The school board meeting last night mostly stuck to its agenda of budget report, student achievement plan presentations, school recognition, and policy updates. There were a couple of surprises, as Dan Stork reports…
In an early workshop, Assistant Superintendent Dave Price led the Board of Education through the first interim budget report for the current school year. Price said that the Morongo Unified School District remains in good fiscal health, and will be able to meet its obligations for the current year and the succeeding year, which is the statement required for this report. The report was affected by the LCFF—the Local Control Funding Formula—the new approach to school funding, which will be phased in over several years. Price said the LCFF will ultimately be a simpler funding mechanism, but the transition will be complicated.
In the regular meeting of the Board, Condor Elementary School and La Contenta Middle School were recognized for large increases in API scores over three years. A group of five students from La Contenta Middle School performed several musical selections. Single Plans for Student Achievement from Morongo Valley, Landers, and Yucca Mesa Elementary Schools, and Twentynine Palms Junior High School presented in the early workshop were approved, as were several changes in Board policies and Bylaws, and the annual report on the use of developers’ fees.
During public comment, a contingent of parents expressed alarm over impending cuts to the junior varsity baseball program at Yucca Valley High School. The “cuts” were unknown to the Board and District staff, which promised to investigate the source of the reports. Rejection by the state of standardized scores at Oasis Elementary School, due to a teacher’s error during administration of tests, has been successfully appealed. Scores for Oasis will be issued in February.
A COUPLE OF SURPRISES AT A MOSTLY ROUTINE SHOOL BOARD MEETING
