Teachers and substitutes for the Marengo Unified School District got a pay raise at the Board of Education’s regular meeting last night. Reporter Dan Stork has the details…
A standing-room-only crowd of mostly parents and students were treated to a performance by the Japanese Dan Group of Joshua Tree Elementary School at the start of last night’s meeting of the Board of Education of the Morongo Unified School District. The crowd stayed on to witness about 60 students from around the District be honored for perfect scores of 600 on some state achievement tests last year. The names of the honored students, and their schools, are listed at the end of this story.
The Board then got down to regular business, which included accepting the tentative agreement with the teacher’s union. The new contract has a 5 percent increase in the overall basic scale. With step increases, the average teacher will have a 6 percent increase over current salary. According to the public-released summary of the proposed agreement, the average total compensation—salary and benefits—per full-time equivalent certificated employee will be a shade under $90,000 per year. Classified hourly substitute pay was also increased, to keep pace with the impending changes in the California minimum wage to $9 per hour.
The Board also approved participation in a Joint Powers Authority with many other school districts to share legal representation. This results in a lowered rate of only $230 per hour for legal services.
The Board also approved several course outlines in biology and technology, plus math for the junior high school Common Core curriculum. During public comment, culinary students brought to the Board’s attention new state regulations that keep them from selling what they make to students and teachers, resulting in a loss of financial support for their classes.
The students who registered perfect scores on a California standardized test last year were:
Condor Elementary School
Talia Goody
Friendly Hills Elementary School
Collin Betts
Elizabeth Doerr
Andrew Fellbaum
Sara Mills
Genesis Rialmo
Rylie Rohr
Neryssa Tarrant
Joshua Tree Elementary School
Gavin Chriss
Anwyn Hilderbrand
Griffin Hilderbrand
Gabrielle Jordan
La Contenta Middle School
Zoe Beers
Christopher Brown
Caitlyn Ruggiero
Shane Scott
Landers Elementary School
Haley McGinness
James Reed
Logan Simms
Nathan Stainbrook
Morongo Valley Elementary
Brooke Altum Anderson
Destinee Dewett
Natalie Mondry
Elisa Murray
Katch Smith
Oasis Elementary School
Brendan Crow
Kirsten Dunphy
Irene Harlan
Gabriel Loman Rangel
Onaga Elementary School
Alexia Edelbrock
Alejandro Garcia
Jaylene Harmon
Kyle Hickenbottom
Meagan Lowe
Deja Neeley
Gabriel Osborne
Marquis Ramirez
Christopher Russo
Claire Sanchez
Palm Vista Elementary School
Samuel Niles
Weston Pratt
Twentynine Palms Elementary School
Robert Johnson
Alexis Tobin
Twentynine Palms High School
Suhas Arehalli
Heather Centner
Jake Culver
Joshua Elmer
Kevin Johnson
Lauren Tuck
Twentynine Palms Junior High School
Alexander Rodriguez
Vanessa Walton
Yucca Mesa Elementary School
Christopher Davis
Markina Evdokimoff
Coralie Gross
Faith Roses
Yucca Valley Elementary School
Amanda Belisle
Kayla Brundige
Angel Rodriguez
Yucca Valley High School
Dan Armitage
Joseph Hesse
Preston Hill
Jazmin Pushkar
Onyx Ramirez
Danielle Tate
