Trustees approved a contract renewal on Aug. 12 for an outside school-psychology vendor to conduct special-education evaluations while district staff levels remain low.

Mary Jensen, the district’s secondary special-education coordinator, said the district currently lacks internal capacity because one psychologist is on maternity leave and another staffer resigned. She said the contractor will administer tests, write reports and attend initial case conferences. "They will charge 1 price for a simple evaluation and another for a more complex evaluation. So they will actually work with our diagnosticians. They will test our children. They will generate the report. And then they will attend the initial case conference to determine if the child meets eligibility for special education services," Jensen said.

Contract details and legal timeline: Trustees and counsel discussed contract limits. An updated version of the agreement, not included with the first packet, caps the contract to a not-to-exceed total of 75 evaluations for the year: up to 50 standard evaluations and up to 25 more-complex evaluations (for example, assessments for students on the autism spectrum or cognitive testing) at a higher rate per evaluation. Attorney Snow and staff stressed that evaluations must meet the district’s timeline obligations; Jensen noted evaluations are time-sensitive and must be completed after parental permission is signed.

Why it matters: The contract is intended to ensure legally required evaluations are completed within required timelines while the district recruits permanent staff. Trustees asked for the finalized contract document and for administration to circulate the updated agreement to the board.

Board action: The board approved the contract renewal; staff said they will distribute the updated contract language and the not-to-exceed counts to trustees following the meeting.