Enrollment Committee shares singular recommendation with MUSD Board: “school closures should be a last resort”
The Morongo Unified School District’s (MUSD) Enrollment Committee meetings wrapped up on May 13th with the decision to recommend zero school closures in the face of declining enrollment and revenue. Student enrollment is showing a decline in the district, from approximately 10,000 students at the pre-pandemic peak to around 7,300 for this year’s enrollment, with a projected continued drop over the next three years.
The Enrollment Committee was made up of parents, district employees, teacher and business representatives, and other community members who were charged with the task back in December of 2025. The monthly meetings held discussions and work sessions on different scenarios that the MUSD Board of Trustees would consider on the Enrollment Committee’s recommendation. That single recommendation was presented last night by Committee Vice Chair Karla Buchanan.
Karla explained the committee’s charges during her presentation on Tuesday night, saying “we were asked to review enrollment trends, evaluate facilities and capacity, consider consolidation and boundary scenarios, examine potential surplus properties, and ultimately provide recommendations to the Board. From the beginning, committee members understood that our responsibility was not simply to evaluate numbers, but to consider the educational community and long-term impacts of any potential decisions.”
Buchanan says that the committee studied enrollment and demographic data, facility assessments, financial and operational information and consolidation scenarios, which included the possibility of closing and consolidating the student population of at least one elementary school in the district.
This caused a significant amount of public feedback and comments at the enrollment meetings, with a passionate and sometimes contentious crowd telling the committee that closing any elementary school in a rural area like the Morongo Basin is a no-win scenario for students.
Buchanon addressed this in her presentation, saying “(Committee) members repeatedly expressed concern about the long-term impacts that school closures have on students, families, staff, and the community served by those schools. Once a school is closed, those impacts can be significant and difficult to reverse. Additionally, the committee’s discussion extended beyond the schools’ identified and potential closure scenarios. Members considered the broader district by impacts and enrollment shifts, including class size, amplification, staffing needs, transportation considerations, campus capacities, traffic flow, parking, and overall student experience.”
She also stressed that school closures should always remain a measure of last resort and the Enrollment Committee instead recommends adjusting school boundaries and reaching out to families that have left the public school system to bring them back into the school district. She ended the presentation thanking the board, district staff, and committee members for participating in the process, saying they approached the work thoughtfully and with a genuine commitment to students and families across the Morongo Basin.
The Board of Trustees reciprocated the gratitude, which was also echoed throughout public comments after the presentation. Landers elementary school teacher Mark Farison wanted to remind the board that “we are not part of a corporation where success is measured by profit margins or bank account balances. We instead provide an incredibly important service to the public, and what matters the most are the families who trust us with the care and education of their children. Their success and their well-being is the ultimate measure of our accomplishment.”
Justin Zebe says that the process of looking at possible school closures helped people come together under a common cause. “Parents from different schools stood beside one another, teachers and staff supported one another, and we discovered that we’re all fighting for the same thing, not one school, not one neighborhood, but every single child.”
A few public comments from parents hinted at some behind-the-scenes discourse over the last few months. Palm Vista parent James Osler said that the Board of Trustee’s communication and meetings with Friendly Hills Elementary parents were “bad optics” and he says he is still seeking transparency around uncompleted projects and funding for improvements at Palm Vista Elementary. being exploited for funds that should be used for improvements at the Twentynine Palms campus.
Friendly Hill parent Carolyn Riggs spoke immediately afterward, saying “as a parent from Friendly Hills, we personally requested meetings with the school board and as soon as we did we came forward and told everyone. We have the right to request meetings with all of our elected public officials, and we all should be doing it. I want to thank you again to the enrollment committee, you guys put in so much work and sweat… I don’t know if there were tears but I definitely saw some.”
She closed out her public comment with a song, sung to the tune of Auld Lang Syne. She sang it solo at first and she was then joined in by a chorus of audience members.
“From Landers to Morongo El, Palm Vista, Friendly Hills… all students there deserve our care and fight for all we will!”
With that, the Enrollment Committee’s report is now in the hands of the Board of Trustees who is now tasked with the consideration and possible implementation of the committee’s recommendations.
The next regular board meeting will be on June 16 at Joshua Tree Elementary School.
