Article archive / June 1, 2013
Originally published: . Volume 4, No. 10. Source pages: 7.
The first meeting of the School Specialist Task Force is scheduled for June 28 according to a report by the state psychology board.
Executive Director Kelly Parker, told the Times, “I think the main goal is to study the issue of possible licensure as a School Specialist in Louisiana. I anticipate that the group will gather information from various sources including other states and national organizations. Ultimately, a baseline framework maybe created for model licensure language.”
Members of the task force include Dr. Rita Culross, Professor at LSU, who will be the psychology board’s representative.
Dr. Conni Patterson, Professor of Practice at Tulane University and past president of the Louisiana School Psychology Association will also serve.
Dr. Steven Welsh will work on the task force. Dr. Welsh has been the Department head for the Department of Psychology and Counselor Education at Nicholls, and more recently, the interim Dean of the College of Education. Also included is Dr. Carmen Broussard, Associate Professor of Psychology at Nicholls.
Susan Ratterree, the National Association of School Psychologists Delegate for the Louisiana School Psychological Association, will serve.
And, E. Francoise Parr, current President of the Louisiana School Psychological Association, is also a member.
At a recent presentation by the psychology board, Chair Lee Matthews noted that the task force was created to study the possible licensure of school specialists in Louisiana. The specialist degree in school psychology is offered by LSU– Shreveport and by Nicholls State University and requires 72 hours of graduate training and 1200 hours supervised practice.
Speaking at the recent planning meeting of the state psychology board, Dr. Steven Welsh noted that this was the first time in 30 years that he or someone from the Louisiana School Psychological Association had been officially asked to talk with the psychology board.
Drs. Steven Welsh (L), George Hebert (C), and Phillip Lazarus (R), at the 2012 gathering of the LA School Psychological Association. Dr. Welsh was invited recently to speak at the long-range planning session of the state psychology board about the school psychology specialists. He is serving on a task force to study these issues for the community.
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