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Wednesday, February 20, 2019
BY JIM WALSH AFN Staff Writer
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ne by one, grieving East Valley mothers displayed photos of their sons who are part of the region’s suicide cluster, pleading with the state Senate’s Education Committee for help. The visibly moved committee members delivered, voting 7-0 to approve a landmark teen suicide prevention-training bill – a critical step to the legislation advancing, but several stages short of it becoming law. Sponsored by Sen. Sean Bowie, whose district includes Ahwatukee and parts of Chandler, Mesa and Tempe, the bipartisan SB1468 would require suicide prevention training every three years for all school personnel involved with grades 6-12.
“It’s so hard when something so bad happens,’’ said Sen. Kate Brophy McGee, R-Phoenix, who joined other members in thanking three East Valley mothers for their testimony and offering condolences. Lorie Warnock, of Tempe, an English teacher in Ahwatukee who lost her son, Mitch, to suicide in 2016 while he attended Corona del Sol High School, said she was “cautiously hopeful’’ when Bowie decided to sponsor a softer version of the bill named in memory of her son. “I can testify that as a teacher of 25 years, I was not prepared to know what to look for,” she said. Warnock said it was disappointing last year when Bowie’s first attempt was reject-
see SUICIDES page 12
HORIZON TRIUMPHS
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Lorie Warnock of Tempe, a teacher at Mountain Pointe High School, lost her athlete son to suicide when he was a junior at Corona del Sol High School. She begged the committee to require suicide prevention training for all school personnel. (Special to AFN)
Kyrene slates parent sessions on new education program
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Grieving moms talk of their sons’ suicides
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BY PAUL MARYNIAK AFN Executive Editor
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yrene school officials have scheduled two informational sessions for parents on an experimental twoyear program it is starting next August for up to 120 third and fourth graders at Manitas Elementary School in Tempe after the school board voted 3-2 to approve it. The meetings are 6-7:30 p.m. today, Feb. 20, and March 4 at district headquarters on the northwest corner of Warner and Kyrene Roads, Tempe. Open Houses:They follow a nearly threeKathy Cipresso invited special education students from Mountain Pointe High to her hour – and at times contenshop, Kathy’s Alterations on Chandler Boulevard in Ahwatukee, lastFebruary week to show them20th at 9:00am Saturday, tious – meeting of the governing some sewing basics as part of a job skills program. For details, see page 23. (Kimberly Carrillo/AFN Staff Photographer) Wednesday, February 24th atFeb. 6:00pm board 12 that ended with
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the two Tempe members of the board, Michelle Fahy and Kevin Walsh, voting against it after they lost an effort to delay the vote. The program will be open to any student in the district entering third or fourth grade in August. The vote culminated two years of work by Kyrene officials, parents and even some students with the design initiatives team from Arizona State University’s Mary Lou Fulton Teachers College. It does away with the traditional classroom model of a teacher addressing students sitting in rows of desks and will focus on more collaboration, using
see KYRENE page 14
Toddler • Primary • Elementary • Adolescent www.keystonemontessori.com • (480) 460-7312 1025 E. Liberty Ln. , Phoenix, AZ 85048 (Across the street from the YMCA)
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