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Madison Local hires full‑time school psychologist; board accepts two veteran teacher retirements
Summary
The board approved a contract for a full‑time school psychologist for 2025–26 and accepted retirements from two longtime teachers as the district cited rising special‑education demand and more homeschool evaluations.
The Madison Local School District board on May 19 approved an employment contract to hire Suzanne Baker as a school psychologist for the 2025–26 school year and accepted the retirement resignations of Jacqueline Berry, a North Elementary fourth‑grade teacher effective June 1, 2025, and Steve Clark, a Madison High School science teacher effective July 1, 2025.
District administrators told the board they previously contracted for a part‑time psychologist shared with another district and that growing demand — including new homeschooling rules and increased requests for evaluations — has pushed the district to add a full‑time psychologist. The superintendent said the district now plans to have four full‑time school psychologists to serve five school buildings.
Board members discussed how state requirements and caseload ratios affect staffing. Administrators said intervention specialists in grades K–8 are limited to a maximum caseload of 16 students and high‑school specialists to 24, and that speech, occupational therapy and other special‑education work add to staffing needs. The superintendent and treasurer told the board that some retirements and hiring at entry steps (step 0) were included in the May forecast assumptions to reduce payroll impact.
The board also approved one substitute teacher contract (Mackenzie Embacher) and rescinded a supplemental 2024–25 contract for Catherine Kaminski as middle‑school power of the pen adviser.
Why it matters: the staffing actions address special‑education evaluation and service requirements while the retirements and hiring plans intersect with the district’s updated five‑year forecast.
