The trophies have been retrieved from the dumpster and are in storage at the district office.
The MSMUSD Governing Board operates under very specific guidelines as set forth by the State. We meet monthly for regularly scheduled meetings that are open to the public, which has become challenging due to social distancing. We recently began holding our meetings on Zoom and are diligently working to ensure that the public has quality access to our meetings in the future. Our focus is to continue operating the district at a high level given recent budget constraints, the pandemic and various other challenges facing us today and in the foreseeable future. We also take any concerns brought forth by the community very seriously.
Several weeks ago, it was discovered that MSMUSD sports trophies were discarded in a trash container on the campus. This led to serious concerns being expressed by community members and calls to several local news outlets. Julie Dale-Scott, the Superintendent, was alarmed by her discovery of the discarded trophies and personally climbed into the dumpster to recover them. Mrs. Dale-Scott also made Governing Board members aware of the situation.
We request the community’s trust and patience as we take appropriate action to address this matter and ensure this doesn’t happen again. In general, the Governing Board discusses personnel matters in confidential executive sessions.
The MSMUSD Administration, the Mammoth-San Manuel Education Foundation and a group of Miner Alumni organized as “Miner Strong” will be collaborating to come up with ways to display our heritage proudly. The District’s vision is to engage students enrolled in our Cabinetry-Making course to assist with the construction of new display cases. In addition, we are currently creating procedures on the proper handling and displaying of trophies/awards moving forward.
Mrs. Dale-Scott has proposed initiating a social media campaign of pride and nostalgia to allow trophies to digitally “live on.” These posts would provide an opportunity for all Miners to reminisce about past accomplishments, feel pride in our collective achievements and provide a positive platform to engage each other about historical accomplishments of students and teams. The plan includes engaging as many groups as possible, including those involving current students to elicit Miner Pride.
The MSMUSD Governing Board looks forward to interacting with the community in a positive manner allowing our students, our parents and the District to function as a unified team. We value your concerns and will do our best to resolve any and all that are within our control. Please be patient as we continue to find creative and effective ways to navigate these extremely unique and difficult times. We are confident that our administrative team will work effectively to accomplish the goals set out in this letter. Your children are the very reason we served as elected school board members.
Respectfully,
Mammoth-San Manuel Unified School District
Governing Board
/s/ Terry Newman, President
/s/ David Aronson, Vice President
/s/ Malinda LeGrand, Member
/s/ Michael Carnes, Member
/s/ Louie Madrid, Member