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Yorktown PPS seeks more counselors and psychologists as classified student counts rise
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Summary
Caroline Almeda, director of pupil personnel services, told the board Section 504 and classified student numbers have increased and recommended adding a full‑time high‑school social worker and an extra psychologist at Crown Pond to meet growing behavioral-health and evaluation needs.
Caroline Almeda, director of Pupil Personnel Services, told the board that demand for special‑education and mental‑health supports has grown markedly since COVID, with the number of Section 504 students rising from 158 in 2019–20 to 303 in 2025–26 and about 1,084 classified students district‑wide.
Almeda said the district currently employs nine social workers and two behavior specialists and is seeing rising complexity in adolescent mental‑health referrals, particularly at the high‑school level. "The majority of our referrals for secondary students are because of increased mental‑health needs," she said (Caroline Almeda).
To address caseload and evaluation demand, Almeda recommended adding a full‑time social worker at Yorktown High School and an additional psychologist at Crown Pond Elementary to serve as a building behavior specialist who would conduct functional‑behavioral assessments and supervise certain programs. She said the change would also allow reassigning an existing psychologist to assist the high school part‑time and free other behavior specialists for full‑time building assignments.
Almeda also reviewed the FlexPath therapeutic alternative high‑school program, which she recommended reducing from a proposed cap of 18 back to 14 students after two years of operation to preserve program depth; six FlexPath students are graduating this year.
Operational changes included a planned July 1 rollout of a prescription‑printing process to ensure Medicaid‑billable services align precisely with IEP specifications and increase reimbursements. Board members posed questions about referral drivers and supported the staffing recommendations; no final hiring approvals were recorded at the meeting.
