A standing room only crowd of mostly employees attended the May 5 meeting of the MUSD Board of Education, to applaud those colleagues who were honored for their work at selected district sites, and to make clear their continuing displeasure at the course of contract negotiations. Reporter Dan Stork describes what went on at the three-hour open session…
The Tuesday meeting of the Morongo Unified School District Board of Education began with an extraordinary performance by Twentynine Palms High School students Taylor Thacker and Jarod Burks of the death scene from Shakespeare’s Othello. Then teachers and classified employees of the year for west-end schools, plus classified employees from the district office and nutritional services, were lauded by their supervisors. The sites and names of those honored are listed below.
The staff of Independent Continuing Education (ICE), newly renamed the Student Achievement Center, with its own web site, (http://www.studentachievementcenter.com) gave an overview of activities, which included a paean by three children in one family to the benefits of home-schooling.
Director of Maintenance Ron Smith listed projects scheduled for the summer, led by the solar energy implementation. Other projects at various sites include:
- Portable classrooms;
- Asphalt at several sites;
- Re-carpeting;
- Re-roofing;
- Ceiling repairs;
- Fencing;
- Computer facility upgrades;
- Handrails;
- A retaining wall;
- Access boxes for emergency services.
During public comment, the Board heard praise for a liaison program with Copper Mountain College, complaints about limited health benefits, and complaints about the ongoing labor negotiations with teachers. As usual, the voting agenda—which included a positive vote on the Hi-Desert Water District sewer assessment—was processed lickety-split, with one exception: board member Chris Proudfoot objected to a provision in the revised advanced placement policy that would require many students to pay for taking AP tests, if they took more than two of them; that policy was carried over for further review.
Black Rock High School: Robert Bartz, Julie Alexander, Janet Larson;
Friendly Hills Elementary School: Nancy Goodwin, Wendy Rogers;
Joshua Tree Elementary School; Amy Cannon, Celeste Hilderbrand;
Landers Elementary School: Tracy Madden, Margaret Cowan;
La Contenta Middle School: Cindy Villani, Pearl Vongprateep;
Morongo Valley Elementary School: Dave Garcia, Maria Pritchard;
Onaga Elementary School: Lisa Buck, Kristen Mery;
Yucca Mesa Elementary School: Sheri Enochs, Jamie Ficara;
Yucca Valley Elementary School: Kristina Aguayo, Kristina Turk;
Yucca Valley High School: Happy Kanuch, Scott Phillips;
Business Services: Sandi Pearce, Raymond Asejo;
Instructional Services: Shadee Johnson;
Nutritional Services: Judith Whitney, Frances Adams.
