Get Full Government Meeting Transcripts, Videos, & Alerts Forever!
Get email alerts on the Special Education Psychologist topic
No spam. Unsubscribe anytime.
Hickman County Board approves school psychologist position and proclaims hire; board member discloses family tie
Summary
The Hickman County Board of Education approved funding reallocation to create a school psychologist position, voted to approve the position, and publicly announced the district's intent to hire Miranda Morris; a board member declared a conflict of interest, saying Morris is a relative.
The Hickman County Board of Education on Aug. 4 approved creating a school psychologist position by moving existing salary-line funds and announced the district—andidate it intends to hire, Miranda Morris.
Board members and staff said the additional position responds to heavier special-education caseloads and a new state procedural requirement that assessment reports be provided to families 48 hours before meetings. Director of Special Education Services Dr. Toddy told the board the April change in state procedure tightened the timeline for completing and delivering assessment reports and expanded the workload for school psychologists.
"A full 48 hours has really put the pressure on them," Dr. Toddy said, describing how the new deadline reduced the time available for completing assessments and reports. She told the board Hickman County currently has three school psychologists and said their caseloads have grown; the district—stimated its special-education population at roughly 21% of students, several percentage points above what staff described as an ideal level.
Director of Schools Mullins said the district freed the funding by reducing the number of inclusion special-education teachers at the high schools. "We downsized a little bit which freed up the money for us to afford to create a position," Mullins said.
During discussion Dr. Coons declared a conflict of interest and said the candidate the district intends to hire is a relative. "I have a conflict of interest in the proposal about to be voted on," Dr. Coons said, then added, "My vote is yes." Later in the meeting Mullins publicly named the candidate the district intends to hire as Miranda Morris and read her resume to the board, saying she has several years of relevant experience and multiple assessment proficiencies.
Board members moved and seconded the position-approval motion and approved it with a roll-call vote of yeses recorded for board members present. The board also complied with a board-policy requirement by publicly proclaiming the intention to hire Morris; the proclamation is part of the district ppointment process and does not itself constitute the employment contract.
The board and staff emphasized the hiring follows existing hiring and budget approval steps: the board approved the funding movement in a budget amendment and separately approved the position. The board will follow up through normal personnel processes to complete the hire and contract paperwork.
Ending: The board announced the hire and closed the item; staff said they would proceed with background checks and onboarding steps. The district said the new psychologist position is intended to reduce turnaround pressure for assessments and improve services for students identified for special education.
