⚡️Eight Questions. Every Candidate Responded. One Is Stepping Back.

Eight Questions. Every Candidate Responded. One Is Stepping Back.
Morongo Parents for Transparency | October 2026

We sent our "8 Questions for MUSD Board Candidates" questionnaire to all six candidates running in Trustee Areas 1 and 5. We also invited current Board President Christopher Claire to take part.

The result was unanimous. All five candidates who returned the questionnaire marked SUPPORT on every one of the eight questions. The sixth, Linda Hamilton, supported all eight in a separate letter and shared news about her campaign.

What we asked
The questionnaire covered eight areas of school governance. For each question, candidates marked SUPPORT, OPPOSE, or NO RESPONSE. They could also add an optional comment of up to 300 characters, published as submitted. Candidates signed their forms, confirming the answers as their own.

1. School closures.
   Before closing or consolidating a school, should MUSD publish the full net savings and compare closure with realistic alternatives?
2. Explaining major decisions.
   If the Board chooses a different path from a formal public committee recommendation, should it explain why and show the evidence before voting?
3. Outside financial review.
   If serious financial problems cannot be clearly resolved through the district's own reporting, should the Board seek an independent outside fiscal review or state audit?
4. Management pay during cuts.
   When schools, programs or staff are facing cuts, should raises or additional benefits for senior management require a separate public justification?
5. Fair pay for classified staff.
   When classified pay falls behind other employee groups, should the Board make competitive wages and retention of the employees who keep schools running a budget priority?
6. Contracts and consultants.
   Should major contracts, consultants and construction projects be publicly tracked from approval through final cost and results?
7. Independent Board oversight.
   Should trustees independently review major staff and consultant recommendations instead of relying only on the recommendation presented to them?
8. Options for students.
   Should MUSD expand trades, technology, arts, internships and work-based learning alongside strong college-preparatory academics?

We promised to publish candidates' answers without editing, ranking, or endorsement. Their comments appear below in full.

Trustee Area 1

Melissa "Missy" Bond: SUPPORT 8/8
Most of these are things that we already do. I being a 37 year teaching veteran questioned a lot of these same things before I was appointed to the board. Thank you

Ruben Rodriguez: SUPPORT 8/8
I support wholeheartedly all of these points. I feel our district leaders are out of touch with our communities, and as a trustee I believe it would be my job to question irregularities, advise on the needs of my community, and hold the powers that be to account.

Vadim Altschuler: SUPPORT 8/8
Care for students. Respect for communities. Stronger together. I stand for strong neighborhood schools, respect for educators and staff, more opportunities in arts, technology and career education, responsible spending, and transparent decisions that put students and families first.

Trustee Area 5

Roberta Meyers: SUPPORT 8/8
For the past 6 years, I have had the honor of serving on the MUSD Board, advocating for our students, teachers, staff, and families with care, integrity, and compassion. I remain committed to ensuring every child in our community has the support, opportunity, and encouragement to be successful.

Juan Carlos Pineiro: SUPPORT 8/8
I support all eight commitments. MUSD must put students, schools, and frontline staff first; show the full math before major decisions; independently verify serious fiscal concerns; respect public input; and expand pathways that prepare every student for college, career, and life.

Linda Hamilton steps back from the race
Area 5 candidate Linda Hamilton did not return a completed questionnaire. She sent a letter instead. In it, she explains that she will no longer actively campaign or seek election.

She also supported all eight questions. She raised further concerns about district spending, employee compensation, and public accountability.

Linda Hamilton’s complete letter is reproduced below, verbatim as received. Original spelling and punctuation have been preserved.
________________________

Dear Parents -

Thank you for sending me the candidate questionnaire and for the time and effort your group has put into identifying issues that are important to parents and families in our District.

I wanted to let you know why I will not be submitting a completed questionnaire. I recently accepted a position with an organization that provides programs to Morongo Unified School District schools. Although those arrangements are not generally matters that come before the Board for approval, I would not want my role as a Board member to raise questions about whether my employer's relationship with the District is influenced by my position on the Board.

Transparency, accountability, and public trust were central to my reasons for running in the first place. After giving this considerable thought, I believe the best way for me to honor those principles is to step away from the race.Unfortunately, there is no way to remove my name from the ballot, so I will still appear as a candidate. However, I will not be actively campaigning or seeking election.

I also don't want my decision not to complete the questionnaire to be interpreted as a lack of support for the issues you've raised. I reviewed the questionnaire and I support all eight of the items presented, especially with regards to the overlap between items 4 and 5. The percentage change in upper management salaries compared to the percentage change in classified and new teacher salaries over the last ten years is pretty appalling.The District's biggest talking point in trying to close schools is the decline in enrollment. But the departments that grew to serve the higher number of students and staff have not been reduced.

I also feel like the board needs to do a much better job of adhering to the Brown Act and making agenda items more transparent to the public. Agendas are often missing descriptions and attachments which could easily be provided. Administrative regulations which go along with Board Policies, are not required to be adopted by the Board, but in the past were presented for information. This is no longer the case.

I appreciate your group's involvement and your efforts to encourage candidates to be clear about where they stand. Parents and community members asking questions and expecting openness from their elected representatives is an important part of good governance.

Thank you for reaching out to me and for the work you are doing. Please let me know if there is anything I can do to help.

Best,

Linda Hamilton
________________________

We appreciate Hamilton’s openness in explaining her decision and raising important questions about district spending, employee compensation, and Board transparency. These are serious governance issues that deserve public attention, careful examination, and clear answers.

Board President Christopher Claire responds

Christopher Claire is the current Area 4 Trustee and MUSD Board President. His seat was also up for election this November, but he faces no opponent. We invited him to participate because public accountability matters just as much in uncontested races — perhaps even more, when voters have no competing candidate to consider.

Claire did not complete the eight-question questionnaire, but he responded to our invitation and expressed openness to further discussion:

Thank you for reaching out. Unfortunately, I had an issue with my district email and just reviewed this.

I am open to any discussion you would like to have around these topics or any other concerns or ways we can improve our schools.

Thank you,

Christopher Claire
MUSD Board President

We appreciate his willingness to engage and hope to continue that conversation. An uncontested election is not a free pass from public scrutiny. As Board President, Claire holds a particularly important role in ensuring that the public can understand, question, and participate in district governance.

But these commitments outlast Election Day
Every candidate in both contested races supports all eight principles. Five said so in completed, signed questionnaires and one in a written letter.

That doesn't mean they share the same record, the same approach, or the same view of how these principles should work in practice.

It does give us something valuable: a documented public standard, set before the election.

Candidates have told parents they support:

• Full financial analysis before school closures
• Transparency around spending
• Independent scrutiny when necessary
• Fair treatment of classified employees
• Stronger Board accountability

Those statements deserve to be remembered. And they will be.

Morongo Parents for Transparency will keep the original responses in a public commitments archive. As decisions come before the Board, we will compare them with what candidates told us. We will recognize commitments that are honored, document decisions, and ask questions when explanations or evidence are missing.

The same standard applies to everyone: incumbents, challengers, and whoever takes office after November 3.

The public shouldn't have to start from zero at every election, every budget discussion, or every school-closure proposal. We are building a shared record of what was promised, what was decided, and what actually happened.

Parents asked. Candidates answered. The record remains.

Thank you to everyone who took part.

Morongo Parents for Transparency
https://savemorongoschools.com