They say you shouldn’t discuss politics or religion among friends. One of those rules was breached at last night’s Morongo Unified School District Board of Education meeting, causing tempers to briefly flare. Reporter David Haldane, who was there, explains…
Is it OK for public school employees to be trained at a church? Morongo Unified School District board member Karalee Hargrove thinks not. And she minced no words in saying so at the board meeting last night.
“When you run a public agency on $100 million that’s all publicly funded money and then ask all those publicly paid-for employees to go to a church for a training, I think you’re crossing a bit of a line.”
Her comments were sparked by Superintendent Tom Baumgarten’s announcement of a half-day staff development session scheduled for August 17 in the Thunderdome at Joshua Springs Calvary Chapel in Yucca Valley. Though original plans called for it to be held elsewhere, he said, no other venue could be found.
That didn’t placate Hargrove. “You don’t want to make a teacher feel out of place. They don’t feel comfortable in going to that place. And when you organize that development, you do it in an all-inclusive environment.”
But the training will go on, Baumgarten said, including a school-sponsored talent show called Morongo’s Got Talent.
