Parks, Bryan

Meet the Candidate

Running For:

School Board

District:

Liberty Elementary School District

Phone:

(480) 318-6536

Age:

Occupation:

CTO, Entrepreneur

Biographical Info:

Bryan and his wife, Julie have been married for 17-years and have five children, two of whom are currently in 6th grade in the Liberty Elementary School District.

Bryan was selected from six applicants to fill a vacated seat on the Liberty School Board in October of 2021. Since his appointment Mr. Parks has focused on curriculum transparency, teacher pay, discipline, and requiring the Board and Administration to follow the letter of the law.

Mr. Parks has spent his life building successful businesses, and will continue to bring his business expertise and leadership to the Liberty School Board.

Statement:

Parents send their children to school to be educated in core subject matters. Our students must come first, and our Governing Board needs to refocus efforts on assuring academic achievement goals are met. The role of public schools is to academically prepare our children so they become responsible adults who can compete and live responsibly in the real world. Lets get back to strengthening our students in the basics of STEM science, technology, reading, writing, and math and keep divisive ideologies and political propaganda out of the classrooms.

Trust is eroded when school institutions do not respect parents, or worse, presume to know better than parents what their children need. We must have district leaders who abide by the Arizona Parents Bill of Rights which ensures that parents understand what their children are learning, are confident that their children are being prepared for college and careers, and are respected when they voice their concerns.

Waste and Corruption has a disproportionate impact on the poor and most vulnerable, increasing costs and reducing access to educational services. School Boards do very little in administration oversight in regards to proper spending for legal services, and the common practice of Superintendant’s double dipping into State retirement. School board members need to get better educated on all statutes including budget and commercial.

Over the past nine months I worked to increase teacher pay by 4.6%, required Open Meeting Laws to be followed and mandated curriculum transparency. I will continue to fight for parents rights, transparency and remove the waste and corruption.

Survey

Response Legend

SSupports
OOpposes
*Comment
−Declined to respond
†Declined to respond, Position based on citation

Question	Response	Comments/Notes
1. Requiring school officials, including teachers, to inform parents about their child’s social, mental, emotional, or physical health	S*	The schools must work in cooperation with the parents, so the parents can address the mental health needs of the child. Withholding critical mental health issues form the parents by a teacher or administrator should result in termination!
2. Allowing parents to opt their children out of activities or lessons they find offensive to their personal, moral, or religious beliefs	S*	Parents should always have the final say as to what their children are exposed to!
3. Increasing state and local taxes to provide more funding for schools and school facility projects	S*	I do not like how the budget overrides are handled in the state of Arizona. This puts an undue burden on the districts for future planning. I would support increasing local taxes (reasonably) to increase teacher pay for retention and attracting talented professional staff. The Teachers in Liberty School District continue to deal with staggering inflation in the West Valley. The cost of homes over the past 6 years has doubled, inflation has increased 14% this year alone and we don't seem to have the backbone as a board to demand significantly higher pay for the professional staff. Where else in a profession do we require a Masters degree and pay virtually minimum wage to the employee? Teachers should be paid compensatory to other professions with the same credential requirements. I believe teachers should be making at a minimum 70-100K annually.
4. Requiring signed permission from a parent before a student may participate in any sexuality related instruction, activities, or clubs.	S*	Parents should always have the final say as to what their children are exposed to!
5. Allowing all parents to use tax credits, vouchers, or education savings accounts to enable children to attend any public, charter, private, homeschool, or online academy	S
6. Requiring full-day kindergarten for all students	S
7. Mandating sex education classes for 5th-12th grade students	O*	Sex education should be optional for grades 6-12, and restricted K-5.
8. Allocating teacher pay raises based upon merit rather than providing uniform salary schedule increases based upon years of teaching or additional credentialing (e.g. masters degrees)	S
9. Implementing policies to allow students and faculty to use the restroom, locker room, and shower room that aligns with their gender identity	O
10. Teaching what is known as diversity, equity, inclusion (DEI); social, emotional learning (SEL); or critical race theory (CRT) in public schools.	O*	Lets get back to strengthening our students in the basics of STEM science, technology, reading, writing, and math and keep divisive ideologies and political propaganda out of the classrooms.
11. Increasing academic (curriculum) transparency by requiring each public school to post online for parents and the public a list of all instructional materials being used in the classroom.	S*	The Liberty School district failed to have a complete list of the primary and supplementary educational materials posted on the district website. Mr. Parks personally worked with Superintendent Shough to have all materials posted and available for review by parents no later than the start of the 2022 - 2023 school year.