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After the Resignation of Superintendent Dr. Shough, the Liberty 25 Board attracted over thirty applications to fill the open position for Superintendent. After a number of interviews with the candidates, the Board selected Dr. Cort Monroe as the Superintendent and Chief Executive to lead the Liberty 25 Elementary School District. Dr. Monroe had the leadership qualities and aligned with the boards direction and values. The Board Leadership worked with Counsel to create a three year contract for Dr. Monroe that leveraged milestones and goals as well as limiting the tax payer liability.
The number two candidate for the Superintendent position Dr. Stephanie Mohorne was incredibly impressive and the Board worked with Dr. Monroe to have her fill the position of Assistant Superintendent.
School Counselors and Psychologists are not required to be licensed to practice psychotherapy for mental and behavior health in Public Schools. Furthermore, School Counselors and Psychologist were not required to provide parental authorization before speaking to a child about any subject matter. In May 2024, the Board leadership under the Direction of President Todd, revised Policy JLD that would require School Counselors to be licensed by and in good standing with the Arizona Board of Behavioral Health Examiners (BBHE) to engage in the practice of behavior health counseling. The Policy change also requires prior written consent of a parent or legal guardian prior to a meeting with the student. The consent shall explain the purpose of the services, the procedures to follow, and a description of their right to withdraw consent at any time.
The Board also revised policy JLDA and refined the job description for School Psychologists that limited the scope of their work to Special Ed IEP and 504 evaluations an placements. School Psychologists under no circumstances will interact with general Ed students.
Mr Todd and Mr. Cirrincione are committed to make sure school staff, counselors and psychologists never discuss any issues outside of academic needs of students and to make sure parents are informed and have consent when talking to a school counselor or Special Ed School psychologists.
Public Schools spend up to thirty percent of classroom resources on behavior and mental health psychotherapy services by unlicensed Counselors and School Psychologists. There are a number of outside of District programs that can address these issues by qualified licensed therapists that frees up those resources back to the classroom. During the 2024 budgeting process the School Board redirected all funds that were previously allocated to Behavior and Mental Health to a number of Reading Interventionists positions.
In August 2024, President Todd and Mr. Cirrincione were key votes in the policy revision IGD that restricts the use of any destructive political ideology in the curriculum and the classroom. The Liberty 25 Elementary School District will not engage in the teaching of CRT, DEI, Values Based SEL, Victimhood, Racism, Racial preference or political ideology. We suggest parents ignore advice from those claiming to know whether your children are potential racists/victims or not. Parents are capable of talking about anything with their children in their own way, and in their own time.
School Districts over the past decade adopted a number of very controversial discipline programs called Restorative Justice (RJ) and Positive Behavior Intervention Supports (PBIS) that by definition is psychotherapy and rewards bad behavior with positive reinforcement. (no consequences). This created a very unhealthy and dangerous environment for both Students and Staff.
The Board worked tirelessly to create a discipline matrix for the start of the 2024/2025 school year that removed all aspects of PBIS and RJ. In addition all disruption in a classroom would be immediately referred to the School Principal with Parent notification. The District policy has moved back to a traditional discipline policy that brings accountability and safety back to the classroom.
The DOE in cooperation with the Biden administration revised Title IX that would require District Staff to allow boys to have access to girls locker room, bathrooms, and sports teams as well as requiring staff to remember and use the students pronouns.
The number one responsibility and requirement of School Boards is the safety of all children. This modification to Title IX would have put our students in harms way and the Liberty 25 Board with the key votes of President Todd and Mr. Cirrincione rejected the modifications to Title IX in the Liberty 25 Elementary School District.
The Liberty 25 School Board has required all Schools in the District to provide a private restroom for any student who does not feel comfortable in a gender based multi stall restroom.
Student proficiency is one of the highest priorities of the Liberty 25 Elementary School District. The Districts low math proficiency is not acceptable and the Board has put in place in August 2024 a resolution that addresses the math proficiency issues. The current curriculum is common core based illustrative math that all stakeholders have difficulty with.
The Board is currently evaluating the data, and over the year will be looking at options of supplementing the current curriculum or moving entirely to a classic math program.
One of the key objectives in the new strategic plan is providing excellent customer service both internally and externally. At the Boards direction the Liberty 25 administration is providing ongoing training and professional development on providing high quality customer service to our staff and parents. The Board approved the District’s new ‘Be Nice! Customer Service Standards’, to help promote a positive culture between LESD staff, parents, students, and community members. These were formulated by staff from around the district and emphasize the appropriate behaviors expected in LESD whether on the phone, on an email, in person or with first impressions.
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