Liberty Pines Academy’s
Administrative Team

John P. (JP) Swope
Principal

Gracie Beish
Assistant Principal

Ms. Beish graduated from Youngstown State University with a bachelor’s and master’s degree in special education (Mild/Moderate & Moderate/Severe Disabilities). Additionally, she attended the University of Akron for doctoral work in Curriculum & Instruction with a focus on the correlation between school suspensions and prison rates.

After relocating to Florida, Ms. Beish earned a specialist’s degree in K-12 Educational Leadership from Florida Atlantic University. She also holds endorsements in ESE, Autism, PreK Disabilities, English for Speakers of Other Languages, & Reading.

Throughout her career Ms. Beish has served as a Developmental Therapist (South Florida), Teacher (Ohio & South Woods Elementary), ESE Coordinator (Palm Beach & Broward County), and most recently Assistant Principal at Ocean Palms Elementary.

Ms. Beish enjoys traveling, spending time with Family, riding her bike to the beach, and spoiling her Yorkipoo.

Ms. Beish believes in servant leadership and is looking forward to the 2024-25 school year at LPA.

Ms. Beish is the Assistant Principal of grades 6-8 and the behavior classrooms.  

With 22 years as a parent and an educator in St. Johns County, Mrs. Stanton is dedicated to the success of SJCSD schools and students. She has had the opportunity to serve in a variety of instructional roles and is very excited to join the LPA community.

She earned her Bachelors and Masters in Communicative Disorders from the University of Central Florida and a Masters in Educational Leadership from the American College of Education.

She began her educational career as a Speech Language Pathologist in Orange County Public Schools. Her husband’s career brought her to the Jacksonville area where she worked for a short time in Duval County before transferring to St. Johns County. She transitioned into a traditional teaching role as a 1^st grade and then Kindergarten teacher. For the last six years she served as an instructional literacy coach in both elementary and secondary settings.  

She believes that education is a team sport, no matter what position you play, educators, parents, and students are all vital participants in reaching our mutual goal – the success of the learners. She believes together we are greater than the sum of our parts.

Ms. Stanton is the Assistant Principal for grades K-2.  

An educator for 13 years, Rebekah has served as a teacher, reading interventionist, Instructional Coach and currently as Assistant Principal in K-8 settings.  She started her education career in Jacksonville, in Duval County, where she was New Educator of the Year.  She holds a Master’s in Educational Leadership from St. Thomas University, a Master of Arts in Teaching-Elementary Education from National-Louis University and a Bachelor’s in Business Administration from Columbia College.    

In my free time, I enjoy baking, traveling and spending time with family! 

“I am excited and eager to work as a partner in education to ensure your child’s success and I look forward each day to building relationships with all our wonderful students, families, teachers, and staff.  I look forward to working with you this school year!” 

Ms. Walton is the Assistant Principal for grades 3-5.