❗️URGENT: MUSD DOUBLES DOWN ON SCHOOL CLOSURES AND FRONTLINE JOB CUTS❗️

Dear Save Morongo Schools supporters,

After more than six months of meetings, public comment, and community pressure, MUSD has put school closures back on the table.

This spring, the district’s own Enrollment/7-11 Committee concluded that closures should be a last resort and recommended that MUSD refrain from closing schools while other cost-saving and enrollment-recovery strategies are implemented first.

But at the August 25 Board study session, the Board reopened the issue.

Landers Elementary is now the first school being advanced for possible consolidation into Yucca Mesa.

At the same time, with a new Assistant Superintendent of Human Resources in place, the district is presenting three tiers of personnel reductions tied to closing schools:

Tier 1 — $368,512: principal, office staff and library positions
Tier 2 — $629,378: adds custodial, expanded-learning and noon-supervision positions
Tier 3 — $908,176: adds nutrition, mental-health and intervention staff
Those are gross personnel savings — not net savings.

The district’s own Landers scenario requires the combined Landers/Yucca Mesa transportation system to grow from 6 bus routes to 9.
The public still has not been shown a complete calculation subtracting new transportation, transition, receiving-school, staffing and enrollment impacts from the advertised savings.

And even the largest staffing-cut figure does not solve MUSD’s structural deficit.

Meanwhile, this summer the Board approved salary adjustments for the superintendent and assistant superintendents and extended Superintendent Dr. Patricio Vargas’s contract through 2030 — protecting compensation and contractual security at the top while discussing school closures and cuts to frontline positions below.

This is exactly why the public and the Enrollment Committee said: alternatives first, closure last.

NOW THE PUBLIC HEARINGS BEGIN
SEPT. 8 — School Board Meeting
SEPT. 10 · 5:30 PM — Landers Elementary
SEPT. 22 · 5:30 PM — Yucca Mesa Elementary

The district’s communication to affected families also failed to clearly tell them that its own Enrollment Committee recommended refraining from school closures at this stage.

So our demands are simple:

SHOW THE NET SAVINGS.
SHOW WHICH ALTERNATIVES WERE ACTUALLY IMPLEMENTED.
STOP BALANCING THE DISTRICT ON COMMUNITY SCHOOLS AND FRONTLINE STAFF WHILE ADMINISTRATION REMAINS PROTECTED.

Landers cannot be left to fight alone.

If closing Landers becomes the accepted model for dealing with the deficit, there is no reason to assume the process ends with one school. Palm Vista, Morongo Valley, Friendly Hills — or another community — could be next.

Please share this update with other MUSD families and community members. We need to make sure people know that school closures and staff cuts are back on the table.

And please keep sharing and signing the Save Morongo Schools petition.

This is not over. The next few weeks matter.

Morongo Parents for Transparency
Save Morongo Schools