Armand A. Fusco,
Ed.D.
About the Yankee Institute for
Public Policy
The Yankee Institute for Public Policy, Inc. is a nonpartisan educational and research organization
founded more than two decades ago. Today, the Yankee Institute’s mission is to “promote
economic opportunity through lower taxes and new ideas for better government in
Connecticut.”
Question 9: Non-Classroom Staff;
How is the time and load of non-classroom certified staff (psychologists, social
workers, counselors,
speech therapists, etc.) monitored? How is the time of full time staff with reduced loads (department chairman, supervising teachers, etc.)
monitored?
Background: There is usually no documentation of how such staffs use
their time. How many students does a psychologist test per day? What are the
number of students a speech therapist sees each day? What do department
chairs and supervising teachers do with their
released time? These questions
demand answers.
Proposed Solution: It is essential to document how these staffers spend
their days. Such staff members are very reluctant to provide such information,
but it is incumbent on the administration and board to require it. Policies and
guidelines must be developed for this purpose. There are associations for each,
and they can be helpful in providing such guidelines. Comparing what other
similar districts do or require can also be useful.
This is part 9 of our 10 part series investigating and stopping fraud in our school system.
