and drop off, classroom space, and whether capacity on paper means real capacity in daily school life. So school closure is not just moving students. One school community becomes displaced, another school becomes the receiving site. Both communities are changed forever, and our children are asked to carry the emotional and practical weight of an adult administrative decision. At this point, I'd like to remind the board about the California Attorney General's guidance
052on school closures. The Attorney General warns that losing a neighborhood school can cause educational harm, and that when those harms affect one group of students more than others, they may be unlawful. So this is not only a budget question, it is an equity question. This is a governance question, and it's a public trust question. If closure produces limited financial benefit but major community harm, then it cannot be treated as responsible simply because it is easy to place on a spreadsheet. This is an administrative convenience dressed up as a fiscal necessity. Closing any school would be a mistake before the full stabilization plan in public and alternatives are exhausted. But closing a remote rural school serving an underserved population would be more than a mistake. It would be an admission that this district choose the easiest
053administrative path over communities most dependent on public schools. It would be a public record of failed governance. No closure without transparency, no closure without real alternatives, and no closure before stabilization. Thank you. Thank you. Jillian Thorpe. Good evening, everyone. I'm a better writer than I am a speaker, so I'm just going to read this and hope my voice doesn't shake too much. My name is Jillian Thorpe, and I'm the parent of a kindergartner at Landers Elementary School. I come here on behalf of all of the elementary schools that are in consideration here, but I am speaking specifically about Landers because we are Landerites, and it is what I know intimately. We were actually planning on homeschooling our son, but as TK rolled around, we looked at a couple of schools near our home and happily
054changed our plan. We chose Landers Elementary because when you drive up to it and walk through the doors, you know it is a special place. And from the very beginning, we knew we had made the right decision. Landers Elementary is a magnificent school, and we are proud to be Coyotes. From the moment we arrived, it was clear that the staff deeply cared, not just about education, but about the children, their families, and the community as a whole. Landers Elementary is quite a diverse school, and it caters to many low and moderate income families who rely on it not just for learning, but for stability, connection, and support. What may appear as a simple line item in a budget is, in reality, a place with a true heart and soul, the home of the Landers Elementary
055Coyotes. This school brings our small desert community to life. It's not just a place where children learn, it's where families gather, where creativity is celebrated through STEAM nights, theme days, living history events, and field days, and where a sense of belonging is nurtured. In a town like Landers, we don't have many central gathering places. We have a few anchors, the post office, the local lodge, the Integra Tron, and this school. Landers Elementary stands as one of the most important of these anchors right here in the beautiful high desert. Closing this school is a drastic measure with lasting consequences. For many families, traveling farther to another location would create a real hardship, longer commutes, added cost, and logistical challenges. Families could decide to homeschool or pull their kids out of school altogether. It would also place
056additional strain on all neighboring elementary schools because of inevitable overcrowding. That impact would be felt not only by Landers families, but by our neighboring communities as well. And let's be real, our area is expanding. Landers is not stagnant. It is growing. People are drawn here for the beauty, the space, the stunning desert vistas, and the sense of community. Having a strong local school is a meaningful part of that appeal. Families come here wanting a place-Where children can learn and thrive in a close-knit, supportive environment. The dedication and care at Lindis Elementary is undeniable. Our faculty cares about test scores, respect, attendance, responsibility, and so much more. It's more than a mascot. They represent a spirit of community, kindness, and pride. If we want to preserve and strengthen our High Desert communities, we need to protect
057schools like this. With the nearby military base, the national park, and the steady flow of families moving into the area, the need for accessible, community-centered education will only continue to grow. These small schools are not expendable. They are essential. Please do not close our schools. Thank you. Stacy Smith. I'm not going to be nice either. Thank you. Again, I've gone back and forth about how this would work, and I also have things I was going to say and I changed things because one of the things at Palm Vista is, is we're not reactive, we're proactive. And we don't say things we don't mean, and we put a voice behind our words. So I'm here today because the Palm Vista community has lost confidence in your decisions. And we are witnessing double talk, untruths, and misinformation
058about reasons for school closure. Our district is top-heavy. Why are there no cuts up at your level? Mm. What I wrote first was, "We feel ignored." And what I decided was, "That's not true. You're ignoring us." We feel dismissed. Nope. You're dismissing us. We feel discounted. Nope. You're discounting us. And by your actions, you are proving that what is most important to you is your paycheck and your bonus, and things like when you said, "Ugh, the burden of teacher salaries." What about the burden of your salaries? Every one of you at the district is a burden. Anybody ride the bus up Tuesday afternoon to see what it's like on buses that are over capacity? Anybody want to come to my room where I have 33 students in my class? By the way, that's over ratio.
059How about the SpEd department, who is consistently out of compliance because you won't hire somebody to help them? Now, of course, I went way off track, but what I do want to say is this: I've been working with kids since I was 18 years old. I started at juvenile hall, working with kids that had murdered other kids. Why did I come to Palm Vista? Because I was asked to. I had an interview and they said, "You have the experience we need at Palm Vista." Why did Palm Vista have that reputation? Because of you. You set up Palm Vista to be the dumping ground. Kid can't make it at Oasis? Send them to Palm Vista. Yep. Mm-hmm. You can't make it at 29L? Come to Palm Vista. Yep. Mm-hmm. And that's not only the students. You
060send the staff you don't want to deal with either to us. Yep. And we take them in and we deal with them and then you go, "Sorry, Vadim is needed somewhere else." Yep. We get an amazing school psychologist. "Sorry, the high school needs them more than you all do." You all don't have any skin in the game. You should not be making decisions when you don't have skin in the game. Thank you. Yajaira Familia. Hello, everyone. Tonight, I'm addressing something foundational, the rights, dignity, and protection of the people who keep our schools functioning every single day, our teachers and school staff. Teachers are not interchangeable parts of the system. They are professionals with legal and ethical protections, and they are entitled to stability, respect, and fair treatment in the workplace they serve. When decisions are
061made that disrupt school sites, shift staffing, or displace educators from the communities they serve, those decisions do not just affect schedules or logistics. They affect careers, livelihoods, and the professional integrity of the people responsible for educating our children. There's also clear responsibility at the state level. The state has a legal and ethical obligation to ensure that teachers and school employees are protected, represented, and treated fairly in any process that impacts their employment conditions. That includes safeguarding them from unnecessary disruption, instability, or decisions that undermine their professional standing without proper consideration and due process. When staff are moved, reassigned, or effectively displaced without meaningful input or clear justification, it raises serious concerns about whether those obligations are being met. We need to be honest about what that means for schools themselves. You cannot destabilize educators and
062expect stability for students. You cannot remove trust from staff and expect strong outcomes in the classroom.Our teachers deserve more than acknowledgement. They deserve protection. They deserve transparency in decisions that affect their jobs, and they deserve to know that the institutions above them are actively working to uphold their rights, not unintentionally eroding them through large-scale changes made without adequate safeguards. This community is asking for accountability, not just for students, but for the educators who serve them. Because protecting schools means protecting the people who hold them together. Displacing staff without full consideration of their rights, their stability, and their role in the community is not acceptable, and it should not be treated as a secondary consequence. Do not close Morongo Valley Elementary. Do not close Friendly Hills. Do not close Palm Vista. Do not close Landers. Thank
063you. Thank you. Tina Femke? Hello, good evening. This is my son Jackson. He attends Palm Vista Elementary School. Like Ms. Smith said, I heard a lot of bad things about Palm Vista. Basically, that it was a dumping ground as well. I was really scared for my son to go any other school than where he was because he is a 504. He's got a grip of diagnoses to go along with that, and it's hard to deal with. But I thought that where he was, I had a great support system, and he was doing well, until I came to Palm Vista. And then we had our first 504 meeting, and they described a child that I didn't even know who he was. It was not my son at all. And I was blown away. My husband was
064like, "Are you sure you're talking about our son?" And they said, "Yes, your son is exceptional. He's got an extraordinary brain. We love him. Everybody there loves him." And I couldn't believe it, because at his other school, they couldn't handle him. He was extremely out of control. But you can see right now, he's standing perfectly still. Just, he's an amazing kid, and it's because of them at Palm Vista. They helped me personally as well because of everything going on with him, I was down on myself as a parent, and they built me up too to show me how to handle him, how to help him, where to go for help. They helped me outside of school hours, on Saturdays. These people are amazing. Everybody there is amazing. And he just loves them. He loves them.
065And he asked me to speak tonight. I am so scared right now. I don't speak in public, but he asked me to speak for him, so I'm going to. He doesn't want me to close his school. He doesn't want to change schools. He's scared to change when he goes to sixth grade. But they say it takes a village to raise a kid. It's like a perfect circle there. You've got your emotional support, your disciplinary support. You've got just everybody, and they all work so well together to help you. I don't even barely get any phone calls when my son is acting out or has a bad day. His other school, they'd call me, and I'd have to come from down the hill from work to come and pick him up and bring him home. They
066do everything in their power to help him and help him understand what he's doing wrong and how he can move forward in a positive way. And now he has goals for the future. He looks forward to his future. He wants to learn everything he can, and it's because of them. He has Ms. Shortall as a teacher. Oh, sorry. Thank you. Amy Thompson? No. Avi. Is that right, Amy? Avi. Oh, I'm sorry. It's okay. Okay. We're trying to do this without shaking this time. But I'm actually going to start off from my last speech because I got cut off. And another thing, closing Palm Vista doesn't just move students, it disrupts lives. And I need you to hear this clearly. You're not just closing a school, you're taking away a place where kids feel safe, seen,
067and supported. Please don't make a decision based on the numbers and logistics, because we are the people behind those numbers. For some children, change is hard, but for kids like my son, if you were here last week, it can be destabilizing. For my son, for students like Luke Riley, for every child who depends on that campus, please don't close Palm Vista because once that kind of support is gone, you don't get to take it back. Thank you. Thank you. Juan Perez? Hmm. Good evening, board members. My name is Juan Perez, and I'm an extended specialist intern at Palm Vista Elementary School, and I work with students with extensive support needs. I want to speak from what I see every day in my classroom. For my students, consistency isn't just helpful, it's everything They rely on
068routine, familiar spaces, and the same adults to be able to function at school. That's how they learn. That's how they communicate. That's how they regulate. When that consistency is there, they make progress. When it's not, everything changes. We see behaviors increase, communication decreases, transitions become difficult. Instead of learning, we're spending time trying to get those students regulated again. So when we talk about things like boundary changes, moving schools, and possible school closures, this hits my students differently. This isn't just about where they go to school. It directly impacts whether they can access their education at all. I understand the district is dealing with the declining enrollments and budget changes. I'm not ignoring that. But I do want to make sure that when decisions are being discussed, we're also thinking about the students who are most
069impacted by change. My students do not have a voice in this room, so I'm using mine to speak for them. If any of these options move forward, we need to be intentional about keeping staff consistent, supporting transitions in a structured way, making sure services follow the students without disruption, and making sure transportation doesn't become another barrier. Because for all my students, those details matter a lot. I see every day what happens when things are stable and what happens when things are not. I just want to make sure that that stays part of the conversation moving forward. Thank you. Thank you. Next up is the adoption of the consent agenda. Are there any items for review? Yes. Can we pull the board policy A, those three, just because I want to ask a clarifying question? Sure.
070Anything else? Okay. That's it? Yeah. Okay. May I get a motion to approve the consent agenda with the exception of item 9A? So moved. Moved by Roberta, second by Pete. All in favor? Aye. Aye. Any nays? Five zero. Now we will have our discussion on item 9A. I just had a question for clarity because I've asked this question before and Stacy gave me a really good answer, and I can't remember it anymore, as to why we have three different numbered board policies for the same essential item. Good question. Sure. Yes. The 4100s in the board policies are for certificated staff, the 4200s apply to classified staff, and the 4300s apply to management. Sometimes they might be slightly different, which is why they have separate policies. But in situations like this where the policy is the
071same, it just looks like repetition. Okay, perfect. That's what I thought, and I just wanted to make sure that that was clear because I had forgotten. Thank you. All right. May I get a motion to approve consent agenda item 9A? So moved. Moved by Bianca. Second. Second by Missy. All in favor? Aye. Aye. Any nays? Five zero. Thank you. We now go to our action items, and we'll start at Resolution 2615. "Be it resolved by the Governing Board of the Morongo Unified School District and hereby order that whereas the Board of Education wishes to honor the teachers who have dedicated their lives and talents to the education of the students in the Morongo Unified School District. And whereas the Board of Education recognizes the very important role that teachers play in the lives of their
072students and in all of society. And whereas the Board of Education also recognizes the truly vital role of teachers in realizing its vision for the students of the Morongo Unified School District. Therefore, be it resolved by the Governing Board of the Morongo Unified School District and hereby order that May 13, 2026, shall be proclaimed as The Day of the Teacher in the Morongo Unified School District with appropriate school observances." May I get a motion to pass? I so move. Any second? I second. Okay. All those in favor? Aye. Nays? Zero. Passed by the board on today, which is May 5, 2026. Next up will be Resolution 26-16, California School Employees Week. "Be it resolved by the Governing Board of the Morongo Unified School District and hereby order that whereas classified school employees provide valuable services
073to the schools and students and the Morongo Unified School District. And whereas classified school employees contribute to the establishment and promotion of a positive instructional environment. And whereas classified school employees play a vital role in providing the welfare and safety of Morongo Unified School District's students. And whereas classified school employees employed by the Morongo Unified School District strive for excellence in all areas relative to the educational community." Therefore, be it resolved that the Morongo Unified School District hereby recognizes and wishes to honor the contribution of the classified school employees to quality education in the state of California and in the Morongo Unified School District, and declares the week of May 18th to 24, 2025, as Classified School Employee Week in the Morongo Unified School District. And may I get a motion to pass? So moved.
074Give me a second. Second. All those in favor? Aye. Witness and pass on the 5th day of May 2026. Thank you, Dr. Vargas. Next up, I get a motion to authorize the renewal of the mailroom equipment lease with Quadiant Incorporated through NASPO Value Point Cooperative Agreement. I so move. Moved by Pete. Second. We'll go with Roberta on the second. All in favor? Aye. Any nays? 5-0. May I also get a motion to approve the MUSD MTA Memo of Understanding for an additional professional development day? So moved. Moved by Bianca. I second. Second by Missy. All in favor? Aye. Aye. Any nays? 5-0. Thank you. Items for review. Second read and review were board policy 0440, board policy 4119.21, board policy 4156.3, board policy 4219.21, board policy 4256.3, board policy 431921, board policy 4356.3, board policy
0756141.2. On the first read is board policy 4361, board policy 9320, board policy 9320.1, and board policy 9322. We also have a new course outline for ceramics at Twentynine Palms High School. Actually, does somebody have some info on that? Because I know I was kind of pushing that a little bit. Absolutely. Yes, ma'am. So a new kiln was purchased earlier, I believe with Prop 28 funding, and we have now created Ceramics A through G accepted course outline for students to be able to use that for their VAPA, which is their visual and performing arts credit for graduation. And so the art teacher is qualified to teach that, and we have gone through everyone that needs to be gone through, including safety risk management. So we are ready to deploy in the fall, and about 30-something
076students have signed up for ceramics at 29 High. That's fantastic. That's why I wanted a deeper explanation. So thank you so much. Appreciate that. Informational items and cash receipts, the budget transfer transactional report. Future agenda items. We'll have a presentation on local indicators. That will actually be presented at the June 16th meeting. We also have a public hearing on the LCAP, the budget overview for parents, and the budget on June 9th, 2026. We have an additional public hearing and adoption of the SELPA local plan annual budget and service plan, which will also take place on June 9th, 2026. We'll have an adoption of the LCAP budget overview for parents and budget on June 16th, 2026. District calendar. Day of the Teacher, May 13th, 2026. Classified School Employee Week will be May 17th through the 23rd
077of 2026. We also have a celebration of our retirees on May 27th, 2026, at 4:00 PM at the Yucca Valley Gym. Sorry, can I ask one question? You may. The Classified School Employee Week. Is it the 17th through the 23rd or the 18th through the 24th? Because I thought I saw two dates. That's a good point. I think it might be the 18th. The 18th is a Monday, so 18th if you're going with school week, 17th if you're going with week starting on Sunday. So I think it's just- Yeah. Oh, okay. 24 is a full week. Gotcha. All right, so we celebrate you on Sunday through... Thank you. We'll start early, yeah, exactly. Okay. We also have a board study May 28th, 2026. We have three big graduations. Black Rock High School will be June
0782nd, 2026, at 7:00 PM. Twentynine Palms High School graduation, June 4th, 2026, also at 7:00 PM. That is 7:30. That is also 7:30. Or that is 7:30. That's an update. It said Twentynine sun later. I don't know if you saw that, but Amy said it's Twentynine sun later, so it'll be 7:30. Thank you. And Yucca Valley High School graduation will be June 5th, 2026, at 7:00 PM. Our next regular board meeting will be June 9th, 2026. That concludes our district calendar. Board comments. We will start with Missy this evening. Parents, I want to thank you, and I want you all to know you are being heard. This is a promise. You are being heard. Same with you staff members that are here. You are being heard. Thank you. Pete? Well, I agree with Missy. I
079think you are... Well, I know you are. We're listening to you. We're taking notes. We're thinking. So that's all I've got. Thank you, Pete. Roberta? Just to echo my other two board members, we are listening. We care deeply. This is a very serious consideration that's before us I appreciate all of you that came out this evening and your comments. I wanted to say something about track and field too, because that really excited me to hear that that's back for the children, because they enjoyed it so much. So thank you for that, and Elop for helping with that. Thank you. Bianca? Same as always. Thank you for coming out and sharing with us. I know it's hard to think that with your three minutes that you can get your point across, but I promise you, you
080can look up here, we're taking notes. We are considering everything, so I appreciate you guys coming. I wanted to talk again about the track and field, because that's so exciting. When I was in school, we had Bill Lipkins. He was our PE teacher, and he ran the track and field initiative at Morongo Valley. So it was really awesome to see those photos. It just brought me back memories of driving all the way to Twentynine Palms Junior High School for track meets in the '90s. So, really excited that's back. Great to see that opportunity for our kids. Thank you. Thank you, Bianca. I want to start off by saying really impressive, the 29's track and field student-athletes. Very well-rounded performance. And then on top of that, they have the academics to back it up. So, I
081was really impressed with what I heard from the student reps. That was fantastic, so thank you to them. Also excited to hear about that track and field because I did participate in that. I think it was in Yucca Valley Elementary back in the early '80s. I think I still have some of the ribbons, believe it or not. So I'm very excited to hear that. As a board, we collectively look for ways to give students reasons to come to school, and maybe it is a track meet. I'm excited about the ceramics. That really was a visit at the art teacher, and I said, "What's behind that door?" And there was a kiln, and I said, "Is that not working? What is going on?" Talked to Amy, he talked to Jack, and I'm really excited that's another
082opportunity for students. And to hear that it's 30-plus, you've got to give the students a reason to come to school, and that's just one more reason. So thank you to Amy, Jack, and everybody else that was involved in getting that completed. So thank you very much. Can I say something? Yes, Pete. Amy, could you tell our audience about your ambulance? Really? So with CTE grant money, we bought an ambulance without wheels, and we installed it in the Yucca Valley High School medical assisting classroom. And so they have everything inside the ambulance that an EMT would have. It's fully stocked. It's got the removable gurney, and they work in the situational circumstances inside there, and it's branded Morongo, and we're so proud of it, and the kids love it. And next year, we will also have
083a built-out pharmacy in the pharmacy tech area, and also an emergency room built out for the medical assistants and a doctor's office for them to practice on state-of-the-art equipment. So you asked about ambulance, I had to tell everything. That's everything. Thank you. Yeah, that was fantastic news that we received today earlier. And I forgot to mention, thank you for everybody that comes out. I know it takes time. I know probably your kids are at home waiting for you to make dinner. Thanks for the staff. I know you guys are always here, so I appreciate that. With that, we will adjourn at 7:23.