The Marlboro School District hired certified psychologist Alisa Wood, an outside contractor, who will be assisting in the evaluations of Special Education students. Superintendent Michael Brooks said Wood is paid on a per diem basis as needed, with the position funded through a special education grant of $32,000.

“It is used as needed when the director reaches a point where there are too many evaluations to be done with our existing staff,” he said.”

Meghan Febbie, Director of Special Education, said when the school year abruptly paused in March all special education evaluations stopped. She noted that evaluations are usually done with a psychologist on a one on one basis but as time passed the NYS Education Department continued adding new guidance recommendations. The district implemented new procedures and put safety precautions in place, such as adding more PPE equipment. This allowed student evaluations to restart on July 1, which continued during the summer months and into the first two months of the present school year. The district, however, is still behind due to the pause from March through June. Febbie said hiring Wood will ensure that the district is on time with every student, both in and out of the district.

Brooks said the district, “looks at this as an acute situation, so this [hire] is a stop-gap to get back to good, as opposed to hiring a full-time staff member.” He said without Wood the district will fall behind in their evaluations but hiring her will allow Marlboro to “stay on pace.”

Board member JoAnn Reed pressed Febbie on how many evaluations need to be done. Feebie said she will provide the board with an accurate count of k-12 students at the next board meeting.

Reed asked if any of the present school psychologists are running the Committee on Special Education [CSE] meetings and if so, are they testing the same kids. The CSE meetings are designed to review the findings of the clinicians, speak with the parents or guardians and decide if a student is eligible to be classified, and if so, what services would be provided.

Febbie said the district’s three psychologists conduct, “all of the initial evaluations for school age children and they do act as chairs for the Committee on Special Education that’s approved by the [school] board.” Reed responded, “If they are doing the testing, they cannot be a CSE chair because it is a conflict of interest to that child and that parent; and I do know as a parent member, you cannot have them run as chair if they are doing the testing [for the same child].”

Febbie said there is nothing in the regulations, “that prevents us from doing that. You want a multi-disciplinary team to conduct the evaluations so there are different viewpoints but there’s nothing that prevents the person who did the testing to conduct and facilitate the meeting as a chairperson.” She noted that whenever they hold a CSE meeting a psychologists has to attend and can act as a chair and in their role as a psychologist. Brooks stressed that is it the intent of the district to follow all laws and regulations for Special Education.

Reed said she is a parent of two children with special needs and that a conflict of interest is present in this scenario, believing that the individual cannot be objective.

Board President Frank Milazzo characterized Reed’s comments as an opinion.

“What we’re talking about is what’s allowed by regulation,” he said. “The most heavily regulated area that we as a school board oversee is Special Education. The state, by far, regulates this more than anything else [and] we’re working within the confines of the law.”

Milazzo’s comment that this position would be free to the district was challenged by fellow board member John Marro. He said it is not for free, pointing out that if the district does not tap this grant now, it can be “banked” and used at a future date. Feebie said from March through June the school’s psychologists held their annual review meetings for every student and all were completed by the end of the 2019-20 school year. She said this new position will allow the district to catch up.

James Mullen suggested having Febbie compile a comparative analysis chart of neighboring school districts concerning CSE chairs, “to make sure that we’re adequately staffed based on what like-sized school districts have to us, just to make sure that we are providing our students with what they need.” Reed suggested the analysis widen to include all of Ulster and Orange counties. Febbie indicated that she would be able to provide this type of analysis.