Z107-7 news would like to clarify a story we ran Wednesday after the Morongo Unified School Board meeting Tuesday night. In our story we said, “At a workshop session on class size reduction, the board adopted a 24:1 student-teacher ratio for grades K through 3 and approved the hiring of eight additional teachers.” Morongo Unified Assistant Superintendant Tom Baumgarten clarified the action, explaining that the 24:1 ration was not set as immediate district policy, but a goal according to state standards, which the district would like to reach by 2021. The eight new teachers added would be two teachers at Friendly Hills Elementary; one at Oasis Elementary; one at Morongo Valley Elementary; two at Onaga Elementary; one at Twentynine Palms Elementary; and one at Yucca Mesa Elementary. The new hires will come with $600,000 price tag.
