Calendar, part-time school psychologist offered contract

McCOOK, Neb. -- A request to move a second parent teachers conference to earlier in the school year was a no-go.

At January's board meeting, the McCook Board of Education reviewed the first draft of the school calendar for next year and asked that the second-semester parent teachers conference be moved from March up to February, to reduce the amount of time from the first conference in September.

At Monday night's meeting, Superintendent Grant Norgaard said in discussions with staff, moving the parent teacher's conferences up to February was not feasible, due to so many activities going on in February, such as state and district competitions and church sponsored ski trips. The calendar the board approved unanimously Monday night kept second-semester parent teachers conferences on March 15-16.

The approved calendar also gives teachers one more "early-out Wednesday" the last week in April. This request came from teachers who asked for the extra day to review state assessment results. The prior calendar had the last early-out Wednesday the third week of April.

Students in the McCook School district are released at 2 p.m. on Wednesdays, so teachers can coordinate with other teachers regarding student achievement as well as complete other work.

Also Monday night, the board unanimously approved a contract for a school psychologist at a little more than half time.

The district currently has one full-time psychologist, Robin Bennett, who spoke earlier in the meeting, and contracts out another psychologist part time from Educational Service Unit 15. Hiring a part time school psychologist directly is more economical, said Superintendent Grant Norgaard Monday night.

Meghan Gregg will graduate in May 2018 with an education specialist degree in school psychology. She is currently at Minden Public Schools in school psychology problem-solving assessment and completing her interventions practicum.

No salary was discussed in the approval of the contract. McCook Public Schools business manager Rick Haney said today she was hired with a master's degree plus 18 units of education at Step 1 (first year of teaching) at .6.

In her presentation to the board, Bennett said the recommendation is one school psychologist to every 800 to 1,000 students. The McCook district has 1,600 students, not including students from St. Patrick School or students in Head Start or pre-school.

Bennett is spending much of her time in referrals for special education, Norgaard said, but that is only part of what she can do. In response to a question by board member Brian Esch, Bennett said she spends about two hours a week at the high school, not near enough time as she'd like.

Bennett has more than 20 years experience and said studies have shown that students who fail to achieve is due to more to mental health issues rather than cognitive problems. Issues such as a family that moves or boyfriend/girlfriend problems "are everyday occurrences but can really affect children," she said.