Article archive / April 1, 2014
Originally published: . Volume 5, No. 8. Source pages: 7.
La. Psychological Association Opting Out of Conducting Board Elections, Says President Process took too much time and energy, and other states or getting out of their arrangements, according to president.
The Louisiana Psychological Association terminated its agreement with the state psychology board which required them to help conduct elections for the Louisiana State Board of Examiners of Psychologists.
“We voted to do that by an eight to 1 margin,” said President John Fanning told the Times in an email last week. The vote occurred at the March meeting of the group’s Executive Counsel.
This follows two recalled mailings of election ballots for a current board position, which reportedly were due to clerical errors in the ballots and communications.
Fanning explained to the Times that he found the experience of handling the election costly and timely, and something “… we don’t want to find ourselves repeating in the future.” He said that handling the elections took valuable time and resources that could be better used in other ways.
“There were some electoral machinations from outside LPA, which took up time and energy for the EC to address,” he also said.
Fanning explained that most states do not involve themselves in the elections in this way, and that those that do are trying find ways to remove themselves from the task.
The Council gave the state psychology board their notice to terminate “A Cooperative Endeavor Agreement Between the Louisiana State Board of Examiners of Psychologists and the Louisiana Psychological Association.”
Ended the arrangement is allowed by the agreement. According to the Agreement, the “Cooperative Endeavor serves public interests by facilitating the appointment of members whose responsibility will include the protection of the public through the regulation of psychologists (R.S.37:2351).” It sets out policies and procedures for the board’s election.
Terminating the agreement will also allow the group to lobby regarding elections, with was prohibited by the Agreement, explained Fanning.
Members of the psychology board at that time preparing to present at a 2011 meeting of the Louisiana Psychological Association (LPA). The LPA Council recently decided to end a decades long agreement with the board that involved LPA helping conduct elections for the state board. Above, L to R: Current Executive Director Kelly Parker, previous Ex. Director Jaime Monic, Drs. Rita Culross, Lee Matthews, and Tony Young.
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