Board sends all seven candidate names to Maricopa County superintendent for appointment
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Summary
After discussion and differing preferences among trustees, the Liberty board voted 4-0 to transmit all seven candidate names to the Maricopa County superintendent’s office rather than narrowing to a prioritized three.
The Liberty Elementary District board debated whether to nominate three preferred candidates for a county appointment and ultimately voted to forward all seven applications it had received to the Maricopa County superintendent’s office.
Dr. Mahorn reminded trustees that the county expects a ranked list of three candidate names but that if the board cannot reach consensus staff will forward all candidate materials for the county to consider. Trustees discussed public feedback from a candidate forum and from a community survey; the board asked staff to confirm that survey data were reviewed for duplicate submissions and said administration produced both raw and deduplicated results for trustees.
Trustee Kenyon said he wanted Donny Bond included on any list; other trustees expressed different preferences—Trustee Schmidt said she favored Ana Gutierrez, Courtney Kelly and Ashley Wright based on forum performance and written responses; Trustee Cenciani preferred a mixture that included Donny Bond, and another trustee suggested Mike Lyons. Rather than try to reach agreement on three names, Trustee Kenyon moved to forward all seven candidate names and materials to the county; the motion was seconded and passed 4-0 (Kenyon, Schmidt, Cenciani, Vice President Zimmerman recorded as ayes).
What’s next: Administration will forward all seven candidate applications and supporting materials to the Maricopa County superintendent’s office for consideration and possible interviews; the county office will proceed with its appointment process.
