A full parking lot at Joshua Tree Elementary School, coupled with a routine formal agenda, promised some unscheduled revelations at last night’s meeting of the Morongo Unified School District Board of Education. Reporter Dan Stork reports that the meeting delivered on that promise…
A full house of teachers, in union T-shirts, heard Morongo Teacher Association representative Terry Weitz castigate the administration of the Morongo Unified School District for its opening offer in current labor negotiations of a 0 percent raise. She cited large expected amounts of new state money, in addition to the perennial union concern about a multi-million dollar ending fund balance, to support her indignation. “You should be insulted and ashamed to be offering teachers zero percent.”
In staff reports, Assistant Superintendent Deborah Turner gave statistical results on the November round of California High School Exit Exams for juniors and seniors. Assistant Superintendent Sharon Flores listed amounts of money coming to education statewide in the wake of the uptick in public revenues.
During public comment, Onaga Elementary teacher Heather Possehl criticized the district for scheduling combination classes, particularly a fifth and sixth grade combination that would have to deal with two different levels of the Common Core standards in a single classroom. School nurse Marcella Roberts asked for more licensed nurses; currently eight licensed employees serve the 16 sites in the geographically large district.
Board President Karalee Hargrove said that a contract with now-Interim Superintendent Tom Baumgarten will likely be discussed at the Board’s next meeting.
LARGE CROWD OF UNHAPPY TEACHERS CONFRONT THE SCHOOL BOARD
