Unions criticize board’s plan to cut psychology jobs, hire outside staff

Article Content

The president of the Thames Valley Regional School District’s psychologists union said she was “disappointed and angry” about the district’s plan to hire a private psychologist at twice the salary of its own employees.

Sandra Miller, head of the professional student services staff, said the school board has informed her that the school plans to hire a private psychologist during the summer.

Article Content

“I can’t understand how they think it’s acceptable to cut staff in psychology services next year and then outsource services this summer for twice the pay,” Miller said. “Why would psychologists with PhDs want to work for us and then outsource services to the board in the summer when private practice is much more profitable?”

The board is considering cutting 124 positions to reduce its projected deficit to $7.6 million from the $18.5 million forecast in February.

A board report released earlier this month said 58 elementary school teaching positions and 24 secondary school teaching positions would be eliminated in the board’s preliminary $1.2 billion budget for the 2024-25 school year.

Other positions at risk include 17 early childhood educator positions, four psychological services positions and four speech services positions.

Assessments “are an important part of what we do in the psychology department,” Miller said.

“Students receive diagnoses such as learning disabilities, ADHD and mild BroadCast Unitedlectual disability,” she said. “These evaluations guide schools on how to best serve students through individualized education plans for overall success.”

Article Content

She said the Department of Education provided additional funding to complete the assessments because of a backlog caused by the pandemic.

Miller said that while the board cannot force psychologists to work during the summer, many volunteer to do the extra work.

“I would not mind hiring outside staff during the summer as long as the requests for permanent staff are approved first,” she said.

Miller said the board did not hire an outside psychologist last summer because the union disputed pay discrepancies.

“This year they ignored our concerns and moved forward,” she said. “The union proposed a solution and agreed to a letter of understanding, but the board rejected our proposal.”

Miller said the union would never delay student evaluations.

“We want to provide fair compensation to our members doing the same work to boost morale and give them the same respect as those in private practice. This is vital to retaining staff.”

Article Content

Jeff Bruce, director of achievement for the Thames Valley School District, said the board plans to hire contract workers “to maximize the number of assessments completed, minimize wait times, and get as many students assessed as possible.

“Thames Valley is in the process of finalizing an agreement with a third-party vendor to purchase services to complete psychological assessments for students on Thames Valley’s waiting list in July and August,” he said in an email.

Bruce said the Department of Education had provided funding “to undertake a professional assessment to help reduce waiting times”.

He said every member of staff at Thames Valley Psychological Services had been offered the opportunity to work over the summer, with wages paid at a centrally negotiated rate.

“Thames Valley has no control over these negotiations,” he said.

The provincial government requires school boards to have balanced budgets. If the board has a surplus to cover the deficit, a deficit of 1 per cent is allowed.

Thames Valley Council is projecting a deficit of $7.8 million, more than 1% of its operating revenue, so the council will need to submit a deficit recovery plan as part of its approved 2024-2025 budget.

The board must approve the budget by the end of June. The board has two meetings scheduled this week: a regular board meeting on Tuesday and a special board meeting on Wednesday to discuss matters that were deferred from Tuesday’s meeting.

hrivers@postmedia.com
@HeatheratLFP

related

Article Content