The Morongo Unified School Board met last night to an audience of disgruntled teachers. Reporter David Haldane said a work action discussion was followed by a surprise rejection to a proposed charter school…
It was a sea of blue t-shirts.
That was the pervasive color last night as a standing-room-only crowd of parents jammed the Morongo Unified School District Board of Education meeting in support of their children’s teachers.
Terry Bergey, a Twentynine Palms High School faculty member, perfectly expressed the mood. “This is ridiculous. Here we are again!”
He was referring to the fact that teachers have been working without a contract all year. Recently their union urged them to work only contracted hours, an action that board member Karalee Hargrove referred to in remarks of her own.
“It’s starting to effect the community now. When it affects parents and the community, we have a problem.”
In another surprising move, the board rejected a petition by the Joshua Tree Arts and Technology Academy to form a charter school because, according to a resolution, it presented “an unsound educational program.”
The action leaves the district with no charter schools at all.
SCHOOL BOARD HEARS DISGRUNTLED TEACHERS, REJECTS CHARTER SCHOOL
