Morongo Unified · Area 5
Campaign Talking Points
The promise
Why Schools Matter
Our schools should be a beacon of hope, not a budget line item.
Our schools are more than buildings. They are where our children learn, where families meet one another, and where communities are built.
Parents, teachers, staff, students, and communities deserve a meaningful voice, early, not after decisions are made.
School closure is an absolute last resort, and in almost every case, the wrong answer.
The Enrollment/7-11 Advisory Committee, California fiscal oversight, and our communities agree: last resort means last, not first. MUSD should refrain from closing any schools while it prioritizes and evaluates alternatives.
The real impacts
Closing a school is not a spreadsheet exercise. It hits real people in a dispersed rural community like ours.
- Teachers and staff lose jobs. That is neighbors losing livelihoods, and communities losing people who shop locally, volunteer, and hold families together.
- Money leaves the community. Schools anchor local spending. When educators and families are pushed out, the loss ripples through small businesses and civic life.
- Kids do not all simply move to the receiving school. Some turn to homeschool or leave the district. Closure talk is already driving families out. Enrollment loss follows, and with it, district revenue.
- Transportation can decide whether a child goes to school. Longer routes, extra costs, and missed pickups are not inconveniences in a rural district. They are attendance barriers.
- The conversation itself does damage. Closure talk wastes oxygen and becomes a self-fulfilling prophecy. Families leave because they cannot trust the district. Last resort should not be the first thing on the table every year.
- Central-office overhead is not a classroom. Peer data shows MUSD spends far more per student on administration than similar districts, on the order of millions a year, while schools fight for intervention support.
A real vision
This is a moment to think big. What do our children need? What would inspire them to greatness, make families choose MUSD, and bring others back? Closing schools is a failure of imagination, not the only path forward.
- Real support in every classroom. Kids two and three grades behind need MTSS, intervention, and instructional aides that work. Fewer combo classes. Every child gets a fair shake.
- Put money at the school. Teachers need fewer combos, more intervention, and principals who have time to be instructional leaders. Central-office titles do not teach reading.
- K-8 at Joshua Tree Elementary or Friendly Hills. Many families leave when kids hit middle school. Continuity with trusted teachers beats pushing sixth graders into a system parents already fear.
- Science in the desert. Astronomy, ecology, engineering, hands-on discovery. We have an extraordinary landscape. Use it to broaden our offerings and connect kids to real science.
- Spread what works. Friendly Hills has attracted families with strong arts programming. That model can reach more campuses. Great programs grow enrollment, and enrollment is part of the solution.
- Offer something worth coming back for. Homeschool and charter families live in our boundaries. Music and art in every school. Strong middle-school options. Give them a reason to return.
The work ahead
The Plan
Work the plan first. Do the reversible things before the irreversible thing.
What we should be building toward
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Improve Attendance
Chronic absenteeism hurts students and district revenue. Fixing it grows the budget without closing a single school.
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Bring Families Back
Stop giving families reasons to leave. Reach homeschool and charter families with schools they can trust will stay open. Make MUSD the first choice again.
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Educate for the Future
Critical thinking first. Literacy, problem-solving, and responsible use of AI tools. Soft skills and collaboration matter as much as devices.
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Build Schools Families Want
Good solid schools first: music and art, intervention that works, middle schools families trust. Enrollment follows excellence, not closure threats.
What the district should do now
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Operational Savings
Central-office spending sits far above peer districts. Start there: staffing, position control, vendor and software review, maintenance and operations. Put the savings at school sites.
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Student Supports
MTSS is triage today. Make it proactive. More intervention teachers and aides, fewer combo classes, and site support so principals can lead instruction instead of only putting out fires.
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Boundaries & Balance
Use boundaries and transfers thoughtfully to improve balance without losing students.
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Revenue & Facilities
Capture available revenue and track Measure C against a coherent long-term facilities plan. We want to see funds appropriated and released to schools being considered for closure. Shade structures and other related budget items cannot and should not be held.
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Measure & Publish
Measure the results. Publish them. Then make the next decision.
How I will serve on the Board
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A Parent’s Perspective
Ask hard questions. Listen to teachers, staff, families, and students. Study the facts. Be transparent. Arrive ready to do the work, not with every answer.
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Governing Commitments
Fight to keep neighborhood schools open. Closure is an absolute last resort, and in almost every case, the wrong answer. Involve families before major decisions. Every decision begins with: What is best for our kids?
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Independent Oversight
A strong superintendent and a strong, independent School Board reinforce each other. Support teachers and staff. Protect strong classrooms and educational opportunity.
The policy argument
Fiscal Case
I accept that MUSD has a real structural financial challenge. Closing neighborhood schools is not the answer. School closure is an absolute last resort, and in almost every case, the wrong answer. The harm is real, and it is irreversible.
Show us the full math.
The Enrollment Committee recommended refraining from closures while alternatives are implemented and evaluated. California fiscal oversight treats school closure as a last resort, not a first move.
The consultant identified more than $4.2M in annual recurring savings opportunities and more than $2.9M in annual revenue opportunities, plus $2.9M one-time capital/grant opportunities, including millions in central-office savings. Peer comparisons show the same pattern: too much overhead, not enough in classrooms.
Modeled, not realized. The right question is what has been implemented, and what has it actually produced?
Before closing a school: net savings, not gross. Adding up a principal, office staff, custodians, utilities, and every teacher salary is the cost of running a school, not the money you keep after those teachers move, bus routes are added, receiving campuses absorb kids, and families leave. You do not balance a budget by tearing a school out of a vulnerable community while central administration stays oversized.
Before any school is closed, the district must show
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Net Savings Are Substantial
Campus-specific net case after every material downstream cost and revenue effect, not a gross campus budget minus a few bus routes.
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Alternatives Exhausted
Attendance, enrollment recovery, operational savings, MTSS, boundaries, implemented, measured, and published before irreversible action.
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Costs Don’t Outweigh Benefit
Educational and community costs matter. A school that appears underused on paper may still be essential to its community.
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Community Voice Required
Students, families, educators, and affected communities heard before a recommendation reaches the Board, not after.
Ask the board these
- What is the annual net savings from closing this specific school after every downstream cost and revenue effect?
- Which non-closure alternatives have been implemented, and what measurable results have they produced?
- What enrollment, homeschool exit, and transportation burdens were modeled for rural families?
- Can the district publish the closure spreadsheet, assumptions, and sensitivity analysis?
- Which positions would be eliminated vs. follow students, and what happens to educators who lose their jobs?
- What ironclad evidence proves closure would do more good than harm for this community?
Door and mic
Stump Answer
I’m running because I’m a parent, a neighbor, and someone who believes our neighborhood schools are worth fighting for and our communities deserve a real voice on the School Board.
MUSD does face real challenges. Enrollment has declined, attendance needs improvement, many facilities have unused capacity, and the district has a structural budget problem. We should be honest about all of that.
Acknowledging the problem does not mean closing schools. Closure is an absolute last resort, and in almost every case, the wrong answer. The Enrollment Committee said last resort. Fiscal experts say last resort. So why is it the first thing on the table? The consultant identified more than $4.2M in savings and $2.9M in revenue outside consolidation, including central-office cuts, modeled, not realized. What has been implemented?
Work the plan first. Recover attendance. Bring families back. Cut overhead. Put money at school sites. Fund MTSS and intervention. Reduce combo classes. Strengthen middle school. Put owners, timelines, and public measures behind the work, then show us what happened.
Closing a community school hurts students, costs teachers their jobs, and damages the community. You cannot undo it. I have not seen that case. I do not expect to.
When they zig
Pushback
They ask
Are you saying a school should never close?
School closure is an absolute last resort, and in almost every case, the wrong answer. The Committee said last resort. I agree. Closing a school harms students, costs teachers their jobs, and tears at community life. It is irreversible. I have not seen evidence that comes close to justifying it.
Where will the money come from?
Start with central-office overhead that sits above peer districts, attendance recovery, MTSS and intervention, Independent Study capacity, and vendor and software review. More than $4.2M in savings and $2.9M in revenue were modeled, not realized. Which actions have been implemented and what have they produced?
Didn’t the district show that closing a school would save nearly $1 million?
A reported personnel-cost estimate is not verified net savings. Which costs leave the district vs. follow students? What transportation, receiving-site, transition, and enrollment effects? Adding three bus routes to a gross campus budget is not the full math. Publish the underlying calculation.
Does an independent model prove that closing a school loses money?
A community model may reach that conclusion, but it depends on assumptions. Treat it as a challenge to the district’s model, not as established fact, until assumptions, source data, and formulas are independently reviewed.
Is the district ignoring the School Leaders recommendations?
I would not make that categorical claim. The accountability question is implementation across the full plan: owners, baselines, targets, and results that reach the budget or improve student outcomes.
Did the Committee choose the no-closure scenario?
No. Staff presented five scenarios, including no-closure Scenario 1. The Committee did not adopt one. It recommended refraining from closing schools and prioritizing alternatives.
Are you only running because of school closures?
Closure risk compelled me to step forward. Serving on the Board means responsibility for the entire district: outcomes, educators, budgets, facilities, safety, transportation, and trust.
Could you ever support closing a school?
School closure is an absolute last resort, and in almost every case, the wrong answer. If the district ever tried that case, they would need ironclad evidence: every alternative exhausted, net savings proven campus by campus, full harm accounted for, and families heard before a vote. I have not seen that case. I do not expect to.
What is your vision beyond preventing closures?
Fix the fundamentals first: MTSS, intervention, fewer combo classes, money at school sites, music and art, middle schools families trust, K-8 pathways at Joshua Tree Elementary or Friendly Hills. Magnets can wait. Kids who are behind cannot.
What does accountability look like to you?
Name an owner. Establish a baseline. Set a goal and timeline. Disclose resources. Publish the actual result. Accountability is a visible chain from promise to outcome, not a press release.
They attack
“Enrollment is down. We have to consolidate.”
I agree enrollment is down. Closure talk is making it worse. Families are already leaving because they cannot trust the district. Show me what non-closure alternatives produced before you tear a school out of a community.
“You’re just protecting one school.”
I’m running for Area 5, but this is about how the district makes irreversible decisions: evidence, sequence, community voice, and honest math. That standard should apply everywhere.
“The district is out of money. Closures are unavoidable.”
I accept the budget problem. Closing schools is not the solution. Millions in central-office and operational savings were modeled and not realized. Peer districts spend far less on administration. Work that plan before you talk about tearing a school out of a community.
“Teachers will follow students, savings are real.”
Maybe some do. That’s why we need the spreadsheet: which positions leave the budget, which move, what receiving-site and transportation costs increase, and what happens to enrollment. Filling vacancies elsewhere is not the same as cutting cost. If those salaries stay in the district, they are not savings.
“A small school costs millions. Close it and you still save after the extra buses.”
That is gross operating cost, not net savings. Teachers who move still get paid. Extra routes cost real money. Receiving schools need space, staff, and support. Some families will not follow. Show the reconciled, campus-specific net after all of that. The public record does not have it.
“It isn’t really a community school.”
In a spread-out desert, the school is the hub precisely because houses are not clustered around it. Families already drive. Pickup lines are not proof the school does not matter. They are proof people come from far away to keep their kids in that community.
“Combo classes prove the school isn’t viable.”
Combo classes are hard on teachers and kids. That is an argument for staffing and support, not for closing the door. Closing a small school can create new combos and larger classes at the receiving campus. Fix the classroom problem at the site.
“The kids can just go to Joshua Tree or Yucca Mesa.”
Some live near a boundary. That does not make the move easy, short, or certain. Families have already said they will leave the district. Transportation gets harder. Attendance can fall. Do not assume every child follows and every dollar follows with them.
“A building problem is different. That school may not be safe.”
Safety and facilities are real. If a campus has a building problem, the answer is a facilities plan: inspection, remediation, Measure C, or a replacement. That is not the same as using enrollment as a reason to close a neighborhood school.
“You’re anti-superintendent / anti-administration.”
No. I want a strong superintendent and a strong Board. My job isn’t day-to-day operations. It’s to ask hard questions on structural decisions, hear the community, and vote based on evidence.
“You’re just delaying the inevitable.”
That is not delaying the inevitable. It is refusing to accept an irreversible decision without ironclad evidence. Closing a school is permanent. The burden of proof is on those who want to do harm to a community, not on families fighting to keep their school open.
“Consolidation helps kids in under-resourced schools.”
Taking a school from our most vulnerable community is not equity, no matter how it is spun. Kids who need the most support do not get a fair shake from a distant magnet or a longer bus ride. Show me the educational benefit with the same rigor you owe on the finances.
“Homeschool families won’t come back.”
Homeschool families are already asking whether a school will still be open if they enroll. That is a crisis of the district’s own making. Build schools worth returning to, keep them open, and measure whether families come back.
Share it. Say it. Post it.
Core Lines
Say these like you’d say them to a neighbor. Copy one, post it, or use it at the door.
- Our neighborhood schools are where our kids learn, and where this community comes together. Families should be able to count on them.
- The district has a real budget problem. I’m not going to pretend otherwise. Closing neighborhood schools is not how you fix it.
- We keep hearing that closing a school would only happen as a last resort. If that’s true, it shouldn’t be the first thing we talk about. Last resort means you try the other options, you give them time, and you show people the results.
- Closing a school hurts kids. It costs teachers and staff their jobs. It tears at a community. And you cannot undo it later.
- People talk as if the kids will just go to the next school. Some will. Some families will leave, or they’ll homeschool. Then the district has fewer students, and less money, than it started with.
- Out here, a longer bus ride is not a small thing. For some families, it really is the difference between a child getting to school and a child staying home.
- We haven’t even closed a school, and families are already backing away. People will not put their kids in a school they think might disappear. If we want families to come back, they have to believe the school is going to stay.
- Teachers and staff live here. They shop here. They know our kids. When those jobs go away, the whole community feels it, not just the school.
- There is a lot we can do that doesn’t involve closing a school. Get more kids to show up. Bring families back. Spend less at the district office and more in classrooms. That work should come first.
- A lot of our kids are behind and need real help. Teachers need support in the classroom. That’s where the money should go, because that’s what actually helps children, and that’s what makes a family want to stay.
- Parents and teachers deserve a real say before a decision like this, not a meeting after it’s already been made.
- I have not seen a clear case that closing a school would do more good than harm. The harm is easy to see. The savings are not.
- A school can look small on paper and still be the reason kids in that community get an education. Those two things are not the same.
- This could be a moment to ask what our children need, and what would make a family choose our schools. Music, art, real help for kids who are struggling, schools people are proud of. That’s the conversation we should be having.
Closing Statement
I stepped forward because our neighborhood schools are at risk, and I believe they are worth fighting for. Our schools should be a beacon of hope for the families and communities they serve, not a line item on a spreadsheet.
I will fight to keep our schools open. Closing a school is an absolute last resort: irreversible, harmful to students and teachers, and damaging to the community. I have not seen ironclad evidence that justifies it, and I do not expect to. Families deserve a real voice, full transparency, and a Board willing to say no.
Full evidence. Fair process. Independent judgment.