At the Oct 19th Clovis Unified School Board meeting, the Clovis School Board took part in celebrating the National Association of School Psychologists.
National School Psychology Appreciation Week will commence the week of November 7-11th, yet at the October 19th school board meeting, CUSD School Psychologists were present and honored by the school board.
School Board President Tiffany Stoker Madsen read the proclamation recognizing the upcoming week as well as CUSD’s school psychologists.
“Whereas school psychologists are trained to assess student and school based barriers to learning, as well as individual strengths, utilize data based decision making, implement research driven prevention and intervention strategies, and evaluate outcomes and improve accountability. And whereas, we recognize the vital role that school psychologists play in the personal and academic development of our Clovis Unified School District students.”
District-Wide Psychologist Program Specialist Kristine Lachs stood at the lectern and thanked the board for their support and acknowledgement of the psychologists in the district. She then spoke about the group and the talented individuals that represent CUSD.
“On behalf of our group, they are about the hardest working group -they work day in and day out with some of our absolutely most challenging, most complex cases that we have out there.”
Cy Hiyane and Tiffany Masten, representatives for the school psychologists of CUSD then spoke to the school board on topics relating to both the increased workload of a school psychologist, and the negotiation of a union contract between ACE and CUSD.
After listing off requirements that she as well as other school psychologists undertake, Tiffany Masten recognized that her caseload is almost double the recommended NASP ratio of 1 school psychologist to 500 students. Resulting in her devoting less time to meeting the social/emotional needs of children and instead focusing on the legal requirements of special education evaluations.
“There is a correlation between student to psych ratio and our professional activities. The most consistent finding is that as this ratio increases above 700 students, school sites engage less in activities related to mental and behavioral health, instructional support and prevention.”
Cy Hiyane reported that ACE and Clovis Unified have met thirteen times and have totaled sixty-five hours in formal negotiations. They have come to agreements on five out of nineteen proposals.
To close her public presentation to the school board, Tiffany Masten recognized the importance of having adults present for the time and mind of a child.
“We know that resilience requires that a child have a presence of at least one supportive, caring adult.”
is almost double the recommended NASP ratio of 1 school psychologist to 500 students and this has caused me to devote less time to meeting the social/emotional needs of children and instead focus on the legal requirements of special education evaluations.