001Call this meeting to order at 6:00 PM. We'll start with the Pledge of Allegiance. Oh, yay. Let's stand. Pledges are for the (clears throat) Janet, wait. Janet Barth has been working for the Morongo Unified School District for 32 years in a role at the district of nutritional services for more than a decade. Janet has been serving the community from cube calendars to more than one million meals a year- Wow. ... each and every month of the year, rain, snow or shine. For these reasons and many more, she has been awarded the California Nutritional Services Director of the Year. (applauds) We thank her for her dedication to the district and to our students and are thankful for her every single day. Thank you, Janet. (applauds) . I'd like everyone to stand for the Pledge of Allegiance.
002Please place your right, right hand over your heart. 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. Congratulations. You're welcome. Thank you so much. Thank you. Oh, thank you. Yeah, it's very good. Yeah, congratulations. It's, uh, wonderful. Thank you so very much. so proud of her. Thank you so very much. You're first. One, two, three, and one, two, three. Thank you. Everyone look at me. Three, two, one. Cheese. Perfect. Thank you again. (applauds) Testing, testing, one, two. May I get a motion to adopt this evening's agenda? I so move. Second. Moved by Pete, second by Bianca. All in favor? Aye. Aye. Any nays? 5-0. Next up, may I get a motion to adopt
003the minutes for the October 14th, 2025 regular meeting? So moved. I second. Is that Missy? Yeah. Okay. Second by Roberta. All in favor? Aye. Aye. Any nays? 5-0. Next up, uh, November 4th, 2025, I need a motion to approve the minutes for that board study. So moved. Second. Moved by Roberta, second by Pete. All in favor? Aye. Any nays? 5-0. Next up, the joint meeting with Copper Mountain College on November 13th, 2025. I need a motion to approve the minutes. So moved. Second. Moved by Bianca, second by Roberta. All in favor? Aye. Aye. Any nays? 5-0. Actions resulting from closed session. Be it resolved that the Board of Education accept the resignation agreement and general release between MUSD and employee 4115, passed and adopted this 18th day of November 2025 in the County of San
004Bernardino, California. The vote was 5-0. Next up, be it resolved that the Board of Education accept stipulation agreement for immediate expulsion of student 25-009, passed and adopted this 18th day of November 2025 in the County of San Bernardino, California. The vote was 5-0. Okay, the fun part of the meeting. We have some recognitions. So President Claire, members of the board, I mean, I'm happy to report that, uh, we, uh, uh, the school district applied and submitted an application for the Golden Bell Award for the 2025 school year, '24/'25. And we were awarded another Golden Bell, uh, for the program that we have, the Flying Doctors. Uh, uh, and we were given, uh, this honor once again. We're really proud. I know Amy is super thrilled and in for, for this, uh, award that we're getting.
005Uh, we got the validation and next week when we go to the conference, we'll be receiving the Golden Bell. So congratulations to- (applauds) Good afternoon. Good evening, sorry. Good evening, uh, President Claire and Superintendent Dr. Vargas, board members. I have a few recognitions that we're going to do tonight. Um, at fir- first I would like to introduce Jeanine Duff, uh, who serves with the Morongo Basin Healthcare District as the Director of Strategic Initiatives. She is here tonight with a recognition and a thank you for our culinary CTE students. Jeanine? (applause) Good evening Board members, Superintendent, Superintendent staff, and community partners. My name is Jeanine Duff and I serve at the Morongo Basin Healthcare District. I am here tonight alongside my colleague, Community Programs Liaison Diana Anderson, with a heart full of gratitude and a simple
006message: Thank you. At our recent Fall Health Fair, held in partnership with the City of Twentynine Palms, we had the privilege of working alongside many dedicated community members. But one group in particular left a lasting impressions, the students of the Morongo Unified School District Career Technical Education Culinary Arts Program, led by Ms. Kaitlin Gelness. These students didn't just cater a meal; they elevated the entire experience of our vendors and our volunteers. Their professionalism, creativity, and attention to detail were evident in every bite and every beautiful arranged tray. The feedback from immediate, was immediate and enthusiastic. One vendor said, "Lunch was great!" Another wrote, "Thank you for the gluten-free food options." And perhaps my favorite, "The culinary art tech group did an awesome job with food that was yummy, and the display was beautiful." These aren't
007just compliments. They're reflections of the pride and skill your students bring to their work. They showed up early, stayed engaged, and served with grace. In doing so they represented Morongo Unified with excellence, and gave our community a glimpse of what's possible when education meets real world opportunity. So tonight, Diana and I are honored to publicly thank Ms. Gelness and her students, not only for feeding us, but for inspiring us. Programs like list this just don't teach culinary skil- skills, they cultivate confidence, teamwork, and a sense of purpose. So, and now, we would lo- with your permission, we'd like to recognize each of these outstanding students with a certificate of appreciation. As I call your name, please come forward. Michael Acosta? (applause) Kaitlin Aldheim? (applause) Samantha Stephens? (applause) She was not sure she would make it
008tonight. Colin McGorty-Weir? (applause) He couldn't make it either, but we have his certificate. Um, Azaria McKinnon? (applause) And Giselle Villa Lavosa? (applause) And of course, we'd also like to recognize and thank Ms. Kaitlin Gelness, whose leadership and mentorship made this program possible. Please continue to invest in them. They are not only preparing meals, they are preparing for life. Thank you very much. (applause) Can we get a picture with all of them? Can you guys switch so that we can have a little bit more room? Please? All right. All set? One, two, three. One, two, three. Thank you. Wait, in here. Oh! Sorry. (laughs) Okay, my turn. Three, two, one. (camera clicks) Okay, nobody move, moms and dads. (laughs) Thank you. (cheers) Thank you. (applause) One, two, three. Thank you. (applause) On November 5th, Doug Walters,
009at Twentynine Junior, and Kenneth Weiss, from La Contenta, met eight students at 2:30 in the morning to drive them to the Ontario Airport, to fly with them to San Francisco and back again, the same day. (laughs) ... so they could participate in an incredible trip opportunity. Our students toured the Cisco Meraki headquarters to experience what it is like to work in a top-tier tech environment. They learned, among many other things, about earning technology certifications to enter incredible careers in this growing and lucrative field. This trip proved to be a transformative experience for them, and offered a unique glimpse into the future of tech and the possible career pathways that could lie ahead. None of this would have been possible without the dedication and commitment to our students that was shown by Mr. Walters and Mr.
010Weiss. I would like to publicly recognize the above and beyond effort these teachers made for the benefit of our students having a once in a lifetime experience. They truly are going the extra mile, and they are GEMS. Doug Walters. (applause) Could we have a picture with the board? How early is it? 2:30- Hope you left ... AM. Yeah, we were up before then. Thank you so much. Ready? One- one, two, three. One, two, three. Thank you. Thank you guys so very much. Thank you. Thank you so much. (applause) Good evening President Claire, board members, Dr. Vargas, and attendees. I have the distinct pleasure of honoring our second group of recipients for the GEM awards, which, as you heard Ms. Woods say, it stands for Going the Extra Mile. So tonight, I want to take a
011moment to recognize a very special group of educators, our Standards Academy Trainer of Trainers, who made their grand debut on October 13th during our district-wide PD day. These teachers stepped forward with confidence, with vision, instructional vision, and commitment. They agreed not only to be trained themselves, but to then turn around and train their colleagues across the district. I would like to, at this point, invite them to come up and stand next to me. As part of the Standards Academy- (applause) As part of our Standards Academy, our teachers engaged deeply with key components of high-quality lesson design. The training centered on understanding the rigor of the Common Core State Standards, accurately identifying depth of knowledge required by each standard, and designing instruction that aligns to that cognitive demand. To help illustrate the scope and the intentional
012planning behind the Standards Academy, I'd like to walk you through our timeline. This shows how we as a district prepared our Trainer of Trainers, how we structured the professional learning across our district, and how we supported our teachers before, during, and after the training. If you see on the screen, our sites identified one representative per school site back on August the 15th. Those individuals, a total of 12, because we did have one site with two representatives, those 12 individuals, and this is at the elementary level, received training on August 28th and October 2nd. They received training on the content, they practiced so that they would be ready to deliver on October the 13th in front of their colleagues. And that is what they did in step three. After October 13th, each site was, um, they
013received two follow-up days so that it was not a one-and-done, so that each site could receive more of an individualized support plan based on where they were with this work. Um, coming up upon our return from Thanksgiving break, our Trainer of Trainers will go into round two of training. They are training on December 1st and again on December 18th, because they do this all over again on January the 5th for our second, um, non-student day, which is a district-wide professional development day. Following the January training, every site gets another two days of follow-up support.In addition to our teachers receiving the training, and our trainers of course receiving the content, our principals also received, uh, this work ahead of time. Before the district-wide PD day, we made sure that the site leaders had access to the
014content, so they could provide support accordingly. So on October the 9th- uh, the night they came together, and we had an opportunity to review instructional expectations with them. They had an opportunity to- to ask clarifying questions, and to get ready to assist if needed, um, at the sites that they were providing support for on the training day. (paper rustles) So as I mentioned earlier, our next round of district-wide professional development will take place on January 5th, and our trainers will be coming together again soon to receive the next phase of training, and prepare for that day. We are deeply grateful for their commitment, and we felt that it was important to recognize publicly- uh, to recognize them publicly, uh, tonight at this event. But before we move forward, we have the privilege of hearing directly
015from one of our trainer of trainers. She will share very briefly with you her perspective on the process, and its impact. Please help me welcome Mrs. Heather Posselt from Friendly Hills Elementary School. (applause) (clears throat) Good evening. (clears throat) Uh, my name is Heather Posselt, and I had the privilege of serving as a TOT trainer. This experience has been incredibly meaningful to me, and I'm excited to share that with you. As we explored unpacking standards, depth of knowledge, and clear learning intentions and success criteria, I kept seeing moments where things clicked for our teachers, the thoughtful questions, the strong discussions, and the excitement about applying something powerful to their teaching right away. I could see a positive shift happening, teachers leaning in and wanting to bring clarity and purpose to their lessons. It reminded me
016how deeply our teachers care about doing what's best for their students, and how powerful it is when we all share the same message and move forward together. Personally, this opportunity helped me grow as both a teacher and a leader. Preparing to present, guiding discussions, and supporting my colleagues stretched me in ways I appreciated, and helped me reflect deeply on my own practice. It reminded me of why I love teaching, and showed me how I could contribute to helping others grow as well. It helped me see myself not just as a classroom teacher, but as someone who can help lead and lift others. Working alongside passionate like-minded colleagues was energizing, and honestly, one of the highlights of my year so far. I'm eagerly looking forward to our second round, and I'm especially grateful to Christopher Tom.
017He has been by far the best deliverer and coach of professional development I've ever had the privilege to learn from, and his guidance made this experience truly exceptional. I'm thankful to the district for investing in us, for trusting us with this responsibility, and giving us the chance to grow. This experience has inspired me to pursue opportunities to develop and deliver professional learning in the future. I hope we can continue to share, support, and help shape the professional learning in our district together. Thank you. (applause) Thank you, Mrs. Posselt. So now, it is my honor to recognize the following individuals. I believe that I have everyone that is here, um, ready to go. So starting with Friendly Hills, we have Ms. Heather Posselt. (applause) From Joshua Tree, Clarice Potyet. (applause) Christina Turk from Landers Elementary. (applause)
018Amanda Cruz from Oasis Elementary. (applause) Laura Bush from Onaga. (applause) We have Bonnie Rollins from Twentynine Palms. (applause) Corey Ressler from Yucca Mesa. (applause) And Julie Johnson from Yucca Valley. (applause) Let's give them another round of applause, and board members, if I can have you make your way down for a picture once again. (applause) Thank you. (background chatter) Thank you. Thank you. This is so wonderful. Thank you so Nice to see you. Thank you so much. Thank you. (laughs) Okay. Can everyone step up? Absolutely. Thank you. (laughs) All right, ready? One, two, three, and one, two, three. Thank you. Everyone with me? One, two, three. Thank you. (applause) Hey. (laughs) Congratulations. Thank you. (footsteps thudding) If you didn't get a picture with the board, we will join at the end of the meeting and have
019a picture with us. (laughs) You want to be included. With that, I love having the student reps who are from Yucca Valley High School. (applause) Good evening, board. My name is Taylor Suarez. I am the ASB Secretary at Yucca Valley High School. And this evening, I'd like to give you a run-through of all the events that we hosted this past month and the events that we are planning. Starting off with our freshman class, they've been doing an amazing job at their school announcements and, um, finishing the monthly school calendar. They've also hosted bake sales and face painting at the home football games, which was a success. They made a lot of money from that. They also plan on doing some upcoming fundraisers, such as pie-a-teacher or a principal at, um, on Friday during both lunches.
020And they are planning on, or, well, they're hopeful to start doing a weekly Friday morning hot cocoa sale. And then with our sophomore class, they also hosted fundraisers at the football games. They did bake sales and they sold heart-shaped glasses. And they're planning on hosting a Sadie Hawkins Dance on January 24th and a Spring Fling on March 14th. They've also been collaborating with the junior class on hosting a Powder Puff and a Buff Puff. And our junior class is fundraising right now for prom, which will be hosted on May 16th, 2026 at the Riviera. They've hosted fundraisers like selling Halloween grams and making themed drinks at football games. They are also planning fundraisers at Elks Lodge. Um, that's an upcoming fundraiser likely to happen next school year. We have our senior class, which is fundraising
021for their senior excursions and grad night. They successfully hosted homecoming and they have a movie night on our Yucca Valley High School football field on December 12th that is going to be open for the public. We also have, um, other clubs and activities. We have the New Life Club, which meets on Wednesdays during lunch. The French club, band club, art club and D&D club, they all meet after school. We've really been prioritizing getting more clubs on our campus in order to, um, have students feel more engaged and just overall upping the spirit at our school. We also had girls basketball who had their first preseason game yesterday. And boys basketball is having their first preseason game today. We had, um, football finished their season last week. They made it all the way to the quarterfinals.
022And we had soccer season, which has just started up. And we also had wrestling, which has just recently started and they just completed a couple of tournaments and they plan on doing more tournaments following. And then we also hosted a PBIS assembly last Friday which rewarded students with four or fewer tardies and good grades and they provided free time and fun games to play during our eighth period. And we also had a Unified Champions Assembly which was a collaboration between our special education leadership students and our football players. And they played a game of football together to get everybody hyped for our football game on Friday. And that is it. Thank you. And are there any questions or comments? No? Thank you very much, Ms. Suarez, for your thorough breakdown of the Yucca Valley High
023School. I appreciate that. And you're more than welcome to leave the meeting if you'd like. Thank you. Thank you so much. Have a great night. (applause) All right, next up will be our certificated representative. Oh, I'm sorry. Usually she doesn't have a report. So Bianca, do you have a legislative report? No report today. (laughs) Read her mind. Read her mind. (laughs) All right, so now we'll go to Jennifer. Welcome. Thank you. Good evening. So this evening, I have three requests and some positive news to report. First, bargaining will continue on December 16th. Our members are asking for shared decision making, working conditions and salary and benefits compensation that will recruit and more importantly retain highly qualified teachers because we believe that our tea- our students deserve the best. Um, MTA would like to request a
024flowchart of the responsibilities and responsible parties from instructional services. There's been some confusion regarding who should be contacted about certain programs and we just want to ensure that we're going to the right person, um, to make everyone's lives easier. Finally, MTA has created a listening team, um, regarding the possibility of the school closures. It consists of our president, Amber, myself as the board rep, uh, one teacher from each of the four named schools and three additional teachers from unaffected sites.And our goal is to attend all public meetings and listen, and report back to our constituency. Um, we're not there to cause problems or anything, or even talk. We're just there to listen and learn and discuss and report. We want to be able to support our teachers who will be affected by any decisions that
025the board makes. That being said, we request to be kept informed of the dates and times of the community meetings as soon as possible so that we can assure our attendance. Um, if you could let Amber and myself, as the board rep, know, we will make sure that we pass on the schedules and have as many people there to listen as we can. And then, for some positive things. So, MTA, to improve the impa- i- improve and impact the live- lives of our students, has made a $6,000 donation of diapers to distribute with the ELOP food boxes this Saturday, uh, November 22nd, to our families in the community that can use them. We have also made $1,000 donations to support student food drives at the following school sites: Twentynine Palms High School, Friendly Hills Elementary
026School, Oasis Elementary School, Morongo Valley Elementary School, Yucca Valley High School, La Contenda Middle School, Twentynine Palms Junior High, and Black Rock High School. We are proud to have contributed $14,000 to support and benefit our students and their families in the community that we serve- (claps) ... because we believe our students deserve better. Thank you. Next up, Lorraine, Marine Corps. No report tonight. Thank you, Mr. Chair. Thank you, Lorraine. Okay. That brings us to the reports by the superintendent and staff members. Okay. We're gonna start with, uh, Amy Woods, uh, CESA superintendent of secondary education, uh, providing a report on college and career. Board President Claire, Superintendent Dr. Vargas, and board members- Ahem. ... thank you for allotting time tonight for our new college and career advisors to present you with an update on their
027important work with our high school students. This year, we have an advisor at each of our comprehensive high schools. The College Readiness Advisors play a crucial role in guiding students through the college admissions journey, ensuring they meet all requirements to transition successfully into higher education. This includes assisting seniors with the preparation and submission of essential college entrance documents, while providing personalized support to students and families throughout the admissions and financial aid process. By providing comprehensive guidance and resources, the College Readiness Advisors empower students with the tools, confidence, and knowledge needed to successfully navigate the college admissions process, secure financial aid, and pursue their dreams. Some people cannot retire. (laughs) I will now turn the mic over to Mrs. Jolie Kelley and Mrs. Donna Weller to provide you with this update. (claps) Thank you. Thank you.
028Sorry. Yeah. Um, I'm Jolie Kelley. I am servicing the west end of our district. And Donna Weller. Um, the east end. And, uh, yeah, Amy just, uh, Ms. Woods, reminds us daily that we're not good learners. So... (laughs) We are not her role models. (laughs) But we enjoy it. You're welcome. So, um, we wanted to talk a little bit about the inception of the program and what we're doing now. So, from August to September, uh, we started a grassroots, uh, uh, campaign, I guess, or a foundation for us to start working with students at the high school. Um, as retired teachers, we have the knowledge and, um, information that some students might be needing. So, we developed a survey for students to find out what their needs are, um, and started meeting with them individually.
029So, working with the high schools, we tried to focus on what was already in place. And those things were, um, uh, back to school nights, um, student engagement, um, um, uh, with scheduling, and things that are- were already existing. So, we tried to find a way to incorporate what we could do to get to know them better. Um, family registration events, um, meetings and workshops. Um, we also tried to collaborate with universities. We did, uh, some training at some workshops, um, off-site, where we would learn more about what we need to know. So, in doing that, we collected some data that we're using now, and tried to form some, um, some, uh, uh, groundwork, uh, uh, places where we could start. So, I think the most important thing early on was to gain, um, uh,
030some confidence in our, in our roles- (coughs) ... and learn about what we needed to share. Um, also, to get to know the students. So, starting with the seniors, uh, of course, first, uh, we did find that, uh, most of them were, you know, very open to assistance and working with the team as we, um, as we set up some of our own goals. And that leads us into October and November. We've been extremely busy meeting with students. I personally have met with 184 seniors one-on-one to discuss their goals, what they mentioned on their survey, which by the way, frequently changed in just six weeks- (laughs) ... from, "Well, I was going here. Now, I'm doing this." (coughs) ... and the same thing was going on with, uh, 29 High. Uh, Ms. Weller has met
031with 142 students. So when you look at that, that pretty much explains our- a lot of our time. But it's what we're doing when we're meeting with them. We are meeting with all seniors. This means it's not just the four-year bound students. We are also meeting with those that are going to go into the community college realm, or they're going into trade school, or they're going into the workforce and they've indicated, "Hey, can you help me do a resume?" And I tell them, "Later on, like in May. We'll see you then." You know? And so we're setting up some plans throughout the whole year to meet with these students and to check back with them. But overall, it's that personal connection and learning their stories, because we're finding that some students have very, um, well-informed,
032uh, support systems and they don't really need to spend any time with me. We met for a few minutes, maybe we talked about some scholarships, and they filed their applications on their own. On the other hand, I have students, and so does Ms. Weller, that are meeting with us every week at least once and they're going step, by step, by step, because they don't know how to access any of the systems. So that was our primary activities between October and November, and we're only halfway through. (laughs) We- the next two weeks, um, the UC and Cal State applications are due, so we're also working over Thanksgiving week to meet with students. So we- we put together some, uh, survey results based on our data. Uh, we're lucky- Initial data. Yeah, initial data. It changes. (laughs)
033We tried, um, to form our, um, our data based on, uh, the California Colleges app, which we're encouraging students and parents to use. Super helpful. Uh, the kids... Uh, it's linked to their, um, uh, Clever account, so it's something that they can use and, uh, it- it's a great resource and tool. So some of our meetings have been just to, um, identify for them what that program is and how it can help them. Um, so 29 Palms, the survey does show that we do have a mix of trade school, two-year, four-year, um, some undecided, some military of course, uh, and then, uh, junior colleges. So we're trying to work with, of course, the two-year and four-year students first, and then working with the other students. Of course, um, trying to, uh, uh, give the- the
034students the information they need based on what they're- what they're choosing. And again, some students have chosen two and three different majors, uh, or, uh, uh, school choices and that's fine. We're trying to encourage them to, um, have a plan A, maybe a plan B, and, uh, get- and have some choices for them. And looking at the initial data from Yucca Valley High School, again, that we took this at the very beginning of the year, one of the things we learned is that we were just looking for initial conversation data, like, "What should I ask you?" You know, "Oh, you've indicated a four-year plan." We weren't really looking ahead at some data points. And since then, we have noticed we have to collect a little bit different data. For examples, um, on- for 29 Palms
035High School, some of the students selected multiple interests. But on my data, I had also been updating it based on what they indicated their primary was. So you'll see a little bit of a skew sometimes on the data. So we're gonna be cleaning the data up, and by the end of the year, we should have some really good numbers, uh, for you on that. You'll see, if you look at two-year and four-year, for both schools, they're about the same. So we do have... If you add them together, anyway. So the- this is what we're working with right now, or at the beginning of the year. So based on the survey results at 29 Palms High School, the top five choices, uh, that students are interested in, um, medical, uh, assistant support, um, nursing, carpentry, construction,
036culinary, and first responder. So, um, of course, some chose two and three different fields, but, uh, some were pretty confident about, uh, their choices, uh, based on the survey. So we're going to, uh, uh, of course work with those students to make sure that their majors are- are- is- a place- a college where their major is, um, uh, afforded for them. And then also give them information about what they need to know. So it does also, uh, correlate with some of the programs offered at the site, so that's really cool. Oh, sorry. As you can see, the, uh, Yucca Valley High School data was about the same for the trades. This is not, uh, based on college majors, like four-year university majors. This was focusing on our trade school or community college students. So the
037next slide is by the numbers, and some of them have already changed. Uh, we have surfaced a little bit over the 306 at this point. We did do 43 (laughs) classroom presentations so far. And as soon as we get back from Thanksgiving, we're going into all the 11th grade classrooms and start working with them, uh, getting some data from them, and start scheduling personal one-on-one meetings with them either in December or January. We, uh, uh, ha- okay, about 50, uh, FAFSA and CADAA applicants, we got data today that we have now, uh, 62 students have already worked on their FAFSA. So we're- we're seeing those numbers creep up. And I... This is mostly for Yucca Valley High School, there's a-... Cal Kids Scholarship. In 20- wait a minute, 2022, they gave, uh, f- the state
038of California gave $500 to pretty much every California born student. But the kids didn't know to claim it, we didn't know about it. We learned it at one of our trainings. So one of our goals has been to at least mention it to every student. But in my case, I just started taking the last few minutes of every meeting, all 184 of them, and, "Hey, were you born in California?" If the answer was yes, we checked up eligibility. And at 29, or at high, Donna's been doing the same, but we just did collected our data different. So I can tell you that at, at Yucca, we've earned over $48,000 for scholarships and... Sorry, I get a little bit. (laughing) When I went into the high school success classes as part of those class presentations, I
039had the kids pull out the laptops. That's not including the freshmen that were yelling, "Hey, I got 500." Uh, same with the junior meetings. So we're gonna see these numbers go high and just really happy to see kids learn that they've earned some money. So, those are our current numbers. Sorry, two things at once, Ms. Woods. That's crazy, happens to be clicking. Okay. The dare to compare, uh, as Ms. Waller mentioned, uh, the California Colleges App is fairly new. People are getting used to using it. But we do have the data from last year, and you'll see that Cal State University, under 10 students went through the Cal Colleges App to apply. So far, when we published this, it was 28 students. So we've already seen a dramatic increase in the Cal State applications, and
040that number is actually up to 29 today. The UC California, you can see already have more students going in to the, um, through California Colleges. So that's been a big thing for us, is to get the students to use it regularly, launch your applications through it so we know. It's a great way to help them. We can also see which schools are they choosing? Which ones... Uh, 'cause that way later on, maybe next year, we can get more information from those schools that seem to be most popular. So these numbers are getting a little bit better and we're, we're just very happy with the data. Um, additionally, just for clarification, the CCC Apply for the community schools, uh, those students for this year are our dual enrollment students. Those are not the new applications that
041will have to be launching in spring for students who are gonna go there full time. Those would be for our dual enrollment and concurrent students. That's why it's, like, 40 students less. Let's see. Um... Go ahead, yeah. So, again, the, the, the goal of our assistance would be to, uh, work with the students one-on-one and have that inter- um, interaction with the students. And it seems to be going very well. So, our goal now is to work more with our four-year applicants, uh, FAFSAs, deadlines that are coming up, and then work with the 11th grade students as well. Um, I think too that part of our goal is to, um, find out what works for everyone and also work with the counselors on site. Um, it's a network of- a team effort, for the most
042part, um, at each site. And so that's been very productive as well. Through the months of December and January, we actually realized recently that students that are doing the Common App, their deadlines aren't until often January 15th. So where we thought December would be an immediate shift to 11th grade, we have recently found out that is not accurate, because if you're applying to Stanford, USC and there- those types of schools, we're gonna be helping those students with their Common Apps also in December. But we are gonna be moving towards working with students going to trade schools and finding them. In fact, I already talked to Janine Duff, who was up here earlier. She's gonna come speak to our students to help us with, um, some dental, um, schools and placements. So we're networking all the
043time if we find someone with a s- a n- the know end. Uh, we'll also be working with students in small groups, we'll work on scholarships and continue with those 11th grade meetings. And then again at the end of the year, uh, focus on CMC, the RISE program and getting students who are interested in that program, uh, enrolled. And then, uh, meeting with students in the sixth grade to the 10th grade so, our goal is to, uh, actually visit the junior highs and, uh, do some presentations and, and see what they're interested in early and get them thinking about their future. Um, I think too, with the 12th grade transition, trying to, um, see that what we've done and what we've helped them with actually worked, and do they have any other needs or questions
044and things like that. So, I think for now, um, you know, being former English teachers, we can also help with their essays and, uh, things that they need to do to get them in to, uh, get their applications done on, on time. And I think lastly, we wanna emphasize that we are getting so much positive feedback from classroom teachers, site- the sites, the principals, the counselors, uh... Students. Students. Everyone is so very helpful. That it's made it so much easier to be able to navigate through all the ins and outs of what individual schools need, and what students need, and what parents need 'cause we're meeting with them also. And we're just very happy to have these jobs. We're enjoying it quite a bit. And with that, we'd like to thank you for having us
045and answer any questions if you have any. Hi there. Hi. (laughs) Um, uh, tell me more about these apps, the, the Common App and the California Colleges. What, what are those? Sure. Um, well, I'll start with californiacolleges.edu. Uh-huh. Which is like a clearing house. So students can go in there and they can take interest profiles, they can search careers, they can search colleges, but they are also a place where they can launch their FAFSA for financial aid, and launch their applications. So they can go into all the California community college apps. They can go into the UC apps, Cal State, and link to the Common App. So we're trying to get the students and the families to go in through there, 'cause then it, it helps us. For example, if they launch through the FAFSA,
046I have one student that his has a lot of troubles, and it's not being approved. But because he went in through Cal Colleges, it popped on a different screen for me, and I have already met with his mom once, and we're gonna be doing it by hand because it won't take the data for some reason. So all the apps are in there. The Common Apps are usually used for out-of-state schools and for private schools. And so that, those are ways that you can access data essentially, right? When the students use these apps, you get the data? Yes. But if they go directly to the universities or the colleges, you don't- Yeah. ... get any of that? We don't get any of it. And that's, that's what we learned late in the game. (laughs) Um, so
047we're trying to encourage students to do that with newsletters and emails and just word of mouth to have them merge it. Uh, Ms. Kelly was, um, able to learn how to do that early on and, and have the students merge it so that once they, once they launch it from California Colleges, then the information is there. So if you started, um, a Common App for ASU, if you enter that app through the portal, then it pops up and I know, I know it. Okay. Well, maybe not ASU 'cause it's a Common App, but if it was a UC school or a Cal State school. And so then if they, yeah, went to, directly to UC Irvine and started their application there and then, then said, "I need help." You could, they could use the other
048apps and integrate it? Yes, and it launches it in real time. Oh, okay. Amazing. Right. And all of, all of their transcripts are linked as well because it's in Clever and Synergy. So they ha- all of their information is accessed that way, so they don't have to hand do it or enter it. And we also check that data 'cause sometimes not all the data uploads. Um, it's still a new system and they're improving it as well. They, I just talked to Lisa Ruggiero today, the, the CoSA for the district, and she's been working with California Colleges. And the next step is to get the Common App also giving us the data. Like I, I have printouts in my little folder that can tell you how many students want to go to Irvine, which, how many
049want to go to, um, San Diego State because we get all that data from the Cals- the California schools. But I don't have that for, um, out of state or private. Right. And then when students graduate and they, um, say they didn't use these apps, do you still get that information once they graduate and kind of can- Old ... put those numbers in? Old school. Yes, old school. Um, that would be the school counselors- Yeah. ... collect that data. Usually it's their secretaries, but like at, at Yucca, I'm already have a, have a shared document with their counseling office and they're entering things and I'm entering things 'cause I am asking students, "Hey, bring me your, um, acceptance letters. Let me see where you're getting." I think I already have like five that have done
050that. So we kind of know at least our first acceptance. That's early. That's great. That's very early. But some of them are getting the early letters. Oh wow. Fantastic. Thank you. You're welcome. Ladies, I just want to say I think this is absolutely phenomenal. There are so many kids that do not have the guidance to guide them at all. They don't even know where to start. So what you guys are doing is incredible in my eyes and I think this is just wonderful that you guys have stepped up to do this and are helping these kids 'cause so many don't know. They don't have a clue. And you guys can at least guide them and they, you, they're help- you're helping them. So thank you very much. Thank you. I, I wanted to say basically
051the same thing that, um, you are filling a gap that has been there for such a long time and it's just, I get emotional about it because it's so exciting. What you're doing is so important. Um, I guess I have a question about the inception of all of this. How did this idea come about to do it? I mean, because... (laughs) Well... I'm, I'm supposed to- I know someone saw the need- Yeah. ... because it's b- it's really glaring at us that we have, have this need for what you're doing. Well, we're supposed to be retired, but we have friends like Amy Woods who tracks us down and says, "You know, I know you're not doing anything every day of the week for two months," um, while we're doing the four-year applications. But I think
052Amy tapped into our skill sets, especially being English teachers, the essay parts are, we can really help with all of that. So, but it would be Ms. Woods. Ms. And I thank you. Um, but I have to thank Gracie because I said, "Hey, I got this great idea. I got these great people. Can you give me some money? Can you get, can you get me some money?" And she was able to get me some of the, uh, money, uh, the funds to do something that I knew would take off. And so we, we have to just figure out a way to keep it going. But I want to thank you. Thank you. It's incredible. Thank you. Thank you. (applause) Thank you. Great job all around. Next up, Stacy Smalling for a residency program update. I'm
053pretty sure Ms. Kelly is finding some future teachers for us while she's talking to our seniors. (laughs) I'm sorry. I said, I know Ms. Kelly is finding some future teachers for us while she's talking to seniors. We have a couple that are very interested, so... And what they ta- they're talking about leads us right into our next, um, presentation. Thank you very much, um, Board President Claire, and board members, and Dr. Vargas. Um, thank you for the opportunity to give you a quick update on our Resident Teacher Program and Teach Morongo, and the paths that we are taking to take maybe our high school students, um, classified staff, and others interested up into the teaching profession. And I'm gonna introduce to you Matt Rausch, and he's our program facilitator and has been doing that for
054a year or so now. And I'm gonna let him give you some updates to the program and introduce some of the participants this year and talk about some of our future goals. Before I turn it over to him completely, I just want to take a few minutes to acknowledge the work that he's done since he started with the program last year and the accomplishments that he's had. Um, he has already made a name for himself. It's in the statewide residency programs, he's been presenting and definitely putting Morongo on the map. And so, congratulations, Matt. Thank you so much for your service. (applause) Good evening, board, cabinet, and all in attendance. I'm excited to show you an update from what I presented to you last year in a study session on our Resident Teacher Program. This
055is the future of credentialing in California and we are truly at the cutting edge of the spear tip of districts leading in that, not following. Tonight, I have the honor to introduce you to some people, but we will not ask you to come take pictures and maybe do more squats up and down the stairs. But I will be bringing out some powerful partners and members of our team that I'm thrilled to share with you. Before I do that though, I wanna give you an update on the goals that I shared with you last year. And I am proud to say we accomplished all of them. We expanded our university partnerships and I'll be sharing some more on that momentarily. We also expanded our number of resident school sites. We continue to develop a cohort of
056mentor teachers who are the best of our best that are training the new generation to be the best of our best. And we're also continuing to recruit alumni, classified staff like IAs, and substitute teachers with current degrees or earning degrees to join our residency program as part of our Grow Your Own initiative, as part of Teach Morongo. And as an example of that, I get to celebrate the first group that I'll be bringing up. If I could have Clarice Petit and Aliana Munguia-Ramirez and Suzanne Claire and Libby Hagstrom come up please. (applause) These are members of our second cohort of resident teachers who are now Morongo Unified School District teachers. Awesome. (applause) On my left and your right, I have Clarice and Aliana who were a powerful duo at Josh Tree Elementary School last year
057in third grade. And since then, Aliana has been hired on at Landers Elementary School where she is thriving and I'm hearing great things. And on my right, your left, we have someone that c- certainly many of you are familiar with, Suzanne Claire, and her (laughs) resident teacher from last year, Libby Hagstrom. Libby served at Anaga Elementary with Suzanne, and we achieved the perfect goal of hiring Libby at Anaga on the same fourth grade teaching team, teaching next door to each other. (laughs) Clarice and Suzanne were also two-year mentors for our program. They're not done, but they have now followed them into what I call wraparound support where both are now their CTI induction coaches for the next two years, ensuring a three-year support program that is providing the most prepared and successful teachers in the
058history of our state. I'd like to thank all four of you for coming out tonight and for the service that you do for our students and our community. You mean the world to me. Thank you. (applause) You got it. (laughs) Next up, I get to show you some of our year three cohorts and I will... Before I bring them up, I wanna give them a shout-out. Every single one of these resident teachers are commuting into our district from the ones here tonight from no less than 45 minutes away. And they all made it tonight. Not as a requirement of their program, but as a sign of their commitment and the future Morongo Unified School Teachers that they will become. If I could ask our group of resident mentors and resident teachers to please join me.
059That would include Christina Beasley and Marie Johnson with their residents Marina and Yolanda at Yucca Valley Elementary School. Come on up. Yolanda had a presentation in her class tonight, so she was not able to make it, but Marina though was able to join us as well, so sh- she just left. (laughs) She had a presentation from her class, so we just missed her. (laughs) (applause) So, I would like to thank them because Yucca Valley High School, or excuse me, Yucca Valley Elementary School was one of the sites that helped us plan for this program in 2021. And based on some placements and g- grade range goals, we had not placed a resident teacher yet, but we now have two there issu- this year with many more to follow. And I would like to thank both
060of you for your tireless service and work in this. Thank you so much. (applause) Thank you. Thank you. Here you go. Next up, I would like to bring Mary Keck and A- Amaya Magana up from Yucca Valley High School- (applause) Woo! ... as well as Caleb Gates and Noah Muresmith from La Cantera Middle School.... thank you all. (applause) Mary and Amaya are a powerhouse in the math department there. And it's incredible to watch them bridge, not only math classes, but also a high school success course. And I don't know of anything that could give you better classroom management preparation, Amaya, than a ninth grade high school success course. (laughs) So, great job. And we couldn't have a better math mentor teacher with Mary, than Mary. And also, on my left, we have another math duo
061at (inaudible) Middle School. This is Caleb Gates and Noah Murasmith. And they are teaching seventh grade math as well as Noah assisting, if not leading, in two sections of science as well. So, he's getting to expand his credential experience with that. Thank you both for your tireless work and the heart it takes to work with seventh graders. I appreciate it. (laughs) Thank you. (applause) And so, for both these duos, thank you so much for (inaudible) . (applause) And then last but not least, we're going to skip around from grade levels. I would like to invite Heather Passell and Jaida Hines to come up please. You've seen Heather up here tonight already for several editions. Yeah, give them a hand. We like that. (laughs) (applause) They are both at a school near and dear to my
062heart because I went to elementary school there. It's Friendly Hills Elementary School. I'm sure one of you is very familiar with that place. Uh, but Heather is leading, uh, Jaida in a incredible third grade classroom where they have been innovative and progressive and, oh my gosh, accomplishing so much. I have an office at Friendly Hills for my itinerant position and I can't tell you, like, how often I try to walk by the- the windows there to see the magic happening there. And I appreciate you both. Thank you so much for your service and love. (applause) You know, the exciting thing about this cohort that I just brought up is they have all made five-year total commitments with Morongo Unified School District. One of those years is their residency year, and they've committed to at least
063four years of teaching with us that follow. These are the most prepared effective pathways for teachers, and I'm not exa- exaggerating, in the history of our state. And we are at the spearhead of that. I'm so thankful for, not only their work, but their support here tonight. Before I share on some of our progress, I also want to say that as proud as I am of building this and carrying out Ms. Smalling's vision, the true work of this comes from our mentor teachers. They are co-teaching with these residents all year long, from the PD days, through back to school night, all the way through graduation for our high school and promotions at our elementary schools and middle schools. Thank you all so much. You do this work and you are making the difference. (applause) So,
064for these four schools, they are now four of six that we have sites at. And we are going to be expanding that year by year. And I'm excited to have residents at every school site in our district. So, one of the other additions that we've made this year, uh, was building upon the great foundation we've had with the University of Redlands, w- who is our pilot partner. And Dr. Stacklehouse of Redlands is teaching a course tonight, and she was not able to be here. But since then, we also accomplished a major goal of adding Cal State San Bernardino as a major partner in our residency program. And I am honored to be joined by the Associate Dean of the Watson College of Education at Cal State San Bernardino, she'll be coming up now, Dr. Becky
065Sombrero. (applause) Dr. Sombrero has spearheaded this for the university. And we've been working together for over a year now. And I'm going to let her say some words of hello. Good evening. And I'd like to thank the board and the cabinet and the district and the mentor teachers and Matt, um, basically to invite Cal State San Bernardino to the table. Um, this is a wonderful partnership. We believe we can help you grow and grow your own. And so, you'll have your recruitment for your teachers, will be able to build from the community surrounding you. And you don't need to go out of state to recruit. And these teachers will stay for a lifetime. Uh, what we have found is that the residency programs allow the candidates to be well-trained and they remained in the districts
066much longer than any other. They actually stayed for a lifetime because they have a commitment because that is their first district. We'd like to be a part of that. And thank you, Matt. We've had a great partnership and we have plans to expand with Matt leading, um, with us. And we also have Rialto Unified. And basically develop for the all of Inland Empire, a residency, how to sustain this without grout- grant funding. So, we'll be working on that with him. And we're, it's a pleasure being here this evening. So, thank you for allowing us to come to the table and help you grow your own. (applause) Dr. Sombrero drove out over an hour tonight to join us for that. And I would like to thank her and her recent promotion to Associate Dean of that
067college. (applause) We've been doing a lot and we're accomplishing a lot and we're going to keep accomplishing more. One of our key accomplishments was being admitted to an SRTAC community of practice. SRTAC is the agency through the CTC that oversees and essentially guides residency programs across the state. And we applied and were accepted into a highly competitive statewide cohort of districts to watch for leadership in their residency programs. There were many districts that applied, only 10 were accepted. We are the only rural district that was accepted amongst that cohort. (applause) I'll be sharing more on that momentarily. But we also have been featured, thanks to the sponsorship from President Clair, I co-authored an article that is being published in the California School Board Association magazine, which is called California Schools Magazine, that will be coming
068out this winter. And I'll let you all know when that happens. I'm very excited to see Morongo Unified highlighted in its residency program for that.Beyond that, I was asked to present on that co-authored article at the UCLA Insti- International Conference on Education and Justice, in which I got to show not only the design but the vision and goal and progress of our, of our program to others that are aspiring to do the same. And finally, I've been asked to be a presenter and part- partial trainer in SRTAC, working with other districts that are achieving the establishment and growth of our residency program just like ours. And with that SRTAC community of practice, we've committed to two years and received extra funding to cover our travel costs and programming costs, uh, to go Sacramento, Fresno, and
069all over the state to build a program path that I'll be presenting to you one day, about how to maintain this program in perpetuity with financial self-sustainability, to build the most successful teachers we have ev- we've had in recent memory and will continue to have as new teachers that started as second-year teachers. And with that, what's next is, uh, looking at spring and fall cohort- cohorts of, uh, resident teachers beginning with us to finish their one-year program. We'll be looking, as I just mentioned, at long-term financial sustainability in the plan that we'll be presenting to you. This is all... That plan is also a team effort between three different departments in our district, including Human Resources, Business Services, and Instructional Services. And then finally, to continue to expand our program and achieve the robust wraparound
070support model that I explained earlier, as exemplified by our recent Anaga resident and now Anaga Elementary School teacher. Teach Morongo is something that I have branded as a third-generation employee of this school district. And I believe, as a teacher's kid here who became a teacher and now is helping train our future teachers, that this might be one of the most innovative, cutting, cutting-edge things we're doing. I'm proud of it. I thank you for your unquestioning support from the cabinet and our leadership, and I'm here to take any questions or comments from the board. It seemed like we had a f- we had fewer opportunities, for lack of a better term. Um, this year is... Are we looking to expand that next year? Uh, would we have two this year? Two, uh, two semester starts? Yeah.
071Yes. So, we have a traditional fall start. Uh, right now, Cal State San Bernardino is taking spring enrollments, and we may be taking on additional, uh, candidates or residents from that cohort. We will certainly be continuing in the fall with our traditional year-long approach as well. No? Thank you, Matt. Great job as always. You're welcome. Thank you. (applause) Next up is our public comment. Individuals may address the board on issues within the jurisdiction of the MUSD Board of Education that are not on this agenda. There's 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 board members can properly hear all public speakers. Members of the public are expected to maintain a professional, courteous decorum during their comments. Inappropriate
072behavior 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 public agenda. Public comments on specific agenda items will be deferred until consideration of the item on the agenda. We just have one. Just there, okay. We have one that is not an agenda item, and that's from Blanca Marcia Alvarado. Good evening, members of the board and superintendent. My name is Blanca Marcia Alvarado, and I'm here tonight as a deeply frustrated parent, speaking also on behalf of other families with students receiving special education services at Twentynine Junior High. This school year has been extremely difficult. My son's IEP was incorrect, incorrect in ways that affected his education every
073single day. I have spent an entire year trying to fix mistakes that should have never happened. I have had to attend seven IEP meetings just to correct basic information and to try to get his services implemented. Seven meetings for issues that should have been corrected the first time. No parent should have to fight this hard to fix the school's errors. When my son began struggling, no one contacted me. I was never informed who his case manager was, so I had to contact the school myself just to find out who was responsible for his IEP and to schedule an appointment. Parents should not have to chase down basic information to get support started. Students should not have to be... You know, fall behind before help is being discussed. There were also changes made to services and
074placements without proper notice to families. Legally, parents must be part of those decisions, and changes must be based on progress data. Instead, parents were caught off guard, and our students were the ones who paid the price. Another serious issue is staffing. There are not enough instructional aides to support students with IEPs. If there's no staff, services are missed, and that means the IEP is not being followed. On top of that, service logs and progress reports are vague and incomplete. They do not clearly show when services happen or how goals are being worked on. This makes it impossible for families to track progress and removes accountability. IEP meetings often feel rushed and disorganized. Staff members giving, um, giving conflicting information. At one point, I was told that pullout services did not exist on campus. Later, I
075was told the next room was going to be used for pullouts. If an IEP lists a service, the school must provide it. And when parents request prior meeting notices, something required by law, we are ignored or forced to wait indefinitely, not by laser procedure safeguards. All these issues point to one clear truth: the school was not prepared to support sixth graders with IEP this year. So here is the... Here is what needs to change: Provide stronger special education training to all staff.... notify parents immediately if services or placements may change. Hire and maintain enough instructional aides to deliver every IEP service. Provide clear and detailed service logs and progress notes. Respond to prior written notices requested promptly. Improve communication between teachers, administration, and the SELPA department. Our children deserve more than promises on paper, they
076deserve services in practice. Our children deserve better, we deserve better, and the district must do better. Thank you. (applause) Thank you. Next up will be the adoption of the consent agenda. Are there any items for discussion from the board? Okay. Anybody... Actually, I had one item which was, uh, 9E, I guess it would be 8V111, which was the new project. So, I believe that's gonna be our spring break program, correct? Okay. So I had a question on it because it's a considerable amount of money, it's 485,000 and it's saying that we're gonna have 15- You want to, you wanna come up and go over these with Oh, yeah. Okay. We'll go ahead and vote on the remaining, uh, consent agenda items. May I get a motion? So moved. Moved. Second. Moved by Bianca- Second. ...
077second by Pete. All in favor? I. I. Any nays? Okay. Back to 9E8, um, the new project. So it shows $485,000 going to the E-LOP funds, um, but it shows 1,500 students. And I was just wondering if we're really gonna have that kind of... 'Cause I don't think we were anywhere near that last year, from what I recall. Does anybody know what that number was? Yes. So, Celie will come up. (laughs) Hi, guys. It was 300. So there was about roughly 150 at each site. Okay. We can increase that, um, that was just based on who enrolled. So we have a commitment of 1,500 students? Um, no. I don't know what our... Um- Oh, okay. ... our commitment is. 'Cause I think that was in the notes, so. We don't often... For these non-instructional days,
078we usually estimate about 300, um, 'cause that's usually what we get to enroll. Obviously we would increase it and we have the funding to increase it, but that's- 300's about the number we get, usually. And do you recall what the number was last year? It was right around 300. It was right around the same? Mm-hmm. Maybe 350, 360, something like that. Okay. That's all I had. Yeah, on the... In the agenda online, it says, uh, that they would serve 1,500 students, so I don't know if that just... They're contracted up to that amount of students. I think it was 150 at each site, maybe, um- Maybe there's an extra zero. ... there's an extra zero. That's- Yeah, that's- Okay. When I saw 1,500, I'm like, the chances of that happening are probably pretty small. No,
079and they, they can increase, like I said, for us, it's just the amount of kids that we get. We're prepared for more- Okay. ... but we never really have gone over that. Okay. And they're multiple, right? The 28? Mm-hmm. Okay. And then, uh, it says 20, 24-28 staff? Mm-hmm. They provide all the staffing. They provide all the staffing? Mm-hmm. Okay. All right, thank you very much. Appreciate it. May I get a motion on item 9E8? So moved. Moved by Bianca. Second? Second by Missy. All in favor? I. I. Any nays? Five, zero. Okay, action items. Confidential, uh, parent settlement. May I get a motion to approve the settlement between MUSD and student OAH Case Number 202080756 signed on October 27th, 2025? So moved. Moved by Pete, second by Roberta. All in favor? I. I. Any
080nays? Five, zero. I also need a motion to approve the confidential settlement between MUSD and the parent of student 7397358480 OAH Case Number 2025080603, signed November 7th, 2025. May I get a motion? I move. We'll give it to Roberta, seconded by- Oh, it's Missy. Oh, was it Missy? I'm sorry, didn't... I didn't... (laughs) Second by Missy. All in favor? I. I. Any nays? Five, zero. Items for review. Can I ask a question? 911 Okay. On the- Just for a few? Yeah. So items for review, the Williams' quarterly visitation report. I did... I was looking at that and I just wanted a little point of clarification. Um, it didn't appear all schools were. Is that on a rotation basis? Is that why all schools weren't included? That is correct. We have a fall visit and then
081we have another visit the first week back from winter break. Okay, great. And then, one other thing was, at La Cantera School facilities bo- both the boys' locker and the quad bathroom were noted previously. So I just want to make sure that that is a priority for the... Because it was noted in a previous Williams report that that is a priority going forward. Those folks are in the audience. They've taken note and, uh, they'll follow up on those things. Great. Thank you very much. First review for Board Policy 5113 Absences and Excuses. Board Policy 5113-2 permits second review and read of Board Policy 5146, Board Policy 61452, Board Policy 9005. Informational items include the accounts receivable, the cash receipts, the budget transfer transaction report. Future agenda items will be the reorganization of the board.We do
082have a Thanksgiving break coming up, November 24th through the 28th of 2025. We also will be attending, I think all five of us, correct? The entire board and, and Dr. Vars will be attending the CSBA Annual Education Conference, December 3rd through the 5th of 2025. Our annual reorganizational meeting will take on the same board meeting date of December 9th, 2025. That leaves us to board comments, and we will start with Bianca this evening. Lucky me. Um, thank you everyone for being here. It was so wonderful to see all of those, um, gems handed out, and, um, and just recognized. That was really fantastic. Um, I wanted to talk a little bit about what an amazing visit I had at CMC, uh, last week for the coding club, which, um, I had heard about the first
083time a year ago, and this was my first time getting to actually visit and see it in action. And it was beautiful to see all these kids gathered in these college classrooms, working on 3D animation, coding video games, um, what is the, the drone, what is the automa- whatever that's called. (laughs) Drones. Drone. (laughs) Um, and they're so passionate about it. And you can see it, and it gives them this space to just deep dive into something they are so crazy and, um, passionate about. It's just so amazing when we get to see these, these kids and their passions. So, um, we don't always have opportunities at all of the schools to do these kind of in-depth projects, and just to see them just go and get on that computer, and they're, they have a
084little pad with a pencil that's drawing what they want on the compute... It's just, it's just amazing to see them have that space, and that they get to go there, what is it, it's every week. Every day it is. Every Thursday, they get to go and do that. Um, it was a really, really amazing, um, visit, and I, I'm so excited for my son to have the opportunity (laughs) next year when he's old enough. Um, because it's just, it's just a great, um, idea. And some of those kids went to the Cisco, uh, field trip, um, from 2:30 in the morning. I mean, these kids are dedicated. They're, um... It was great to see them working. And so thank you for everybody, Amy and CMC, just putting that, working together on that is just a
085huge thing. You should see these kids. Um, there's a lot of 'em. There's a lot of kids. (laughs) I know. So, it was great to see, so thank you guys. That's all for me. Thank you, Bianca. Roberta? A lot of what Bianca said, I will piggyback on. But I just am feeling tonight so, um, incredibly proud of our district and our teachers, our students. Our, um, student representative tonight was just so right on with everything and clear, and presented beautifully. Our teachers that are doing the Tot program, it's just amazing that we're growing from within. And it's, um, great to see that, the assistance that we're offering to our high school students. Golden Bell Award, Our Gems, Janet Barth, congratulations again. That's quite an honor. And MTA, um, thank you for that donation. It's much
086needed for our, um, community. We appreciate it. Uh, I guess that's it. I just want... I, um, am overwhelmed with everything that our district is doing, and moving in such a positive, strong direction. We're mentoring districts much larger than us. So, thank you all for coming tonight. Thank you, Roberta. Pete? Well, this will be difficult. I'm gonna second the two previous, uh, board member comments. I mean, everything was great. The teachers were great. The students are great. I really enjoyed the, uh, presentation by, uh, our student from Yucca Valley High School. That was, you know, just a great presentation, really, uh, put a lot of effort into that. Um, (clears throat) excuse me. You know, we, we're really invested in this. Um, this is the career and technical education with 12 pathways for our kids,
087and dual enrollment, and all these different things, and, uh, KT education going on. There's so much happening in this, uh, uh, school district, it's hard to keep up with it. But I'm certainly proud, just like everybody else is, of the, uh, staff and teachers and students. Just a fantastic, uh, evening to hear all these awards. Thank you very much. Thank you, Pete. Missy? I don't know what's left to say, but I have to say teachers, um, administration, you guys, this is, this is all real positive, good things that, that is really nice to hear. It's nice to hear the good stuff, um, not always the negative. So I am really happy to hear that. Thank you all very much, and thank you those that came to attend today, and those of you that are working
088so hard for our district. We appreciate it. You are appreciated, all of you. Thank you, Missy. Um, yeah, I also wa- I was really impressed by Taylor Sarris, who was the Yucca Rep. She, uh, was very, very thorough. Um, go Trojans, making the second round of football. That was exciting. I know disappointing, the loss, but at least they made that round. That was great. Um, really excited about Matt's, uh, residency program. Always impressed with his public speaking ability. Like, no notes, just comes up and says all these terms. I'm like, "Oh, wow, this, he's got it going on." So really excited about expanding that. Um, it's impacted my wife in her grade level, so I could have a personal experience by it, and I see how great it is. So, keep up with that. It's
089fantastic. Um, kind of stole my thunder at MTA. Thank you very much for that generous donation. You guys, you know, you guys, you care about people. It's not just the kids, you care about the community, and, um, we see that and recognize that. So thank you very much. And lastly, nobody said this, everybody have a great Thanksgiving. (laughs) Woo-hoo. And with that, we are adjourned at 7:25. (laughs) Yeah.