Nearly 100 students from Liberty Central School District will take part in the 70th annual Sullivan County Music Educators’ Association All-County Music Festival in Monticello.

Students will work with notable guest conductors from throughout the United States on Friday, March 7, and during the day on Saturday, March 8.

The event will culminate with three concerts on Saturday at the Monticello High School Arnold Packer Hughs Auditorium at 39 Breakey Ave. Elementary Chorus and Middle School Band will perform at 1 p.m., followed by Senior High Mixed Chorus, Junior High Band and Senior High Treble Chorus at 3 p.m., with the final concert, featuring Senior High Jazz Band and Junior High String Orchestra at 5 p.m.

Liberty students scheduled to participate in the festival are:

Elementary Chorus

Katarina Card, Riley Church-Bradley, Avery Decker, Viviana Fraiser, Joseph Geoghan, Tyler Kavleski, Sydney Kehrer, Makenzie Knack, Ryleigh LaMantia, Josslyn Letohic, Daisuke Mapes, Cora McConnell, Nicholas McPhillips, Logan Moore, Denali Owens, Shaleigh Santiago, MaKynlie Smith, Henry Vogler, Raegan Wagner and Sophie Zayas.

Middle School Band

Owen Brust, Raymond Cottman Jr., Dia D’Agata, Claire Ferguson, Michael Garzon, Chase Golzak, Gavin Grant, Mia Grant, Genesis Harrison, Dylan Joya Reyes, Aubrie Keating, Lilly Kehrley, Antoni Klys, Corinne Lake, Harper Matuszak, Bentley Moore, Scarlett Ratner, Sherlene Romero, Caleb Rusin and Brycen Smith.

Junior High Band

Phillip Burrous, Amelia Cole, Grace Fitzgerald, Jasmine Garcia Reyes, Mariana Joya Reyes, Jacob Pennell and Tyler Smith.

Junior High String Orchestra

Farrah Conklin Degraw, Joshua DiBartolo, Makayla Fuentes-Serapio, Belle Gandulla, Alan Hernandez Lopez, Ayelene Ines-Leon, Isabella Intranuovo, Olivia Matuszak, McKinzie Paterson, Aaliyssa Rodriguez, Sulenny Romero and Alena Tarabichi and Sophia Vasko.

Junior High Band

Zachariah Bickham, Hope Corbett and Timothy Eronimous.

Senior High Jazz Band

Kaitlyn  Bodolosky, Brandon Buschmann, Sophia Ferguson, Luis Molina Gonzalez and Phillo Romero.

High School Treble Choir

Endya Alvarez, Liliana Crespo, Sydania Foster, Lianna Gissentaner, Audrey Krum, Lena Lagatutta, Angelina Magie, Katherine Maldonado, Elizabeth Navarette, Riley Santiago and Mykenzi Williams.

High School Mixed Choir

Sophia Avellino, Genna DeFrank, Eli Desrochers, , Allisson Diaz Lopez, Christopher DiBartolo, Lia Guillerme, Jordan Hewlett, Kelsey Hopkins,Tyler Juron, Jacob Kelly, Joshua Kratz, Shea-Leigh Kristiansen, James Letohic III, Gabriella Sheridan, Elijah Warren, Rachel Yaun, Sebastian Yupanqui and Rita Zheng.

Participating students have had a chance to pre-purchase tickets. Any remaining tickets will be available on a first-come, first-served basis and are $8 each.

Please note that all concert audience members will go through a security checkpoint with metal detectors. Attendees are asked to leave unnecessary bags in the vehicle and personal knives are not permitted into the building.

For more information on the concert, call Andrew Verdino or Michael Mingo at 845-794-8840, ext. 10853.

The New York State Education Department recently released accountability designations for all public school districts as required under the state’s Every Student Succeeds Act, or ESSA. There are no changes in the 2024-25 designations.

The Middle School remains a Targeted Support and Improvement School, because four student subgroups — Black, Hispanic, English Language Learners and Economically Disadvantaged — did not meet expectations.

Liberty Elementary School remains designated as a Potential Target School, due to the achievement scores of our students with disabilities.

The District remains a Targeted District, because of the Middle School designation.

Last year Liberty High School was classified a Local Support and Improvement school, formerly known as a “School in Good Standing.” LHS had been on the Targeted Support and Improvement school list for several years, including the two years designations were not changed because of the pause in testing during the COVID pandemic.

For more information about the district’s accountability designations, visit the district’s ESSA webpage, or contact Interim Assistant Superintendent Marianne Serratore at 845-292-5400, ext. 2063, or mserratore@libertyk12.org.

Although there is still more than three months until the public will vote on the Liberty Central School District budget, district officials have been hard at work for months to begin crafting a budget that will maintain programs and balance fiscal responsibility to the taxpayers.

The process began in October when Assistant Superintendent for Business Laurene McKenna requested 2025-26 proposals from administrators.

In December, Ms. McKenna presented the rollover budget information to the Board of Education. Those items include expenses that are carried over from year-to-year such as salaries, health care costs and other contractual obligations.

Preliminary state aid proposals were released last month. Under this proposal, Liberty CSD would see a 3.02% — or more than $1 million — increase in Foundation Aid, the main source of funding from the state. The district did see a loss in reimbursements from capital projects, but that is because a gap in capital project outlays during the current fiscal year.

The first presentation of the budget proposal, which will provide a conceptual framework for the final budget, will go before the Board of Education on Tuesday, Feb. 25.

“Our goal is to maintain the programs put in place during COVID, which used funds from the American Rescue Plan and Every Student Succeeds acts, even though that funding has dropped,” Ms. McKenna said.

The budget will hold true to the district’s strategic plan and continue investments in our students’ education following the District Comprehensive Improvement and building-level plans, Superintendent Dr. Patrick Sullivan said.

Once the budget is finalized, the district will plan a series of informational sessions in the community that will be communicated as they are set.

The budget vote will take place from 11 a.m. to 8 p.m. Tuesday, May 20, in the high school Media Center. For more budget information, visit the district’s budget page.