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Wednesday December 2, 2020
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New superintendent ready for the COVID-19 Challenge BY PAUL MARYNIAK AFN Executive Editor
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wo master’s degrees and 26 years in education never prepared Laura Toenjes for what she’s gone through the last nine months. Pandemics will do that to anyone. And when she takes over as Kyrene School District’s new superintendent Jan. 1, she’ll need the on-the-job training she’s been getting since March as the architect of the district’s COVID-19 mitigation strategies. That’s because along with all the other tasks and duties awaiting anyone in her position – like building new relationships in the community, including with the newest two of her �ive bosses – the pandemic is handing Toenjes a host of challenges that most of her predecessors in the job probably could never have imagined. Those challenges include the pandemic’s deepening impact on district �inances, continuing Kyrene’s successful ability to withstand the virus’ withering effect on staff
retention and – most important of all – ensuring a quality education for more than 16,700 children who may or may not see the inside of a classroom again in 2020-21. Toenjes is bracing for a wild ride after the Governing Board Nov. 24 unanimously approved a 30-month contract and of�icially named her to replace Superintendent Dr. Jan Vesely, who is retiring at the end of the month. Toenjes is determined to approach those challenges with a lemonade-from-lemons philosophy. “I am very much trying to look for the opportunities or the positive in what’s happening to us at the moment,” she said, though she readily admits the pandemic has tested her fortitude on that score. “I’m not going to lie,” she told AFN in an interview. “It’s been hard. It’s been exhausting.” Looking back on the spring break that, because of COVID-19, never ended until
Laura Toenjes has been assistant superintendent of Kyrene School District since 2016 and will take over the ��� KYRENE ���� 12 top job Jan. 1. (Courtesy of Kyrene School District)
Recreational pot law impact yet to be felt
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BY JIM WALSH Tribune Staff Writer
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rizona’s new Proposition 207 is enabling as many as 3 million residents to buy a small amount of marijuana legally for the �irst time without a state-issued medical card and get high in their home. The new law – which took effect as state of�icials certi�ied the results of the Nov. 3 election – promises millions of dollars for teacher training, substance abuse treatment, suicide prevention and even enforcement of impaired
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driving laws. It also promises a host of challenges. Police are preparing for more impaired drivers. The courts could see a deluge of requests for expungements of prior marijuana possession convictions. Prop 207 provides for neither defense. Prop 207 won a much larger victory – 1,946,440-1,302,458, or 60-40 percent, according to unof�icial results – than Presidentelect Joe Biden did in the state. Although it legalizes possession of up to an ounce of marijuana, its full impact prob-
ably won’t hit home until April – when medical marijuana dispensaries will be able to sell weed to millions of new customers who won’t have to qualify for a medical marijuana card. Of course, it’s not as if those without a card couldn’t �ind marijuana in Arizona, a border state known for illegal drug traf�icking. However, voter approval of the medical marijuana proposition in 2010 gave birth to a thriving industry. Through October, 287,715 residents with
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Discover the impact of a Kyrene education. L E A R N I N G. L E A D I N G. A C H I E V I N G.
www.kyrene.org/discover