Landers rallies for their Elementary School in a district that is enrolling less students every year

Enrollment numbers are the financial lifeblood of a school district, and the Morongo Unified School District’s (MUSD) numbers have been decreasing. At a community meeting held at Landers Elementary on September 10, Superintendent Dr. Patricio Vargas presented a look at MUSD’s roller coaster enrollment numbers over the last four decades.

In 1986, the MUSD had 7,400 students spread across just 7 schools. After a brief peak in 2006 with just shy of 10,000 students enrolled, in 2026 enrollment crashed back down to those 1986 numbers but now spreading over 4 additional schools. And those declining numbers aren’t unique to the Morongo Basin, either. Enrollment has also been down statewide, a trend that accelerated with the Covid-19 pandemic.

An enrollment committee was put together to explore how to address those declining numbers and a projected budget deficit of 7 million dollars. The committee delivered their recommendation to the MUSD board and said that the district should explore all possibilities to close the gap before considering the closure of a school. However at an August 25th Board of Trustees Study Session, the Board returned to considering a scenario of closing Landers Elementary and consolidating the students into Yucca Mesa. 

At the beginning of the 2026 school year Landers Elementary had just 106 students enrolled, The next lowest being Morongo Valley Elementary School with 181 students. 

The September 10th community meeting consisted of the MUSD Board of Trustees and Executive Cabinet, along with at least 200 attendees – many wrangling restless kids during the three-hour session. Landers Elementary is the home of the coyotes and is the smallest school in the district. In a social media post from 2018, the MUSD touted the fact that the small-but-mighty elementary school is know for its tight-knit community.

That community showed up as dozens of residents, parents, students and teachers spoke during the public comment, filling the entire first hour. Many parents said their kids were struggling at other schools before coming to Landers, and they were worried how they would handle the change. Many were concerned with the additional travel time to Yucca Mesa, which is located about 8 miles away from Landers Elementary depending on the road you take.

Candace Cavanaugh is a mother of three and says that Landers is more than just a school, “it is a safe place, family-oriented environment where children are known individually. My children have thrived with smaller classroom ratios and one of my greatest fears is they could fall through the cracks in larger classrooms. The staff at Landers Elementary are kind, assertive, empathetic, enthusiastic and deeply invested in our children. They pour their hearts into school events and create an environment where students feel safe and welcomed and excited to attend school. And for some children with limited resources at home, school may be one of the few places where they consistently experience opportunities, encouragement, stability and connection.”

Landers Elementary is located out on Reche Road, which you could consider the unincorporated community’s main street. Along Reche there is also a mini mart, the Moose Lodge, a community center and a thrift store. Landers is also home of the Integratron, owned by the Karl family, and Gubler Orchids owned and operated by Chris and Debbie Gubler. Chris Gubler has been outspoken in his support for Landers Elementary, which he had a hand in opening back in 1990.

“I’ve been involved with this town two years before the school was born. It took two years to lobby to get a school here, and there was two roads to go down… one with water, and one without. I don’t envy your decision, and it’s a very difficult one. We went through this drill for four months with the recommendations from your committee not to close any schools. Vernette Landers would roll over in her grave if she knew this was going on today,” Gubler said as he addressed the room.

This isn’t the only time Vernette Landers would be invoked that evening. She was instrumental in the opening of Landers Elementary, and Morongo Basin Historical Society Vice President Stephanie Varga read a letter from Vernette Landers about the groundbreaking of Landers Elementary, titled “Dreams Do Come True.” Her portrait hangs in the Landers Library.

Landers parent Cordelia Reynolds has been a frequent commenter at the board and enrollment meetings leading up to this one, and now that the battle to save Landers Elementary is on her turf, she wasn’t holding back.

“I’m really asking you… what are we doing here? You had a committee that suggested under no circumstance should we close schools, and it gave you a lot of wonderful ideas on how to outreach to community. Why aren’t you doing it? So let’s just call this what this is. This isn’t the consolidation of Landers Elementary into the Yucca Mesa. This is the death of my community.”

Reynolds specifically addressed Superintendent Vargas in multiple comments, challenging him to take a pay cut to keep the elementary school open.

Nancy Karl has been key figure in Landers and the Morongo Basin over the 26 years, and she asked the board to lean on Landers businesses like the Integratron for help in finding resources to keep the school open, emphasizing the important role that it plays in the low-income rural community.

“So the power in your hands… stripping an entire community, a town, of the one thing that holds it together. And it would be incredibly divisive to not come to the community, and to the business owners, Chris Gubler, The Integratron, we are willing to step up and provide the resources needed to keep this school open, so please ask us,” she told the board.

Despite the the hard data and the trending downward projections presented by the school district, after two hours many people in the audience seemed to grow impatient with the process that has been bringing them to meetings over the last year. During a second community feedback section where members of the MUSD could respond, many commentors offered support and suggestions to the board for the decision they were facing. However, two hours in, many commenters would break away from the delicate decorum that was demonstrated in the first half of the meeting.  

Some attendees demanded more transparency about budgets and finances, administrative pay cuts, and solutions that were in line with the enrollment committee’s recommendation of closing schools as a last resort. Parents of children with learning disabilities were concerned how their children would be affected at a new school.

There were parents that said if  Landers Elementary closed, they would homeschool their kids instead of sending them to Yucca Mesa. With an estimated income of $16,000 per student for the Morongo Unified School District, and in a state with enrollment numbers already in decline from homeschooling, these comments didn’t come across as empty threats.

No decisions were made at the meeting, though suggestions and feedback were gathered for the board and staff to consider before tonight’s meeting and the scheduled Board of Trustees meeting on October 13.

The second community meeting is taking place tonight at Yucca Mesa Elementary and begins at 5:30 p.m.