Talk:Desert Sands Unified School District

Ronald Reagan Middle School issue
I want to bring up a news story that shocked the nation in 1991, when the Desert Sands Unified School District voted to name a middle school to open back then (Indio Middle School) for US president Ronald Reagan. Then the school administration president (I forgot his name, but he's not there anymore) disagreed and gave his filibuster statement: "What did President Reagan did good for public education? Nothing! Reagan and the Republicans cut over half the national education budget under his presidency in the 1980s. He's the worst president in matters of national and state (when Reagan was governor) education, and I don't want that middle school named for him! Indio isn't a big Republican community, we're mostly Democrats anyway, and tell the rich retired golf club crowd in Palm Desert, we will never let our schools be named for Reagan!" The DSUSD administration agreed to later drop the name in favor of Indio Middle School, to follow the tradition of La Quinta and Palm Desert, to title middle and high schools for cities. In June 1992, Ronald Reagan cancelled his appearance in the first day of Indio Middle School and said (I can't remember in verbatim) on how politicized and inappropriate for the DSUSD to refuse naming a school in his honor, for "being a bad governor/president to decrease public school funds and neglected education as the top priority". I'm sure the DSUSD has changed since then and now Reagan passed on in 2004, it would be nice and honorable to name a school for him. There's a proposed middle school in west (or north) Indio slated to open in 2009 might be named for him...but I wonder if any future schools in DSUSD will be named for "very controversial" presidents like George H.W. Bush or George W. Bush may draw fire by some liberals, and Bill Clinton may generate protest by some conservatives. + 63.3.14.129 23:16, 23 January 2007 (UTC)

Ronald Reagan Elementary School was opened for the school year 2006/2007. There is listed a school with the name Country Club Elementary. A new school complex is just now under construction on the north side of Interstate 10. This is going to be a K-12. No names have been published by the school board yet.


 * The new school complex has opened in August 2009. The Desert Sands school district discontinued the requirement to name school facilities after presidents. McKinley is discontinued since 1964, Reagan was approved, Clinton and Bush Sr. are on hold, and Nixon won't ever be used despite his Californian birth/childhood. + 71.102.3.86 (talk) 12:43, 14 September 2009 (UTC)

Proposed schools
I heard from my mother who's in the Desert Sands Unified Special Education parents committee that another school: Eisenhower next to Amistad high (formerly Wilson Middle) is closing at the end of the school year. Like Wilson & Adams, DSUSD plans to make Eisenhower a special studies school. And a new elementary school to be build on Ave 42 & Gore st. between Monroe & Jackson, a newly built part of Indio.


 * If I can choose a school name: either it's Barack Obama or Nancy Pelosi, due to being the first black American pres & first woman house speaker in US history. Andrew Jackson school (my bro & I went there too) may be renamed, just like he's replaced on the $20 bill with Harriet Tubman's face, because Jackson removed Native Americans like the Cherokee (my maternal ancestry) from the eastern US in the 1830s. The inventor of the Cherokee alphabet, Sequoyah, would be perfect to rename currently Jackson school. 67.49.89.214 (talk) 00:25, 10 September 2016 (UTC)


 * Last year, the local daily The Desert Sun listed 3 DSUSD, along with 2 PSUSD (Desert Hot Springs High School and San Gorgonio community school) and one CVUSD school (West Shores High School) had below-average standard test scores in the 2008-09 school year. They failed to meet county, state and federal guidelines, and these schools need improvement. Wilson Middle school closed in 2009, and from what I heard was Indio High, Jefferson Middle and Roosevelt elementary schools. The budgets in public education aren't in good shape, but the 3 oldest of Indio's schools in the Desert Sands Unified school district could shut down by the end of this year. Mike D 26 (talk) 09:05, 26 January 2011 (UTC)


 * None of them shut down, improved test scores and will be renovated. The DSUSD are turning around with new school proposals, something on land acquired along Washington Street for future schools: a grade, middle and a high school in the next few years. And along 40th Avenue in Indio are 2 elementary level school sites (one is the Sands Scholarship Center adjacent to the new Shadow Hills High and Desert Ridge Middle schools). 71.102.21.238 (talk) 08:35, 5 September 2012 (UTC)


 * While what you say may be true, Wikipedia needs verification. This means reliable sources are required. Your various edits have lacked both RS or explanation.  I encourage you to register as an editor and then read and please follow these guidelines and policies.  Thank you. --S. Rich (talk) 20:36, 5 September 2012 (UTC)


 * I received your message, Srich and will work on wikipedia reliability rules. The DSUSD said Indian Wells elementary, middle and high school projects represent the smallest yet richest city of the Coachella Valley and the city may have a small young child population, but the nearby cities of Palm Desert and La Quinta, and unincorporated Bermuda Dunes sure do. They will provide special ed. classes for the rising number of children with disabilities usually in older schools further from where the students tend to live. 71.102.21.238 (talk) 02:33, 6 September 2012 (UTC)
 * Thanks. I recommend you take the tutorial to learn about these requirements. The only way we can have a reliable encyclopedia is to provide WP:RS. Too many articles are there based on what particular editors happen to know of their own accord, but those articles are not reliable because we cannot verify what has been written. So I look forward to your helpful edits.--S. Rich (talk) 02:37, 6 September 2012 (UTC)


 * I went back to find news sources despite what the DSUSD open house meetings said. The economic recession and state education budget cuts blocked further expansion for now, including layoffs of teachers and staff. Last week showed a different budget profile than earlier this year. The DSUSD owned properties they had to sold to other developers, but I know they owned some land on Washington Street and Fred Waring Drive, and Miles Avenue and Warner Trail in Indian Wells hence the future schools named for Indian Wells. 71.102.21.238 (talk) 06:49, 8 September 2012 (UTC)


 * The Patch source you give has various stories about DSUSD. But what specific topic or story is encyclopedic? Please keep in mind we are interested in an overall picture, not whether or not parents are preparing for a new school year or specific elections, etc. Likewise, the selling of certain properties to developers is not encyclopedic. Plans for future schools needs RS, but consider WP:CRYSTAL.--S. Rich (talk) 15:24, 8 September 2012 (UTC)


 * DSUSD hasn't expanded in the number of schools in 2016, in part of the decade-long decline of the birth rate means less students than projected to attend the school district's facilities in the future. 2605:E000:FDCA:4200:D962:2182:F3EB:EEB3 (talk) 01:05, 18 March 2016 (UTC)


 * La Quinta Middle school has a cancer cluster only affecting teachers on the campus, but no report of students getting cancer nor the nearby Harry Truman Elem school. This is a safety matter the school district has to take care of or the school may close down or relocate away from the cancer cluster's source. http://www.kesq.com/news/indepth-investigation-examining-reports-of-a-cancer-cluster-at-la-quinta-middle-school/31222786 67.49.89.214 (talk) 10:05, 11 September 2016 (UTC)

Former schools
There used to be a building named "Lincoln School East" on the campus of Abraham Lincoln Elementary School, which was county education buildings in the late 1980s and 1990s before it was torn down. In the early 1970s it was used as Palm Desert Middle school before moving to a larger permanent campus, and Indio High School Annex in the early 1980s before the high school was officially built as Palm Desert High school: four classrooms in one building, four trailers north and four trailers south (made into a tennis court in the 1980s). Palm Desert historically was a rural town, less younger people and higher median age, and the majority were seasonal part-time residents. This explains why there wasn't a huge need for a middle and high school in the 1950s and 60s, only until the population was large enough, more children under age 18 and more year-round full-time residents made this possible. 2605:E000:FDCA:4200:24F3:157C:31F4:1568 (talk) 13:56, 21 March 2016 (UTC)