👍Thank You — We Reached an Important Step. Now We Keep Watching.

Thank you to everyone who signed, shared, spoke, researched, organized, attended meetings, wrote letters, and refused to let school closures become a quiet administrative decision!

Because of this  community's hard work, research, activism and volunteering, the Enrollment Committee presented one clear recommendation to the MUSD Board: School closures should be a last resort. 

That is an important victory.

It does not mean the work is finished, but it does mean the community changed the direction of the conversation.

Parents, staff, students, and residents from across the Morongo Basin showed that this is not one school against another. Landers, Palm Vista, Morongo Valley, Friendly Hills, Yucca Mesa, Joshua Tree, Oasis, Twentynine Palms — we are one public school community.

The committee heard that message. Now the Board must respect it.

What Happens Next?

The committee’s recommendation is now in the hands of the MUSD Board.

That means we need to stay alert, continue monitoring Board meetings, and make sure “last resort” does not become empty language.

Before any closure discussion returns, the district must show real public work on stabilization, enrollment recovery, attendance recovery, administrative accountability, transportation impacts, receiving-school capacity, staffing effects, special education supports, and community impacts.

Summer break has started, but public oversight cannot take a summer break.

We are not marking this petition as complete yet.

This is a major milestone, but the Board has not made this a permanent policy, and future consolidation or closure discussions could still return.

We will keep this petition open as a public record of community opposition to premature school closures and as a way to keep families informed.

November Matters

This is also a reminder that school board seats are elected offices.

Three of the five MUSD Board seats are expected to be on the November ballot: Trustee Areas 1, 4, and 5.

Please make sure you are registered to vote, know your trustee area, and pay attention to school board candidates.

Local elections decide who protects public schools, who asks hard questions, and who listens when our communities speak.

Stay Tuned. We will continue monitoring Board meetings and sharing updates when there is something important to report.

For now, please take a moment to recognize what our High Desert community accomplished.

The closure narrative was not allowed to move silently. The committee did not recommend closing schools. The recommendation is now: school closures should be a last resort. 

That happened because you showed up.

Thank you.

No closure without transparency.

No closure without real alternatives.

No closure before stabilization.

Photo by Robert Haydon for Z107.7 FM