The Morongo Unified School District Board of Trustees held a special meeting last night where a tentative date for the reopening of district schools was set. The board voted 3-2 in closed session (Trustees Karalee Hargrove and Kerri Conley voting no) to reopen all district schools using a hybrid education model on January 19, 2021, the start of the second semester of the school year. MUSD will continue to monitor the COVID-19 situation locally and evaluate conditions as the selected date approaches. Reporter Andrew Dieleman has more from that meeting…
At last night’s special meeting, the board also received a detailed presentation from Assistant Superintendent Sharon Flores on updates to the district budget. With the California state budget experiencing at $54.3 billion deficit, school districts statewide, including MUSD, will likely experience billions of dollars in budget deferrals, leading to delays in funding until the next school year and a gradual annual decreases in budget reserves. The board discussed the possible creation of a budget review committee for the school district.
The board then held a work study session to discuss logistics and student truancies for the district’s Independent Study and Distance Learning Programs. According to Assistant Superintendent Amy Woods, relatively few students in both programs have been marked as chronically absent since the beginning of the school year. Superintendent Tom Baumgarten applauded the efforts of teachers in both programs who have experienced significant learning curves in providing materials and education to students.
