❗TODAY, SEPT. 22 — YUCCA MESA: THE QUESTIONS LANDERS DIDN’T GET ANSWERED❗
“Landers isn’t just a school, it’s a family — and families are worth fighting for,” said 13-year-old Liliana Rodriguez, whose mom works at Landers Elementary.
Three hours in Landers made one thing painfully clear: parents came with questions that could be answered with numbers.
The district came without those numbers.
What is the real net savings? What will transportation cost? What will Yucca Mesa need? What happens if families leave MUSD?
After more than a year of discussing school closure, the detailed financial analysis is still coming later. When pressed about the figures currently being used, district staff described them as “ballpark.”
And that was the problem with the whole presentation. People were shown what amounted to red arrows for what is supposedly wrong and green arrows for what is supposed to get better — but not the complete financial model connecting those promises to actual dollars, actual classrooms, actual bus routes and actual families.
The people in that room were not statistics. They were parents figuring out how they would get their children to school. Teachers talking about students they know personally. Families asking what happens to special education, attendance, transportation and the community built around their school.
The problem wasn’t that Landers didn’t understand the presentation. They understood it — and asked for the missing math.
Now Yucca Mesa Meeting is next.
MUSD’s own Enrollment Committee ultimately recommended finding ways to address the district’s budget problem without closing elementary schools, and MUSD previously reported that committee members said Landers should only be considered for closure after upgrades were made at Yucca Mesa.
Tonight — Tuesday, Sept. 22, 5:30 PM
Yucca Mesa Elementary · 3380 Avalon Ave.
Five questions still deserve clear answers:
- What is the recurring NET savings from closing Landers?
- What exactly must be changed at Yucca Mesa to receive these students? Give the projects, costs, funding source and timeline.
- What is the complete transportation plan? How many additional routes, what annual cost, what maximum ride times, and what burden moves onto families?\
- Which Enrollment/7-11 Committee recommendations were actually implemented and evaluated before closure returned to the table?
- If employees are reassigned instead of laid off — and some families homeschool or leave MUSD — how does that change the claimed savings?
The district says no final decision has been made. Then the public should get the complete facts before one is.
If you can come tonight, bring one question.
And if the answer is another general explanation, ask again:
What is the number?
Where is the document?
What assumption are you using?
When will we see it?
The Hi-Desert Star’s new report on the Landers confrontation is worth reading before the meeting: Morongo Unified leaders, families face off over school closure plan.
Come. Bring your family, neighbors and signs. Speak if you can — or simply be there with us. This is an irreversible decision about our children and our community.
SHOW THE NET SAVINGS.
ALTERNATIVES FIRST.
CLOSURE LAST.
Please keep sharing the petition and this information. The decision has not been made yet.
Morongo Parents for Transparency
Save Morongo Schools
savemorongoschools.com