Contracting for School Psychological Services in New York State

New York state school psychologists continue to misunderstand the issues related to contracting for services.  This is problematic, because other who are in a position of authority tend to misrepresent what is old news. 

To begin with, districts have unique systems that allow them to subcontract other agencies or individuals to provide services when schools cannot do so (typically through BOCES although private contractors are used in some LEA's such as the NYC DOE).  For example, a district can seek an outside contractor if there is a student who is deaf or hard of hearing and if they can demonstrate that they do not employ school psychologists with the expertise to evaluate a student with those needs (and if there are no interpreters within the district). 

Somehow, people in the field have begun to worry that this practice can eliminate the employment of school psychologists by districts.  

Nothing could be farther than the truth.

The issue of a district eliminating school psychologists and contracting for their services has already been challenged at the state level and the New York State Educational Department (NYSED) has consistently ruled that a district has no authority to eliminate a position and contract for the same services provided by these professionals.

My goal is to disseminate some of the rulings by the Education Commissioner which highlight that this practice runs counter to Education Law.  I'll begin with one ruling and will continue onwards.

On particular ruling (Maxine Davis v. Westport School District http://www.counsel.nysed.gov/Decisions/volume39/d14234.htm)

involves a school psychologist who was employed full time by the district for five years and then .6 for the year after that.  After that year, the position was eliminated. 

At that time, the district also contracted with an agency that provided substance abuse prevention services who placed one of their employees in the school to provide services to children. 

While the district maintained that the services that the agency staff provided (on school grounds) were different than those that were provided by the school psychologist, attorneys for Maxine Davis disagreed.  They stated that the services that the agency person provided included:

Counseling services to students with existing alcohol, tobacco, or other drug abuse concerns. Additional services are provided in the areas of individual counseling, student assessment, family contacts, recommendations for referrals to other needed services in the community, student support groups such as Banana Splits and Students Against Drunk Drivers (SADD), peer mediation or related training, faculty, staff, parent training, and assistance with planning and carrying out positive alternative activities.

The Education Commissioner, of course, ruled that the school psychologist needed to be reinstated immediately and paid back-pay.

In ruling on this case, the Commissioner cited a few cases that are important for all school psychologists to keep in mind.

• Mairs v. Board of Education - Affirmed NYS Education Law which states that if a district eliminates a position and creates another position whose duties are similar to those performed by the person whose position was eliminated, then the person holding such position at the time of its abolition shall be appointed to the newly created position.

• Matter of Friedman - This is the first ruling that indicated that a school board has no authority to eliminate a position and contract out for the same services. It further provides a strong rationale for having a school psychologist as an integrated member of the school team, as opposed to a contracted professional that is not integrated into the school.   It goes on to indicate that the duties of a school psychologist are pedagogical in nature and since a board of education has no general authorization to contract for instructional services then all school districts must continue to employ certified school psychologists to perform those duties which are truly instructional in nature, including serving on the CSE and providing psychological evaluations and counseling. This decision continues to be referenced whenever there is even a hint of using independent contractors to provide school psychological services. 

• Appeal of Spataro - Affirmed that a district may not ignore the tenure rights of its employees by attempting to contract with an independent contractor to perform the same services previously performed by its tenured staff.

I strongly suggest that all school psychologists who are employed in New York state familiarize themselves with this case and reference the document located at: http://nyasp.org/pdf/cutting_sps.pdf  which offers some more information contracting for services.

I'd encourage you to share this information widely with your colleagues, peers and administrators, as well as other individuals in positions of authority.

Mental Health is the Issue

This shooting in Connecticut has affected us all.  And in the rush to deal with this tragedy, invariably the public will focus on guns and gun control.

Doing so, I feel, will probably sidetrack the issue as to how we can deliver mental health services to more people (and especially children) in a better and more efficient way.

The gun issue is nuanced.  Some countries actually have more guns per capita than the United States.  That's true, but there are major conditions placed on the citizens in those countries , both before and after guns are purchased.  It's true that gun related violence is not prevalent in those countries, but, at least in Israel, the rates of gun related suicide are quite high.

But, violence occurs at high rates in other countries where it is nearly impossible to obtain a gun.  Remarkably, on the same day that we witnessed the horror at Sandy Hook elementary in Newton, the residents of the Guangshan county in the city of Xinyang also dealt with a tragedy that defied logic.  Twenty-two children were attacked by a knife-wielding individual outside the gates of the Chenpeng Village Primary School.

Just to be clear, I do agree that gun laws need to be stricter.  But we should not let the conversation move away from mental health.

In many ways, we may be very similar to China.  Our lives are stressful.  There is a wide gulf between the rich and poor, and workers in all countries are not treated fairly, leading to high rates of poverty. We move a lot within our country's borders, which erodes our social support.  "Back in the day", when we didn't move all that much, children found support in extended family.  That extended family is not always so close in today's day.  And there is a lack of psychological support in the schools and in the community at large.

In addition (while I can't speak for China), I know that we are, as a people very mean to one another.  We get angry way too easily.  We value winning an argument, at any cost, than coming to a realistic resolution.   This narrative dominates our political discourse, but it also has trickled into our daily lives.  Along with the environmental stressors that we are all experiencing, we are just not nice to one another.  And if we are all experiencing this distress, the effects should be more intense for children and adults with mental illness.

This isn't an argument for excusing the actions of what these attackers committed in Connecticut and in Xinyang.   But, if these people had been able to access the psychological support in their schools, communities and clinics in their area, perhaps we would not have had these tragedies.   Chilling statistics on the National Alliance on Mental Illness website remind us that:

Despite effective treatments, there are long delays, sometimes decades, between the first onset of symptoms and when people seek and receive treatment. An untreated mental disorder can lead to a more severe, more difficult to treat illness and to the development of co-occurring mental illnesses.

and:

In any given year, only 20 percent of children with mental disorders are identified and receive mental health services.

Organizations such as New York Association of School Psychologists (NYASP) and the National Association of School Psychologists (NASP) have worked hard to help school professionals and families deal with these disparities.  They were some of the first groups to post helpful resources to help the families, friends and children that were dealing with the aftermath of the Sandy Hook massacre.  And they continue to advocate for legislative solutions to close this mental health gap.

The real conversation here is how we can have more people access more mental health services in our attempt to prevent these types of tragedies from occurring again in the future.

School Psychologist

"What is a school psychologist?" people often ask me  - this great piece is a nice succinct description of what school psychologists do!  Check it out!

VA Tech shootings

President Bush has asked the Departments of Education, Justice, and Health and Human Services to conduct a "review of broader questions raised by this tragedy" says a Reuters report.

What exactly that means is quite murky. More money to schools and university to treat these issues? More legislation? More paperwork for psychologists and counselors on campuses?

There is already some chatter on some news services and blogs that the shooter was diagnosed with Autism when his family immigrated from South Korea to the United States. Maybe the question should be: will the government fund social skills training for bilingual children with disabilities?

Handouts are available at the New York Association of School Psychologists website: www.nyasp.org

School Psychologists and Suicide

One of my students contacted me this morning and was quite upset about a problem she was facing.

She had dealt with a child who was evidencing suicidal ideation, and she told her principal and AP about it (her supervisor was out sick). Her administration told her to ignore it. She didn't. She spoke to her supervisor and they agreed that they needed to report this.

She called the parents of the child and arranged for a hospital visit. Her administration was not amused. They apparently threatened to "get them in trouble".

I told her that this was a common reaction of administrators when school psychologists do things that are not in their control. According to the NASP Ethics Code: "School psychologists are committed to the application of their professional expertise for the purpose of promoting improvement in the quality of life for children, their families, and the school community." This child obviously did not have a good quality of life, and, her actions were an attempt to make that better.

Good job, I say. For further information, check out the NASP reprint of an article in the communique discussing what can be done for children who are suicidal.

http://www.nasponline.org/publications/cq/cq354suicide.aspx

NYASP Urban Issues LIstserv

So I tend to take on a lot whenever I join a new group.

I've started a NYASP google group which is specific to NY State Urban school psychology issues.

Come on in and join...

New York State releases new IDEA Part 200 regulations

NYS has released the proposals for Part 200 regulations for the enforcement of the IDEA-2004.

Finally.

They are available if you click onto the title of this posting.

I've put in some links on the bottom left hand side of this blog, which will take you to the Federal government's site in which the actually Act is listed.