By Paige Lambert
After much discussion by the Hays CISD board of trustees, a posting of possible positions for the 2015-16 fiscal year was released.
The release included two assistant principals, two Strategic Instruction Model (SIM) coaches and two outreach counselors at the middle school level. It also included a principal for a sixth middle school upon 12 months before the campus opening, part- to full-time director of student services and 48 teaching positions districtwide.
Trustee Marty Kanetzky moved that the release be approved with the exception of the district-wide content coordinators for math and English language arts.
Further discussion of the instruction and counseling models presented in the upcoming budget delayed the release. If the budget were approved, the models would apply districtwide, said Tim Savoy, Hays CISD public information officer.
Superintendent Michael McKie said Laura Owen, an expert in public school counseling models, will visit the district in May to review the current counseling model. Owen will present her discussions and findings at the May 18 meeting.
The budget calls for a counseling model that would add additional regular counselors to lower student to counselor ratios at the high schools, Savoy said.
Mckie said Owen has worked with the district and in Central Texas before. The district will also look at using CommuniCare, a primary healthcare system in Bexar and Hays counties, for the counseling model.
“She will be looking at how we use our social workers (outreach counselors) today,” McKie said. “We will be involving the social workers, the counselors in those meetings as well in reference to the types of services and programs we offer to possibly working with CommuniCare.”
The district will go into a contract with Owen to meet with counselors, debrief with counseling and student services directors and talk about national trends, McKie said. She will also talk with counselors about current models that are in effect across the country.
Trustee Sandra Bryant said the ratios need to be lowered but having the outreach counselors is important.
“I think that our kids are dealing with a lot of issues,” Bryant said. “So I want to make sure we aren’t leaving those kids out and that the services are being covered.”
McKie said services to students wouldn’t be dropped if the district utilized CommuniCare.
McKie said the additional counselors in the proposed model are not part of the released positions. The district will look into adding additional full-time equivalent (FTE) positions after Owen’s presentation.
“It really depends on the model we end up with,” McKie said. “It is quite possible that after we meet with Dr. Owen that we could modify our staffing guidelines.”
McKie said officials can’t say how the ratio would change by looking at the model and what will it take to effectively implement it. Doing so takes looking at current job functions and how services are being provided.
“Until we define that role, until we finalize the model, we can’t say that we will need two additional FTEs or we won’t,” McKie said.
Trustee Holly Raymond said the discussion made it clear that they would not make a decision on the outreach counselors until the meeting with Owen.
Trustee TeresaTobias said she was concerned about telling outreach counselors that positions will not be there or will change when the model has not been voted on.
McKie said that the outreach counselors have been contacted and told about the opportunities through CommuniCare, should the district utilize them.
“We have given them a heads up that these discussions are taking place,” McKie said. “But that no decisions have been made.”
