The Morongo Unified School District board of trustees tackled numerous topics during its regular meeting last night. Reporter Andrew Dieleman fills us in…
At last night’s meeting, the board approved a one-year contract from 2021-2022 for Interim Superintendent Doug Weller with an annual salary of nearly $200,000. Director of Elementary Curriculum Julie Howard announced that all district students in transitional kindergarten through sixth grades will receive free backpacks on the last week of school filled with educational resources and parent-student activities to keep students learning through the summer. Assistant Superintendent Amy Woods announced that the nutritional services department has distributed 3 million meals to students and their families since the beginning of the pandemic.
In action items, the board approved a $1.74 million contract for sewer improvements at six district school sites in Yucca Valley (excluding Yucca Valley High School), approved the purchase of five vehicles (two transit cargo vans and three electric food service vehicles) for the Nutritional Services departments at Landers Elementary School and La Contenta Middle School, approved naming May 12 as “Day of the Teacher” and the week of May 18-22 as “Classified School Employee Week,” and updated the district policy on meals for district and non-district employees.
The board heard an update from Director of Secondary Curriculum Dustin Howard on the district’s Military-Connected Student Academic and Support Program Grant, which provides funding for STEM-focused programs in technological and medical areas for Twentynine Palms High School and Junior High School.
Woods shared several other presentations with the board, including Yucca Valley High School’s “Spread the Word to End the Word” campaign/pledge to bring respect and inclusion to special-needs students, La Contenta Middle School’s “Pi Day” tradition of voting on staff members getting “Pi’d” in the face, and a creative Yucca Valley Elementary School kindergarten assignment to create a “leprechaun trap.” The board was also treated to a virtual performance by the Yucca Valley High School select choir.
