Board of Education Meeting April 21, 2026

001We'll reconvene to open session at 6:01, and we will start with the Pledge of Allegiance. It is my honor to introduce the 2026 Miss Iacovelli Court, an exceptional group of young people who proudly represent our community through leadership, service, and dedication. This year's court includes Miss Iacovelli, Sophia Abbott. Who's Sophia? Raise your hand. Oh, hi. All right. Sorry. Very good. It's okay. Kayla Soares. Second Princess... I better get this right. Kylie, right? Mm-hmm. Gibbs. And Third Princess Hailey- Rigamonte, right? Very good. Together, they serve as ambassadors for Iacovelli, participating in community events and representing the values and spirit of our town throughout the year. Their commitment to making a positive impact reflects the strength and promise of our local youth. Please join me in welcoming the 2026 Miss Iacovelli Court as they lead us in

002the Pledge of Allegiance. Good evening. I'd like to ask everyone to stand for the Pledge of Allegiance. The flag is over to your left, and please place your right hand over your heart. 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. Thank you. Next, I will ask for a motion for the adoption of tonight's agenda. So moved. Second. Moved by Pete, second by Roberta. All in favor? Aye. Aye. Any nays? Five zero. Next up will be a motion for the adoption of the minutes from the previous board meeting. Moved. Moved by Missy. Second. Second by Bianca. All in favor? Aye. Actions resulting from closed session, we have not finished our closed session,

003so that'll be done at the end of the meeting. Recognitions, my favorite part of the meeting. We'll have an exemplary dual enrollment award. Thank you, Board President Clair, board members, and Dr. Vargas. Thank you for allocating time this evening for recognition for an outstanding accomplishment within our dual enrollment program. Maria, I may need assistance. It's not connected to Wi-Fi. Okay. There may have been a problem in receiving the presentation, but that's all right, because I'm going to give you the presentation anyway. So the California Exemplary Dual Enrollment Award is a highly selective recognition from the California Department of Education that honors schools demonstrating excellence in expanding college access and closing equity gaps for students.You can only apply every two years, and this is only the third time the award has been offered by the state.

004It took weeks of writing our application and months of waiting in agonizing anticipation. But just recently, we were notified that Morongo Unified had won, not one Exemplary Dual Enrollment Award, but two. Both Twentynine Palms High School and Yucca Valley High School have been named. Winning this award signifies that our dual enrollment program meets the highest statewide standards for rigor, partnership, and student outcomes. Award recipients are recognized as models for California, showing how high schools and colleges can work together to help students earn college credit earlier, reduce barriers to higher education, and improve long-term success. Simply put, this award confirms that the MUSD is not just offering dual enrollment, we are leading the state in how it is done. So on the slide, it would've said, each application is reviewed by two readers, the California Department

005of Education, the California Community College Chancellor's Office, the California Coalition of Early and Middle Colleges, and the Career Leader Project. Each application must earn a perfect score of 40. A perfect score of 40 from each reader. And each application must obtain a score of five, perfect, in all categories on the application narrative. So I am proud to say there were 31 schools awarded, but only 17 of those were public high schools. Fourteen of them were specialized institutions. They were early college, middle college schools that do only dual enrollment, charter schools, magnet schools, online schools, college prep academies. But of the 17 public high schools, two were MUSD, Twentynine Palms High School and Yucca Valley High School. By the way, there are 800 public high schools in California, which means we are in 2.1% of schools

006represented. Tonight, we celebrate a huge award, and some of the people that have worked for a decade to make this a reality, we are going to recognize. But I want to be very clear about what this moment is not about. This is not about being first or best or even exemplary, though the state has rightly used that word. This is about promises kept. Because for generations, students in our high poverty community and others just like ours have heard a different story, a quieter story, one that whispers, "Not yet. Not you. Maybe later." They were told that excellence lives somewhere else, that college credit is for other zip codes, that rigor must wait until resources arrive. But our students refused that story. They showed us that talent is evenly distributed even when opportunity is not. They

007proved that brilliance does not ask for permission, and they reminded us that when adults choose belief over doubt, systems begin to bend toward equity. Dual enrollment is not just an academic pathway, it is a declaration. It declares to a student, we see you as college-bound, even if no one ever said that before. It declares to this community, poverty will not define intelligence, limit access, or dictate destiny. And it declares to us as leaders, what we choose to fund and protect and prioritize becomes the future. This recognition will echo the first time a student says, "I didn't know I could do this until you let me try." It will live in graduation stages not yet built, in careers not yet imagined, and in cycles of poverty quietly, stubbornly broken. Excellence did not arrive here by accident.

008It arrived because this district, this board, chose courage over comfort. So please join me in recognizing the following people who have made this California Exemplary Dual Enrollment Program possible, because we have been building this since 2016. Lisa Ruggiero. We get the picture. Lisa Ruggiero, she is the right-hand man. She is the daily operations. Without her, this could not work. Jill Riber, who I'm going to think is not here. Jill Riber is my right hand in the office, and she took all the information that I gave her and had to put it into that application. Deanna Skinta and Mike Ruggiero the two principals at these high schools, who every time Amy says, "Hey, we're going to do this," they're like, "Okay." Trent Nicholson and Gene Caravella. They are funded by our grant that allows us to

009have a coordinator at each school for the kids. And Sharon Gerber and Aaron Hilliard and Chloe Letson-Watson, our counselors who-Day to day, make sure that our kids are registered, enrolled, and are taking advantage of the full Cal-GETC dual enrollment program that allows our students to graduate with every single general ed requirement met to move to a UC or CSU school. Thank you. Would we please be able to have a picture with the board for our dual enrollment exemplary award winners? Thank you, Amy. That was wonderful. Appreciate it. Even without the presentation. Maybe you can share it later. Yeah. It's fantastic work. All right. Next up is a report from our student representatives. We're going to start with Black Rock this evening. Hello, everybody. My name is Julius Fickman, and I am an 11th grade student

010at Black Rock High School. I'd like to share some of the exciting things that have been happening in our school recently. We have already had 29 students graduate. Nine students- Nine students had perfect attendance for our fifth credit check. This week, we started our sixth credit check, the last one for the year. We are hosting our first ever College and Career Day, which is tomorrow. We have 13 attendees. Copper Mountain College with CalWORKs and NextUp, Copper Mountain College with Career Services, California State, San Bernardino School of Social Work, Joshua Tree National Park Service, Mojave Freeze, MUSD with Human Resources, MUSD with Career Technical Education, Reach Out Yucca Valley, US Army Recruitment, College of the Desert, certified yoga instructor, and chef with Mojave Gold. We hosted our second blood drive, and I'm proud to say that

01116 students stepped up to donate, including myself. Our prom is this Saturday from 7:00 to 10:00 PM, and our theme is A Night in Paris. Home Ec's has been working extremely hard to prepare delicious foods for the night. Thank you for your time and support. Do you have any questions? Any questions from the board? No. Thank you very much. Okay. Thank you. Next up, Yucca Valley High School. Good evening. My name is Eden Davis, and I'm ASB Vice President at Yucca Valley High. And my name is Taylor Soares. I am ASB Executive Board Secretary. We would just like to give you a report of some things going on at YVHS. First, our PBIS team held a super fun assembly last Friday for kids who have put in a lot of work to keep their grades

012up, stay out of trouble, and get up to class on time. They raffled things off like AirPods and had fun games for everyone to play. This is a really fun incentive that many students really enjoy. Our Unified champions just finished up with their track and field event. This gave Unified students an opportunity to show off their running skills with the help of our track team. Opportunities like these help make these students feel really involved, and it makes their day. And then we have some more exciting events and news that's been happening in our school. First, we'd like to start with sports. So we have golf, tennis and... Well, not tennis. Track and swim going on right now. And I can personally say that all the teams have been doing absolutely amazing. We have track going

013to league finals in a couple of weeks. Swim is on their way to win their league championships for the fifth year in a row for boys and third year in a row for girls. And golf is just, they're doing great at golf. Next, we also have the ASB end of the year activities. So prom is coming up on May 16th at 7:00 PM at the Riviera in Palm Springs. The theme is Tale as Old as-Tale as old as time, and if you guys recognize that phrase, it's from "Beauty and the Beast." So we're really excited for the reds and yellows and blues. We also have grad night coming up on May 29th. They will be going to Six Flags. Then we had our senior excursion last Friday. They went down to the beach and to

014the science museum down there. And then we also had a pickleball tournament last Saturday, and that was very successful. We had some strong head nine-year-olds beat a lot of adults at pickleball last Saturday. So that was fun to watch. And then we also have sophomores planning to sell snacks and other merchandise at graduation to fundraise for D15 and prom next year. And then we also have our elections for next year coming up. We are currently planning where everybody on ASB is looking for their positions next year. And then as a class, we're planning next year. We know we have homecoming coming up in the fall quite early and all of the events, we want to make sure that we have a structured program, and we meet deadlines and just really get more involvement on campus.

015Thank you. Do you have any questions? Any questions from the board? No. Thank you for your very thorough report. Appreciate it. Thank you. All three student reps are more than welcome to leave, or you can stay with us if you'd like. Thank you very much. Next up is our legislative report. All right. I have something for you guys because I've been busy these past few months. CSBA held a legislative action week in March, which was really insightful. But what is really cool is I got to meet with three of our state elected officials, Senator Ochoa, Assembly fellow for Greg Wallace, and Assemblyman Lackey. And we got to talk about this really awesome four-bill bundle that CSBA is backing. They're calling it SOS for Student Achievement. So there's four bills in this proposal. Namely, one of

016them, which is AB 2490, talks about substitute teachers. We've been pushing, I think for CSBA, and other entities have been pushing to lengthen the amount of time a substitute can be in a classroom. Right now, it's currently 30 days. I think we're trying to get that to 60 days. If anybody knows about what it's like to have a substitute and have a teacher go out for maternity leave or any other kind of leave, how it disrupts the students, it's just a really great thing that CSBA is endorsing getting behind. Chris and I went on a trip to DC to do some federal advocacy. So, do you want to talk about that a little bit, or you want me to take? This is your report. We had the chance to meet with Jay Obernolte, who is

017our congressman, and it was a really great trip. We met with lots of other school district board members and superintendents and admins, and we're really trying to advocate not just for our school, but for school districts all across the state and the US for funding because things are so uncertain now, a lot of federal funding has gone away. And so things are in the works. We've brought up IDEA, Individuals with Disabilities and Education Act funding that's been promised since that came into being in the '70s. They've never fully funded it. So some really exciting things happening on the legislative front and good to make connections with public officials, elected officials, to make sure that we are doing our part and keeping them informed on what we need, what our state needs, what our schools need.

018So that's all I have for you right now. Yeah, all kidding aside, it was a wonderful trip. We were able to meet with Jay Obernolte, who is our local representative. Luckily, I was able to be a mouthpiece, and I talked up Amy and the CTE program and Flying Doctors, and they were just blown away with the way we took students, and they're integrated. It's not just like they're passive. They're actually actively involved in this program. How many did we serve? 500 services was it that day? 598. So when I started talking about how our students are involved, they're helping with the glasses, they're helping the X-rays, they're helping with the dental piece of it. It's a really significant program. Maybe a lot of you aren't aware of it. Some that come to a lot of

019board meetings are, but look up Flying Doctors and how we have this great relationship with the district, and our students are getting real practical experience that they take into the real world. I believe we had about 60 eye exams and 38 people walked away with glasses that day. So think about that impact that had on those members of our community, which is really important. So our school, we always think about the people within our school, but we have a whole community that we do want to support and look out for. So, they were really impressed. That actually was the one thing that got Jay Obernolte's... He perked up. That and AI. He's a big AI guy, so we did have conversation around that and how we can try to get funding for our teachers and

020for our staffTo where AI isn't a threat, it's something that we incorporate into our curriculum, and we embrace it. Because it's not going away, folks, we know that. So we have to find a way. Even for the board, we need more knowledge around the AI and how we can fund that so that training's better and there's more acceptance with it. So it was a great trip. So on behalf of the taxpayers, thank you for that opportunity, and we feel like we did our best to represent everybody. So thank you. Next up, classified's not here today, so we will go to certificated. Hello, board members. MTA has been very busy since your last meeting in March. One area our team has put a lot of time, work, energy, and effort into is bargaining. This year was

021a full contract bargain. We are working on a multi-year deal, meaning almost every article in the contract was open to negotiation, and we have been doing extensive work with complex articles to make sure that our members and students have quality working and learning conditions. We believe MUSD students deserve the best. Both MTA and MUSD have engaged in a mostly successful collaboration during bargaining and had meaningful discussions around how to improve our students' learning conditions and now our working conditions. We are entering the most challenging parts of bargaining when we need to discuss the salary and benefits. The year is almost over, and while our members know our bargaining team has been working hard, it is time to see what we can do to get this bargaining term completed. We need the school board to direct

022the district to return a salary benefits proposal that is fair and competitive and that will allow us to recruit and retain the best teachers for our students. MTA continues to show good faith and have a spirit of collaboration with the district in many ways. For example, our union worked very hard, giving their own time, to collect members' signatures to protect school funding. We achieved 85% of our members signing to support an extension on Prop 55 on the ballot for California voters to vote on. Our members showed they value our public schools and want to protect school funding, which helps our students and our district. Last Saturday, April 18th, MTA and MUSD presented a valuable discipline training to our members, The Art and Science of De-escalation. Presenter Roshunda Glenn made sure our members left with valuable

023knowledge on how to assist a student in behavior crisis. Thirty-seven members of our union gave their time on a Saturday to learn these important skills. MTA paid for the presenter, and MUSD Instructional Services, working with Dr. Gutierrez and Ms. Woods, compensated our members for giving their time on a Saturday to learn new skills to assist our students. The presenter was wonderful, shared valuable knowledge, and we look forward to working with MUSD to improve students' learning conditions and increase our staff knowledge on helping children struggling with behavior. Our union hopes to work with MUSD to develop crisis plans for each site to help with students in behavior crisis, implement crisis management teams at each site, and make de-escalation part of our district culture when responding to students in crisis. We hope to move towards having all

024members de-escalation trained. Last Saturday was an important first step in that direction. One of the coolest parts of that day was getting to enjoy the knowledge and skills of our TPHS Culinary Arts CTE students. Teacher Caitlin Gelinas and her students gave their time on a Saturday to cater both breakfast and lunch for our educators attending the training. The food was not only delicious but presented very professionally. MTA is also organizing to address the special needs concerns that keep arising across sites. We've been holding special education committee meetings to plan on how to hear from all sites what the most widely held and deeply felt needs are concerning special education. After this planning work, MTA has collaborated with school site leadership teams to plan time in May to visit each site and gather information. After analyzing

025this data, we look forward to future collaboration with MUSD to address these issues so we can better serve our students. As you can see, MTA cares deeply about our students and believes our students deserve the best. Our union members do a lot of work, often as free gifts of their time, to collaborate with MUSD to make sure our students have what they need to be successful. We walk our walk, and our budgets and where we spend our time and energy matches our values. We plan to continue forward in a spirit of collaboration with MUSD to make sure our students deserve the best. We need our school board to direct our district to provide fair and competitive salary and benefits compensation proposal. Thank you for your time. Thank you. Next up, Marine Corps rep. I see

026Lorraine all the way in the back. Are you- I'm good tonight. You're good tonight. Okay, thank you. All right, that takes us to our reports by the superintendent and staff members. We will start off with the assistant super, Amy Woods. Well, it's just occurred to me that the previous dual enrollment exemplary board, you'll get to see that presentation again at the joint CMC meeting, so there'll be that. The first thing I need to talk to you about tonight is the Cisco Networking Academy. That's okay, because there was only one slide, and it said Cisco Networking Academy. So this is what I'm going to tell you about the Cisco Networking Academy. What is the Cisco Networking Academy? Global education program, this is what it is. That's created by Cisco, one of the world's largest tech companies.

027Industry-aligned courses prepare students for high-demand careers in IT, networking, data science, and AI. It is career pathway based, which means that students start with beginner courses and progress toward industry certifications and real jobs. So what do these jobs pay and why do we care about being a Cisco Network Academy? Well, short answer is about $60,000 to $100,000 a year, depending on the certifications. The detailed answer is an entry level CCNA, that's a Certified Network Associate, with a high school graduation is $83,000 per year upon graduation from high school. The jobs include network tech and IT support, and they move further with certifications at the high school such as a Cisco Cyber Ops associate. Cybersecurity, by the way, is one of the highest paying entry-level tech fields, and the average salary is about $122,000 to $150,000

028a year. And this is earned with only a few years experience past high school once you pass the certification exam. So the big takeaway for students and families, Cisco certifications do not require a four-year college degree. These certifications are stackable. There is higher pay over time, and many students earn $80,000 by the age of 20 and gradually scale up from there with experience. So the Cisco Academy offers courses in networking, cybersecurity, programming, Python, automation, AI, data science, digital literacy. Courses are hands-on. All tech equipment is given to the schools for free. It's hundreds of thousands of dollars of free equipment and curriculum and training. And they also provide us with something called the Cisco Packet Tracer, which is the real networking simulation tool that's used by professionals. So Cisco certification creates jobs in tech, right?

029No, not just. Education, healthcare, military, government, business, and tech companies. These certifications are used by employers to make hiring decisions. Cisco reports that 99% of employers value tech certifications, and 91% believe that certifications predict job success. If we were to be accepted as a Cisco Academy, we would then work towards a CTE pathway in AI. They also would provide us with Cisco Talent Bridge. That is a job matching platform that connects students directly with employers looking for Cisco trained talent. A lot of these jobs are remote work. They are perfect for first-generation students, rural students, CTE learners, and it is a direct bridge from high school to employment. So Dr. Vargas and Troy Slaydon and I have been in meetings since this last fall with Cisco in an effort to secure MUSD as a certified

030Cisco Networking Academy because we believe that this partnership represents a powerful opportunity to expand access to real-world, current, and high-paying careers for our students that would change the lives of these students, their families, and our community. And just a week ago, click, click, slide, slide. Here's our... It's not there, Dr. Vargas. It'll be there at the next board meeting. We were notified last week that MUSD has been chosen to receive full funding for the implementation of a Cisco Networking Academy at Yucca Valley High School. We are beyond excited for the opportunities this collaboration will bring for brighter futures for our students. Board of Education, thank you for your dedication to supporting our secondary programs, and we are excited to begin the work to make this vision a reality for the Morongo Unified School District in

031the '26, '27 school year with Adam Wright and with Troy Slaydon at Yucca Valley High School and the new Cisco Networking Academy. I think I might have a presentation. The CMC CTE conference. Can we have questions around- Oh, I apologize. Yeah. Of course. Any more questions? I got too excited, and I had no slide. You were just excited you had a slide. I have a slide. I have a question. Yes, Bianca. Do we know where this is going to be located on the campus? Yucca Valley High School in Adam Wright's room. They have retrofitting for locking cabinets, and all the equipment is there. We have done the walkthrough. Cisco has been here. This has been a lengthy process. There were so many things that had to be done for this. So many things that had

032to be done for us to meet their specification. You have to understand, hundreds and hundreds and hundreds of thousands of dollars will come inside of this program and to be chosen as a Cisco Networking Academy is a huge honor for our rural school district, so we intend to make the most of it. And so does that mean that Adam is going to be in charge of the Cisco for us? Adam is teaching the Cisco Academy class. Right, Adam? That's correct. That is correct. We are actually going on April 29th to West Covina High School to watch their program in action. It's the closest and only one. And then there will be another trip with... La Contenta has sent almost 20 students now, because they want eighth graders that are rising ninth graders from La Contenta

033to Yucca Valley High School. And so they will be taking another group of eight La Contenta applicant students up on May 20th, up to San Francisco. That is where the headquarters are, and that is where they take our students. And is this just one class? Right now it'll be one section. Okay. And then how many students would that be? Approximately 25. 25. Approximately. And then the obvious question is, what are we going to get on the east side, or is that even a possibility? We must show ourselves to be worthy. In other words, we must No pressure, Adam. We must take this pilot and we must make the most unimaginable program, and then they will consider allowing us to expand. Okay. I feel we're in good hands, so that's going to be great. Last thing

034is, is Adam's salary paid through that, or is it just the equipment that they cover? We pay for Adam's salary because he's already a teacher with us. He'll just be teaching something else. All right. I was trying to find some savings. Yeah, I know. All right. Very good. Congratulations to everybody involved. All right. Last. On April 10th, last Friday, CMC held for us a CTE, Career Technical Education, conference. Slides. So what was this about? This was an AI conference, and it was about how artificial intelligence is impacting career pathways. And so the IERDC, which is the Inland Empire Desert Regional Consortium, came down with a keynote speaker, and they did information with our kiddos on each one of their career pathways, because we had all our different pathways there, and how AI was interfacing with,

035and connecting with, and changing, and reshaping the job market and the job field. They then, after that, had interactive breakout sessions with hands-on demos with each one of our career pathways. Then they had a Q&A employer panel, where we had employers there, and the students were able to ask back and forth questions about how do I get in, where are you located, what are you looking for? It was wonderful. And then they fed them a college lunch, and then they got CMC swag provided to our students. So students left with a clearer sense of what AI is, and how they can use it to strengthen their employability, problem-solving, and real-world readiness. So who did we send? We had 13 of our medical students that went to the nursing program to look at that, 12 students

036that went to the EMT program from our EMR program. We had eight of our computer science students go to their CSI program, and we had nine of our construction trades go to their construction trade program. We had 11 of our culinary students attend, because CMC has a culinary program, 10 of our child development elementary ed students went to go into their child development facility, and nine of our students went into their criminal justice facilities. I have some super cool pictures. Here's some of our kids in the child development room. These are our students that are studying this career that went into the CMC facility. These are our medical assistant students that are in the nursing facilities, practicing the skills that they learn on the real-world equipment that's there at CMC. Here's our students from criminal

037justice that went with PMO. But fear not, because the things that are in that vest are mascaras and lipsticks. That's what those in there right now. So that's really good. And this is what happens when I don't do a return transportation request with Jack Salceda, and this is how I have to get the kids... Just kidding. This was our PMO that they were working with the K9 units and with the military police. So, thank you for the support of this. We, MUSD and CMC, are building pathways for students. And just to let you know, on May 5th, we have another CTE job shadow trip, only this one is on base. And it's a job shadow trip for hospitality, construction, child development, pharmacy, medical assistant, paramedics, dental assistants, and PMO criminal justice. And we are looking

038for chaperones for the bus in case you're interested. May 5th, although I can't go because we have joint board meetings. So if I can't go, you probably can't go either. But May 5th, we are sending more kids. Thank you very much. Board of Education, Dr. Vargas, thank you very much for the time and for letting me show how wonderful our kids are. Next up, Stacy Smalley. That's a hard act to follow. Thank you so much, Dr. Vargas and the Board of Education, for allowing me some time to present today. If you recall, earlier in the fall, Matt Rauch presented on the TEACH Morongo residency program, and if you remember, you got to meet all of our past and current residents, along with their mentor teachers. I can't believe that it is spring already, and I'm

039excited to announce that we have already interviewed and placed our two math residents, and we're working on doing the same for our elementary teacher residents next week. So we've had a very successful year with the TEACH Morongo residency program. But one of the things that he shared at that board report was some of the things that were next on our list for TEACH Morongo as we continue to grow the program Of those things that you see here on his last slide, we've been working all year this year to continue to expand Teach Morongo program so that all new and aspiring teachers are included in the robust and comprehensive coaching and training opportunities that our current resident teachers are benefiting from. So from that hard work of the year, I am pleased to announce that the

040vision that we have created is also very exciting to the San Bernardino County Superintendents of Schools because we have received $900,000 from SBCSS to continue the work in launching a fully led district program of Teach Morongo that will include coaching, residencies, and mentorship. These funds are mainly intended to pay for staff to join Matt in the work of building the program. The positions are on the agenda for your approval tonight. We plan to use the funding over the next three years in order to create a sustainable and highly effective program for aspiring and new teachers in the Morongo Unified School District. So what will that look like? Next year, the program will expand beyond the resident teachers to include all of the coaching programs, including induction and pre-induction coaching. This will allow us to continue

041to coach teachers on emergency or intern credentials, pre-intern or pre-induction teachers. As you know, the Acceleration of Learning program that has supported PIPs, STSPs, and interns for the last three years has been funded by Educator Effectiveness funds that expire on June 30th of this year. With that funding expiring, it is imperative that we continue to support these teachers without that funding source. Data indicates that the AOL program participates had a 20% higher return rate to our district than our non-participants. Continuing and even improving on this program will be one of the goals of Teach Morongo. And with the funding from the county, we can do this without impacting the district's budget. The county funding will also help us to write and launch our own district induction program, which will be tailored to the unique needs

042of our students and allow us to recruit approximately $100,000 that we currently pay to external providers. Furthermore, dedicated coaches can intervene early and intensively when new teachers are struggling, providing modeling and co-teaching within the school day. In future years, Teach Morongo will also explore adding a district intern credential program, which has the potential of being a revenue-generating program for MUSD. Along with exceptional coaching, the program will also build new teacher training models that will align with district professional development to ensure that district professional development does not lose traction due to staff turnover. It will also provide comprehensive classroom management training, and other topics needed by all new teachers. Furthermore, we intend to develop substitute training and support to ensure more effective coverage when teachers are absent. Finally, Teach Morongo will continue to strengthen the collaboration

043with districts' education CTE pathways and student worker programs. We will find additional ways to support our high school students and our current classified staff who are interested in pursuing teaching in Morongo Unified School District in the future. And of course, our highly successful resident program is not going anywhere. We will continue to refine and expand the program with the goal of sustainable funding in the near future. Ultimately, Teach Morongo's goal is to create a critical mass of educators trained and coached by Morongo Unified, resulting in stronger alignment to students' needs and greater instructional coherence. Teach Morongo is on its way to being a sustainable district-run system for developing and supporting educators who stay, grow, and succeed here. With the funding provided by the county, we will be able to grow and strengthen our programs while

044creating fiscally responsible, cost-neutral, or revenue-generating systems over the next three years. We are so grateful to the county of San Bernardino for seeing the promise in this vision and committing to invest in our growth with such a substantial amount of money. Are there any questions on that program? Any questions from the board? I have just one. I'm curious about the 900... It won't stay on. Hold it down. Anyway, I'm curious about the 900,000 and how that came to be. So, it's called an SOS application to the San Bernardino County, and I wrote that application this spring, and we were allocated the funding. Can you explain to us what the induction program is? Because I hadn't heard about it until this came out . Sure. So any teacher, after they go through a credentialing program, they

045get their preliminary credential, and then during their first two years of teaching, they go through an induction program, which is additional training and coaching and support, and that's how they obtain their clear credential. So everyone's required to go through that. Every new teacher is required to go through that. Yes. And currently, we're paying- An outside source for our program ... for that induction program. Mm-hmm. And we want to do it in-house, correct? Yes. A lot of districts have written, built, and provide their own induction programs. Okay. And how is that different from the intern program? So for our PIPs, STSPs, and interns, anything that's pre-induction, those are our teachers that have not completed their preliminary credential yet, so they don't qualify for induction. But we know that those are our most fragile new teachers. They

046need the support of our veteran teachers the most, and so it's imperative to offer them coaching and induction and mentor support. They're not granted it during the induction program yet, so we offerDifferent type of coaching for them. And previously, we'd been offering acceleration of learning coaching for the last three years through educator effectiveness funding, and we want to be able to weave that into this new Teach Morongo program. And you said that that might be something that we could get revenue from? That would be if in the future, we're looking at building a district intern credential program, and that would be a revenue-generating source because it would be a program that the teachers would then acquire their credential through us, and therefore, we could ask them to pay tuition. Most district or county-run intern credential

047programs are still substantially cheaper than a private institution would be for the teacher. So for example, when we have your MATS program, instead of going to... I think we are partnering with Redlands and- And Cal State. So instead of registering with those universities, they could just register with our district? As an intern. Correct. They would still go through those programs. They would still continue to be our partners for the resident program. Got you. But for an intern, which is a different credentialing pathway, they would be able to come to us if we were able to write that program. Okay. Thank you. It's not working. So I heard you mention that you felt like it was going to be sustainable. Yes. So again, we're looking at reallocating dollars. Our first year, we'll be able to save,

048again, as we said, the $100,000 from that we're currently paying out in induction after we write that program. And then as we build in our intern credential program, looking at that revenue-generating fund. Also, we're looking at the data, again, as far as the retention that we're having from these teachers who are going through these programs at a 20% higher retention rate. We've already seen some savings in recruitment, onboarding, and signing bonus costs, and we expect that that will only grow in the next few years. My only concern would be that that's savings, but we have 900,000. After three years, the county doesn't want to give us the money, so the district's probably not going to have the funds. I don't know if we're going to have savings to cover the program. Well, so again, we

049are looking at the savings that we're incurring now. We do believe we'll be able to reallocate those back in and cover the costs at the same level of the county. And if we can't, we're already looking at some of the other funding sources that we can write to fill that gap, like the LCSSP. Okay. And so this is grant funding outside of our general fund. Correct. Okay. Thank you very much. Anything else? Thank you, Stacy. All right. Lastly, I just want to report on our recruitment fairs that we held recently. I'm happy to announce we had two very successful hiring fairs in April for MUSD. On April 6th and 7th, we held a classified recruitment fair focusing specifically on instructional assistants. We partnered with California School Collaborative-- Did that kill my mic? No, it didn't.

050Okay. Still alive. For a two-day event. So we had 45 participants, and out of those, 31 were recommended for hire. On 4/14, we had 21 attend our new employee orientation. Most of those came from the fair, and we had another orientation on 4/28. We will have another orientation on 4/28, and at least five more are scheduled. We're going to host another similar fair in late June or July in anticipation for hires for the '26-'27 school year. So far, that was very successful, and we'll see how it goes over the summer. And then for our teacher recruitment fair on April 11th, we had 57 participants, and we signed eight contracts for next school year, and we have 22 additional candidates recommended for hire for future openings. We also held a workshop on the pathways to teaching,

051and we had 12 participants in that workshop. So we were very excited about all of those recruitment fairs. We are very thankful for all of the teachers and staff who supported us in interviewing and helping us run those fairs, and we look forward to running more fairs in the future. Well, I'm definitely excited to see more support for the teachers in the IA piece, so that's great. Where did this fair take place? So the IA classified fair on the 6th and the 7th, we held that at the Joshua Tree Professional Development. It was a great venue for that fair. And then the certificate recruitment fair, we held in Yucca Valley High School's L wing, also a really nice facility for that. Okay. And then, so we had eight contracts offered to teachers. Do we have

052any accepted yet or how- Oh, all of those have accepted- They all accepted. And they've signed, and they're ready to come on board. And do we have any idea how many retiring teachers we have? I mean, is that enough to offset, or we have more- At this point in time, we only have two official openings for next school year. So we're plus six? No, we're even. Oh, we're even. We are two down. With these hires- We're down two ... we have two official openings. Oh, okay. Gotcha. Yeah. But again, we still may see a few people decide to retire. So it's good that we have those 22 that were recommended for hire that we can draw from. Great. Yeah. Any other questions? Great job. Thank you. It's great. Thank you so much. Thanks. Next up,

053we'll have an enrollment committee update. And I have no slides for you. Good evening, Board President Claire, Board of Education members, Superintendent Dr. Vargas, and cabinet members. My name is Carly Buchanan. I'm the principal at Wanaga Elementary School and vice chair of the Enrollment Subcommittee. The enrollment committee is composed of community representatives, parents, and MUSD staff and is chaired by Jennifer Cusack. The committee has been tasked with evaluating the district's current enrollmentEnrollment trends, particularly at the elementary level, in order to develop recommendations for the board related to declining enrollment, budget impacts, and the potential use of any surplus or underutilized properties. As part of this work, the committee conducted site visits to review site conditions and capacity and held several public meetings where we received financial and enrollment projection data and had opportunities to request

054additional information to support informed decision-making. At our most recent meeting on April 9th, the committee reviewed a range of potential scenarios from maintaining all current school sites to closing up to three sites. These scenarios included analysis of impacts such as boundary adjustments and capacity shifts at receiving schools. In addition to potential school closures, the committee also explored alternative school models, including K-8 academies and magnet programs. The committee developed a set of priority criteria to help evaluate sites and guided future recommendations. When the committee reconvenes on April 29th, members will review their individual analysis and begin working toward a consensus on recommended actions. Finally, the committee has welcomed public input during each meeting, and community feedback has played an important role in informing our discussions. We look forward to continuing this work and bringing forward recommendations

055to the board when the committee has reached a consensus. Thank you, and happy to answer any questions. Any questions from the board? As long as I don't touch the podium. I'm just going to make a recommendation that there's some sort of consensus by the June 9th board meeting, if possible. And then number two, that we don't just have one recommendation, that we have multiple options for the board to look at because I think it's really important. I don't think there's a one-size-fit-all solution to what we're trying to accomplish, so multiple recommendations would be strongly encouraged. And thank you for your service. I know it's not an easy position, so thank you. Thank you. Any other questions? Yes, I have a question. Yes, sir. Wow, easy. Anyhow, you had mentioned a lot of new things that

056you were discussing in your last meeting. That came, I think, from a questionnaire that was kind of broadcast through the... We did review results of a survey that was sent out to community members as one component of data that we are looking at. Then we also were looking at different scenarios of what would be the impacts of different sites closing, multiple sites, adjusting sites. Does that answer your question? Well, I just want to say that... Okay, am I on? I just want to say, I thought that questionnaire was very well done. I thought it went out there and got a lot of people, I don't know how many, interested in thinking about maybe other things that we could be doing in our district to increase our children's desire to go to school in our school

057district and those kind of things. So I thought that was great. Thank you, Pete. Thank you very much. Thank you. Next up, we will open the public hearing for Resolution 26-13 for interfund borrowing. Do we have any public comment? Nope. Any board comment? May I get a motion to close the public hearing for Resolution 26-13? So moved. Second. Moved by Pete, second by Roberta. All in favor? Aye. Aye. Any nays? Five, zero. Next up, public comment. Individuals may address the board on issues within the jurisdiction of 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

058public are expected to maintain a professional, courteous decorum during their comments. Inappropriate behavior 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 a specific agenda item will be deferred until consideration of the item on the agenda. So we do have the 20-minute rule, but we're going to be slightly over. So we'll go ahead and extend it a little bit past the 20 minutes. The one thing I do ask that if the individuals do try to respect the three-minute timeframe. With that being said, let's start with Katie Fleischmann. Good evening. My name is Katie Fleischmann, and I'm a parent of a student

059at Palm Vista Elementary. And I'm here tonight to share a little bit about my son, Evan, and why this school matters so deeply to our family. And I'm going to try not to cry. Sorry. Evan is autistic and is currently in an ESN, extensive support needs, classroom at Palm Vista. Like many parents, when Evan was getting ready for school, we hoped that he would be able to thrive in a general education classroom. We started him in TK in a general education setting, but it quickly became clear that he needed more specialized support to truly access learning and feel safe and successful at school. We made the intentional decision to place him at Palm Vista because of the supports offered there. The ESN program at his school has made a profound difference in Evan's life. Since

060being in that classroom, Evan has made incredible progress. He is communicating more, engaging with others, and developing skills that once felt so far away.He can. He has and can name several friends. He is learning, growing, and building confidence every single day. But what has made the biggest difference is the people. The staff at Palm Vista are extraordinary. His teacher and the support staff understand him. They know how to support him, how to help him regulate, and how to celebrate the small victories that mean everything for kids like Evan. For children with extensive support needs, routine and familiarity are not small things. They are essential. The environment, the classroom setup, the predictable routines, and the trusted adults in Evan's life that are what allow him to succeed. So when I hear that Palm Vista may close,

061my heart sinks, not just as a parent, but as someone who knows how fragile progress can be for children like my son. My question is this: If Palm Vista closes, where will these students go? But more importantly, is there going to be intentional placement of these kids? His classroom is full. Will my son be able to keep his friends he has worked so hard to make? For children like him, friendships don't come easily, and those connections mean everything. Do the other schools have the specialized classrooms designed for students with extensive support needs? Will they have the same sensory-friendly environments and structured supports and the trained staff that these students rely on every day? And will the relationships and routines that help him feel safe and successful be preserved? Moving schools for many students may be

062inconvenient. For students like Evan, it can be deeply disruptive. Palm Vista isn't just a school for our family. It's a place where my son is understood, supported, and able to thrive. I urge you to consider the impact this decision will have on students with the highest needs in our district. Their success depends on stability, specialized environments, and the dedicated educators who know them. Thank you for your time and listening to Evan's story. Thank you. Next up, Ruben Rodriguez. Hello, my name is Ruben Rodriguez. Thank you to the school board for allotting this time. I appreciate your dedication to the students of Morongo Unified. I'm sure none of you volunteered your time wanting to close schools. I'm sure you took the job hoping to build up this district and help make it better, and I propose

063we do that. Imagine a better Morongo Unified by considering Palm Vista, a school whose 60-year legacy has been put on the chopping block. A Purple Heart school, a platinum PBIS school. A school that went from being CSI to ATSI, to a school that has met its targets of support and improvement. It is a school that serves a diverse and vulnerable population. Palm Vista now has a PTO with over 60 members. It hosts over 20 school events, like Bingo for Books, Lunch on the Lawn, and the third annual Family Fun Day. It offers student clubs before and after school to engage students from multiple angles. This year, they began offering parenting and literacy classes for the parents because they asked for them. The school also began its free store this year. This offers clothing and hygiene

064products to the broader school community. Public education in Morongo Basin began 99 years ago in 29 Palms when San Bernardino County refused to build a school for the town, citing enrollment concerns. So the townspeople pooled their money together, built a schoolhouse, and hired a teacher, offering their children futures. In 1927, it was the people of 29 Palms that made it happen, and in 2026, it will again be the people of 29 Palms who get the job done. It's Dr. Onuma, her office staff, and leadership team, all of whom live in 29 Palms. It's the teachers from near and far who have bought into the positive changes that happen at Palm Vista, and it's the aides and support staff, again, many of them living in 29. All these people overextended, yet engaged. All this effort doesn't

065only create prospects for our students, it also creates funding. While enrollment is part of the funding equation, attendance drives dollars. Palm Vista leads the way with attendance recovery through Saturday school and club offerings. The adoption and implementation of Palm Vista's community school model can revitalize the funding of Morongo Unified that it's so afraid of losing. When you give students and families reasons to be at school, they'll show up. I'll end with one request. Continue to investigate ways to save money, but delay the final report until the enrollment committee has satiated all its inquiries. Do not adhere to the rush schedule. Or better yet, wait until the November election when the people of our five communities have had their votes counted. If a majority-appointed board decided to consolidate schools, the optics would be terrible. While volunteering

066is noble, representation still is essential. Thank you very much. Thank you. Chris Grabow. Board members and Dr. Rodriguez. So I'm here on behalf of my wife. I really have no dog in the fight. Hello, chip chip. I'm here on behalf of my wife and Palm Vista staff. I really have no dog in the fight other than I'm a community member. I went to Palm Vista. My wife has worked at Palm Vista, and closing Palm Vista is silly. There's three schools in 29 Palms. Moving those kids, you want to bring more attendance, make this classroom smaller That's what it is. You've got teachers that are so overworked, the classrooms are so big that they can't even handle the kids. The kids are out of control, and that's what happens when you overpack a class. Now you're

067going to take those kids from there and put them at another school, which is going to raise more people. It's not going to change the attendance. How is it going to change the attendance? By putting them in another school. Not just that, bring up the fact that we shut Joshua Tree Elementary School down here and built a new one. We're still running that school. Close that dang school down and demo it. You're keeping it open because you're getting funds from it. And that's the bottom line. I work on the base in construction management and in PETE, so I understand how sustainability works with infrastructure. And yes, they're saying, "Oh, Palm Vista's built on this tiny little fault line," and that you guys won't get any funding to expand the school. But what you're not understanding

068is, is we're not Friendly Hills, we're not these other schools. You've got how many schools in Yucca Valley? No schools should be closed. We should be making the classrooms smaller and expanding that way. When you make the classrooms smaller and you make it more enjoyable for the kids to be there, the kids are going to want to go to school. They don't want to go to school now. They really don't. I watch my wife working with the special ed kids, and some of them classrooms and her workload are so big that she comes home not even wanting to go to work. How do you make it so your teachers even want to come to work? That's all I have. Thank you. Thank you. Next, Anna Teegarden or Teegarden. Teegarden. I am Anna Teegarden. Can you

069hear me? Hi. My name is Anna Teegarden. I am a local community member, and my kids have been at Palm Vista for the last eight years. One's in middle school now. The changes I have seen at that school have been remarkable in that time. Also, it was mentioned earlier that what we choose to fund becomes the future, and that is so true. The other thing that was mentioned was that the school is built on a fault line, and that is accurately false. Using the publicly available data, I was easily able to make a map, and it showed where the fault lines are in response to the schools. And Palm Vista is nearly a half a mile away. I know because I work where that fault line is, and we actively build upon it. Oasis Elementary

070is only 68 feet away from the fault line. I have the map available if you guys would like it. It's all from the State of California data. It is what I do. I am a data analyst, which is why I'm not good at talking in front of people. But please reconsider closing Palm Vista, which has been a gem to these students that go there. That's all I have. Woo. Thank you. Next up, Stacy Smith. You're going to cry. All right. Let's go. I don't really need the microphone. My name is Stacy Smith. I teach 4-5 combo at Palm Vista. This is my fifth year, and I thought a lot about tonight and what I wanted to say, and out of respect for somebody that I deeply care about, I'm going to watch my mouth. I

071have always been too much. For as long as I can remember, I was too loud, too big, too this, too that. Just too much. And when we left Okinawa, this is where we came. And Palm Vista changed everything. I wasn't too big, too much anymore. I was celebrated for my energy, for my passion, for my desire for kids that everybody thinks don't matter because they live in a car or in a hotel room, that they don't deserve a school like everybody else. I was encouraged by someone who has lived in this town for more than 30 years, and her name is Susan Lundt. She was the first one, and the first thing she did was give me a hug and say thank you that I was there. I was hired for the 5-6 combo at

072the time. That had 35 students in it, 12 of which were special education. And I was told that nobody wanted to be in that room. Nobody. Desiree Jones, MTSS, gave me a little background, and I was hired for my experience. I had an interview where I was told that my experience at juvenile hall, working in a lockdown unit, my 20-plus years of working with students at risk, that that's where I needed to be. Thirty-five students, 5-6 combo, majority of them reading at least four years below grade level. And I worked my you-know-what off for two yearsCan I say a kid's name? Am I allowed to say a kid's name? Okay. We have many families at Palm Vista that have multiple children. And I'm going to just say the student's first initial is J. And I'll

073never forget him. He never came to school. I think I was there three months, and I hadn't even seen him. And then one day, in he comes. And I had a discussion with him about why aren't you coming to school? "I don't want to go to school." Okay. How can I get you to come to school? Can I just finish, please? And he says to me, just really quick, I'm sorry. He says to me, "Can I go to my kindergarten brother's recess?" And that is what got that kid to school every single day. We aren't too much, but we deserve to be there. Please reconsider. We should not be on the chopping block. And respectfully, none of you should be telling any other school that we're on the chopping block. That isn't about community, and

074that's not about trust. Thank you. Next up, Vadim Altshuler. Good evening, board of trustees. Good evening, Dr. Vargas. My name is Vadim, and I'm here because a lot of people in this community feel like they're being rushed towards a conclusion before they have been given the full truth. This is not just about the school closures. It's about process, trust, and what this district is asking this community to accept without full accounting. We're told the situation is inevitable, but inevitable is a strong word. It should be used only after every real alternative has been documented, presented, and honestly tested in public. That is not what it looked like. The reported current deficit is about $7 million, but when you separate out roughly $3 million already budgeted in the prior year for textbooks, the structural deficit that

075actually needs to be addressed is closer to $4 million. At the same time, the district reported central administration cost in 2024-25 is about $11.5 million. So yes, there is a fiscal pressure, but fiscal pressure is not a blank check for responsible governance. People notice when families are taught to brace for cuts, closures, and disruption while management receives one-time or scheduled compensation. According to the district's own AB 1200 disclosure, management received an additional 5% off-schedule bonus in 2024-25, costing more than $580,000. And that happened when the district was only about $17,000 above the state minimum reserve. So people are right to ask why the hard choices seem to arrive for families first. We also know the district hired a consulting firm to produce alternatives to closure, yet admitted it had no documented timeline for when those

076alternatives were supposed to be delivered, even though that phase was contemplated in the contract. If alternatives were never placed on a formal track, then closure stops looking like a true last resort. It starts looking like a path that was set in stone before the public was allowed to see the full range of options. Meanwhile, more than 850 people have signed a petition. I have signatures here if you'd like them. Have signed a petition calling for fiscal stabilization transparency, and that is not noise. That's public voice. This is the community saying, "Slow down, show your work, and stop asking us to confuse a decision with necessity." If closures are truly unavoidable, then prove it in the open. Show the stabilization plan. Fully explain management compensation. Document what alternatives were supposed to be presented. Show what have

077been cut, examined, frozen, or restructured at the top before dismantling schools in this community. Because public education is not just a balance sheet, it's a trust. Before you can close schools, tell the truth in full. Thank you so much. Thank you. Next up, Carolyn Rake. Good evening, board members. My name is Carolyn. I'm a parent of a kindergartner at Friendly Hills. I want to begin with a big thank you for the time and openness you have shown in meeting with us. A small group of parents had the opportunity to meet with some of the board members in small groups in roundtable discussions. We love our school board reps. We love you. Every time we left with goosebumps, feeling really heard, feeling seen. I know you can't respond now, but we are sending love and appreciation.

078We are humbled by your service. These conversations were incredibly valuable. They allowed us to ask questions, share research, and engage directly on important topics like the enrollment committee and potential for school closures and the district's approach to addressing deficit spending in the near future. Especially hearing now that a committee recommendation is due June 9th, as soon as June 9th. In those meetings, we shared information gathered from conversations with experts, including the CEO of FCMAT, which stands for Financial Crisis Management Assistance Team, and other district leaders, superintendents, and cabinets of other districts who have successfully reduced deficits without closing schools. Any schoolsWe also discussed specific financial reports resources such as SABRE, which stands for Salary and Benefit Related Expenses, and CADIE, C-A-D-I-E, Comparative Analysis of District Income Expenditures, that can help identify where a district may

079be overspending compared to similar districts and where adjustments can be made. I want to make this public tonight. There are clear, actionable steps available for the district to create a viable fiscal stabilization plan for MUSD that does not involve closing any schools. At this point, our district has not presented detailed financial modeling to demonstrate what school closures would actually save. Showing each item of savings line by line, along with other expected increased costs incurred with transport or structure improvement, and seeing where it nets out is crucial. Data. Our answers are in data. So our request, both to the board and for the benefit of the community hearing this, is that you formally ask your superintendent, cabinet, and financial leaders to provide that level of transparency. Specifically, we are asking the board to direct the administration

080to produce a comprehensive community-informed fiscal stabilization plan, one that includes clear data, uses tools like SABRE and CADIE to identify outliers, and fully explores all alternatives before any school closures are considered. School closures should only ever be a last resort. Thank you for your time. Thank you. Thank you. Next up, Tom Bumgard. Good evening. My name is Tom Bumgard. Dr. Vargas, esteemed board members, and wonderful cabinet members. It's my pleasure to speak with you briefly tonight for a total of 250 seconds. You have a tremendous community. You have a tough job. I sat in some of the chairs that you're in, and sometimes they're hot chairs, so it's tough. I want to take a moment and actually just thank a few of you for things that you've done to improve the quality of my life,

081but the quality of the community. Pete Wood was one great principal. One night, I caught him working at 3:00 in the morning. And Pete said, "Well, Tom, you said just get it done." And I said, "Pete, you got to go home and sleep." And he goes, "What the heck are you doing, Tom, at school at 3:00 in the morning?" So Pete would repair computers. He would help teachers. He did everything. So in the military, and I got to work with Colonel Mijak, Colonel Walker, more colonels than Colonel Sanders, and they didn't leave an impression on me. Well, the military definitely did a great thing for me by... Actually, my son has now been in the military for almost 15 years, and is a MARSOC Marine, and it's because of the influence of people like Jim

082Thompson, there was a teacher here, Danielle, are you here? I am. Danielle, what is... Mr. Benson? Benson. Mr. Benson was a Marine officer. Those people had incredible impacts, and my son would make me stop my car, get out of the car, and go to every white bus, and he saluted them when he was six years old. Now he's in the Marine Corps. So I wanted to give Pete a little present for all the things that he did. So I'll give it to him after because I've got only one minute and 14 seconds. I would also recognize Mrs. Smalling. Mrs. Smalling, I hired Mrs. Smalling. She sometimes probably wonders what she's doing in her job. So I have a book for her about Wonder Valley. It's about Wonder Valley and how it's developed as a community,

083but also how it compares to Los Angeles. And there's two differences between Los Angeles and Wonder Valley. But you'd have to read the book to know it. I'd also like to acknowledge Mrs. Woods. She's a tremendous educator. She did fantastic things. Many of those bell programs started about 2018, 2019, when Dr. Turner was here. She did a tremendous job. Dave Daniels, homegrown, along with Joyce Layton, who did amazing things. Joyce Layton never slept and got 8,000 computers out to all these students without any thanks, and she did it with heart. So those are people, and those are talents that you have. So community, trust them. They will work hard, they'll do what they can, and they'll do the best thing they can for you. Now, some of you are going to shake your head at

084me, and I understand that. And the last thing I wanted to do is say, you have a professional development center. I would like to recommend that you name it after some of these tremendous educators. Dr. Turner worked forever, never slept. Ron Palmer was a board president. I went to the hospital the night he died, and he said, "Tom, do what you can for the district. I may have protested against you during negotiations, but you care. And I ask everyone who cares to continue on." And the last person I'd like to recommend was two. Vaughn Wieland, who has written thousands of grants, well, not thousands, but thousands of dollars worth of grants. And Dr. Garrett Gorrell. Twenty-five years in this district, earned his PhD. You've got a professional development building down the street. Name it after

085one of these things, because at Twentynine Palms High, you have a place that's called Places We Will Go. At Yucca High, you have a hall of fame. Thank you. You should have an educator hall of fame. Okay, good night. Thank you very much. Thank you, and I'd like to give you a little prize. Next up is the adoption of the consent agenda. Do we have any items to pull for further discussion? I did have a couple. Okay, so I would like to pull item B13 about the STEAM lab teacher. I just had clarification. Also items D6, 7, and 8. So may I get a motion to approve the consent agenda, unless there's any other items? Okay. May I get approval to accept the consent agenda other than those four items? So moved. Second. Moved by

086Roberta, second by Pete. All in favor? Aye. Five, zero. Okay. This is more clarification than anything else. So on the new certificated job description for expanded learning STEAM lab teacher, I was just curious if we could get more clarification. We have STEAM labs all over. We've talked about making sure we have teachers in place, so I want to know if that addresses that need or I'm not sure who on the cabinet can answer that. I can go ahead and respond to your inquiry. So yes, you're absolutely right that we do have the STEAM labs at all of our schools, and this would be a way for us to begin to transition that support at the school sites. So these are positions that are co-funded, with ELOP, and so it is a split position. So they

087are providing direct support to teachers at the school site during the day for part of the day, but then they also provide support during the ELOP program. Okay. So it's going to be funded partially by general fund, partially by ELOP, like 50/50? It is not through general fund. It is through a grant. Through- The Student Support Professional Development grant. Yes. Okay. And then would we have enough to cover each? Are we looking to hire enough for each site, or what's our goal immediately? We are starting out, I believe it's five. So it would be where they are split between schools. And so the number of days at each school site would be just dependent on the number of students enrolled. So we're taking that into account. Okay. Anybody else have questions around that? No. Okay.

088The reason I pulled item D five, six... Or actually it was six, seven, and eight. My concern was there were some sites on here that were part of the discussion for a school closure. My question is, if we want to approve that without really knowing the future, or if we would want to pull those sites, and then after the determination is made, approve them. We're talking about a short window, but I would like to have the board make comment around that. I'm looking at number six right now, and I don't see any of those schools listed on this authorization to bid. I don't- Oh, no, yes, there is. I'm sorry. Palm Vista is one of the schools. Admin and library buildings. Do all three of them have... Junior high, high school, the other high in

089Agoura. So number seven. Number eight. Oh, that's the point to point. If I may? Yes, please. An option, President, would be to go ahead and bid or, I'm sorry, yeah, bid the project as is. We can have these items broken out on a separate line item, and when we come back to award, you can make the decision, at a later date if you like. So what's the cost, though, behind doing bids? Well, it's going to be negligible because it's just going to be an extra line item on your site. There'd be minimal to no impact as far as getting the additional quotes for the other schools. Okay. And then when we put the bid out, we can state that, it will be awarded either in whole or in part, and then we can approach it

090that way. Okay. Any questions around that? Bianca? No, I don't have any more questions about that. You know what? I don't see. Can I pull one more item? I did want to ask about the ELOP marquees with the same question. I don't want to put marquees in for schools that could potentially close, and we're just wasting ELOP dollars. So can we do the same thing where we have a bid process and then- Chris, you can't pull it. Huh? You can't pull it once we've already started discussing it. Okay. All right. May I get a motion to approve item D six, seven, and eight? So moved. Yeah, and B2. I was going to... And B2. All four. So moved. Moved by Bianca. Second. Second by Pete. All in favor? Aye. Okay. Thank you. Next up, action

091item. We're going to have a resolution, 26-14, which is Principal's Day, and Dr. Vargas will handle this piece. So we need a motion to accept. Whereas principals are educational missionaries, instructional leaders, assessment experts, adept communicators, budget analysts, facility managers, and special program administrators entrusted with our most valuable resource, our students. And whereas the dedication and determination of a principal sets the academic tone for their school as they work collaboratively with teachers to develop and maintain high curriculum standards and set performance goals and objectives. And whereas principals work tirelessly to maintain academic accountability, to ensure a safe and productive learning environment, and to encourage and facilitate teachers' and parents' efforts to make a positive difference in the lives of young people. And whereas each May 1st, as Principals' Day honors preschool, elementary, middle, and high school

092principals, and recognizes the importance of school leadership in ensuring that every child is highly educated, prepared for leadership and service, and empowered for success as a citizen in a global community. Now, therefore, it is resolved that the Morongo Unified School District values and thanks all of our principals and assistant principals throughout the district for their contributions in helping create a world-class model of public education that prepares our students to reach their full potential. And now, therefore, be it further resolved that Morongo Unified School District urges all Morongo Unified School District residents to express their gratitude to our principals and assistant principals on this Principals' Day, and recognize the critical role they perform for our students and schools each and every day. Do I hear a motion? I so move. I second. All in favor? Aye.

093Five, zero. Thank you. And thank you to all of our principals out there. Item B, provisional internship permit for Kimberly Lee. May I get a motion to approve the internship permit? So moved. Second. Moved by Roberta, second by Bianca. All in favor? Aye. Any nays? Five, zero. May I also get a motion to approve the confidential parent settlement, which is for student 1330893415? I move. Moved by Missy. Second. Second by Pete. All in favor? Aye. Any nays? Five, zero. May I also get a motion to approve Resolution 26-13 authorizing temporary borrowing funding for the interfund borrowing? Can I ask a question? You may. So, what kind of funds are we borrowing from, and how does that work? It can be from different funds. It depends on what it is that we're needing to pay and

094where the shortage is. That's a high-level explanation. If you want to go a bit more in detail, Faith can come up and answer more specifically. Is this just a general authorization? Yes. Okay. It's just a general authorization. It's not like- No ... we can't pay our electric bill, so we have to borrow from maintenance to- That could be a scenario. That's what the intent of the code is written for. Got you. And so allows us to be able to cover expenses in the absence of revenue under a certain amount. Okay, thank you. And it is an annual authorization too. We have to do this every year. Yes. Okay. Because then it allows us to continue that practice. So this will be for '26, '27 for next school year, because we already approved it for this

095school year. All right. Any other questions? May I get a motion? I move. Second. Moved by Pete, second by Bianca. All in favor? Aye. Any nays? Five, zero. Next up, may I get a motion for the Board of Education, we are requesting to approve the master agreement with the San Bernardino County Superintendent of Schools for inter-district attendance. May I get a motion? So moved. Second. Moved by Bianca, second by Roberta. All in favor? Aye. Any nays? Five, zero. Next up, we will need a motion for the action item of a declaration of need for the '26-'27 school year. Here resolved that these guidelines is recommended that the Board of Education authorize the submission of a declaration of need for fully qualified educators as a prerequisite to the issuance of any emergency permit for the MUSD,

096effective for the '26-'27 school year. So moved. Second. Moved by Roberta, second by Pete. All in favor? Aye. Any nays? Five, zero. Last item on the action, Resolution 26-17. It's the Board of Education request to adopt this resolution to approve the updated Federal Simplified Acquisition Threshold or Nutritional Services Procurement Procedures. So moved. Moved by Bianca. Second. Second by Missy. All in favor? Aye. Aye. Any nays? Five, zero. Items for review. Second review would be board policies 4119-24, 4219-24, and 3419-24. We also have the first read for board policy 0440, 4119-21, 4156.3. Board Policy 4219-21, 4256-3, 4319-21, 4356-3, 6141-2. We're also looking at a revision course outline, trigonometry. Do you have a question on that? So that's going to be an A to G requirement or where is that coming from exactly? The trigonometry course, the

097financial literacy course, and the Bridge to Success course, I wrote to you in the Friday letter for you to waive the first review and to just approve as I need to give it a Calpad code number to place it on the master schedule to schedule students in. The math teachers in this district have determined that they want a semester-long trigonometry class to precede the calculus class, especially if they're taking dual enrollment. And the financial literacy class will not be offered until '27, '28, so that would be okay if you did a second read on. And the other one is the Bridge to Success course, which the teachers coordinated from the high school and the junior highs, from the high school success to the middle school teachers that are going to be teaching middle school success.

098And the second semester of that for some sections will result in a dual enrollment college and personal success course at the middle school. Sounds great. On the trigonometry piece, we do have teachers that have a willingness to teach that, where it's not something we're going to have to post. Somebody can teach it. No, it's our regular math teachers. It's our regular- They wrote the class. Okay. Yes. So when it comes, someone doesn't have to chase them. No. Okay. No. Those all sound great to me. Are you guys good with approving this without a second review? Okay. Yeah. Very good. Informational items, accounts receivable, cash receipts, budget transfer, transaction report, quarterly investment report, and the William BCP report for the third quarter. Do we have any recommendations for future agenda items at this point? Roberta? It

099seems to me whenever we mention something for a future agenda item, it just kind of disappears into the- Ether. Yeah. So I'm making a suggestion that we start listing these future agenda items so that we can go back and review and see to them instead of them just going away somehow. So I don't know how we would do that, but I think it's a good idea because we lose track of it is what we're doing. So that's my suggestion. Marie, is that something that you could keep the board in check and make sure? So when Dr. Vargas and I meet next month, we can say that these are some of the items that were requested. I'm so sorry. I think it's important. That's totally reasonable. Yeah, it is important. Yes, this is okay. Now we're

100up to our district calendar. Board sitting will be April 28th, 2026. That'll be at the JT Professional Development. We do not have its time. Is there a time? Oh, we do have a time. It's 8:30. Okay. And we just recognized our school principals, so on May 1st will be our school principals day. Looking forward to that. And then this coming, we have our first joint meeting in a while with CMC Board of Trustees. That'll be May 5th. That'll also be at the JT Professional Development Center. Our next regular board meeting will be May 5th, 2026. And then this is one I'm including, which is the employee and retiree recognitions. That'll be May 27th, 2026 at 4:00 PM in the Whitney EHS gym. It's a great opportunity. Directing all the boards on that. It's a great

101opportunity to thank people that have put their entire careers in our district and give them a heart and soul recognition. So I would appreciate the attendance. Board study will be May 20th, 2026, which will be the superintendent evaluation, also at the Joshua Tree Professional Development Center. All right. That was a lot. Thanks for hanging in there, folks. Board comments. Let's start with Missy this evening. I just want to say thank you for everybody who showed up. We can't hear you. We can't hear you. Thank you. Is this all right? Thank you, everybody, who showed up tonight. We do understand your concerns. Thank you for showing. I wanted to also say that Amy Judes- No, it's still . Yes. Your presentation and the CTP is just amazing. I love it. Thank you very much. That's all

102for me tonight. Thank you. Pete? Well, I had a chance to wake everybody up out there. I had a couple... We can't hear you. Hold on. We can't hear you. It's not working? No. Okay. Hello? Hello? Can you hear me? No. Can you hear me? Hello. No? Okay, well. There you go. I had an opportunity to attend several drills out at Humber Elementary School, security drills. Very illuminating, and I think they learned a lot of things, and they're going to do some practice and get better at it. I did get a chance to meet with some parents the other dayFrom Friendly Hills, outstanding meeting. I enjoyed their presentation and I enjoyed the whole two hours. Didn't get a chance to visit the job fair. That was really well done. I think that was well done.

103Got a lot of things going on in the district with the cabinet. All these directors are out there busy, definitely. So I totally appreciate that. Schools, I know that we're getting down to the end. You're doing your testing. Keep it up, hang in there. Everything's going to be fine. Thank you, Pete. Bianca? I'll speak loudly with my theater voice. Thank you everybody for coming. I just want to say thank you to everybody at the district level who answered my questions when I had questions, going into these meetings with our elected officials. Everyone was so helpful in providing information and context so that I could best represent our interests and the interests of all schools in our state. Thank you so much for our teachers who make our children want to come to school. We appreciate

104you. Thank you to our principals who support their teachers and staff. I'm excited for the things that are coming down the pipeline. Cisco, very exciting. CTE, very exciting. It's the end of the year. There's a lot of stuff happening. I'm excited. It's like a flurry of excitement when we have kids talking about their prom coming up and how their school sports are doing. It's a vibrancy in this community. So, I look forward to seeing people at these events, and just thank you for all of your time, everyone who spoke. It's a hard thing to do. We all acknowledge it, and yeah, thank you so much. Thank you, Bianca. Roberta? Is mine working? It is. Yeah. Yay. First time tonight. I wanted to acknowledge the dual enrollment recognition that we got. That is another outstanding achievement

105for our district. Thank you for those of you who contributed to that happening. I appreciate the efforts of the MTA in continuing education and support of our teachers. Very much appreciate what you do for us. The Networking Academy of Cisco, you mentioned it, but what an honor. I'm overwhelmed, really. I'm overwhelmed with the amount of good things happening in our district. Teach Morongo. Again, it's like we're doing so many great things. It's very heartwarming to me. And for the STEAM lab teacher. So I've been clamoring about this, you know I have been, and it's such a needed position. Thank you for opening that up and getting that for us. It's been a board directive, and appreciate the response we got to it. And again, thank you all for being here. I appreciated the meetings with

106our Friendly Hills parents. It was very enlightening to me, and it was appreciated, and I appreciate all of you being here tonight. Thank you. Can you hear me? Yeah. Yeah. Great. Thank you. They stole my thunder, but I did want to congratulate Amy, not only for CTE, but the dual enrollment. To get that, what did we say? 2% of schools? 2.1. 2.1 to be precise, receive that honor, incredible job. You guys can see Amy's the best speaker of all of us. She's got this passion, and it's contagious. You feel like it's just wonderful. So well done to Amy. Congratulations to... or thank you actually to Dr. Vargas, Troy, and Amy for the Cisco. And I'm really excited. Adam, if you don't know Adam, meet him. He's a very smart guy, and he's the right guy

107to take the lead on this. An opportunity for kids with high school diplomas to be able to make 50, 60, or $100,000 out of our community, that's just mind-blowing to me. So, well done. That is really, really fantastic. Three student reps, I believe it was Eden, Taylor, and was it Julius, I believe? Very well-spoken, not even nervous. It was really, really well done, so I appreciate them always. And I do want to recognize the 29 graduates from Black Rock High School already this year. Twenty-nine students that probably wouldn't be walking with us in June. So fantastic job to Jennifer and her entire staff, and to the children. They have to do the work ultimately. So with that, we are going to adjourn for a second time to a closed session. Awesome.