With the beginning of the 2008 calendar year, I would like to present several important updates regarding initiatives that may impact the practice of school psychology in the State of Connecticut .

APA Model Licensure Act

As part of the current revision process, APA is reversing its 30-year policy by suggesting the removal of the school psychologist exemption in their proposed Model Act (revised 7/3/2007).  Adoption by state legislatures of the proposed Model Act as written (without the exemption for state credentialed specialist level or doctoral level school psychologists) would potentially trigger the need for our Department of Education credentialing board to open its statutes and regulations and revise the school psychology title and descriptions of services in order to align state credentialing and licensing requirements. Not only could this cause unnecessary conflict at the state level and potential disruption of services, it could ultimately restrict the trade of currently credentialed specialist level and doctoral level school psychologists. It is imperative that all school psychologists understand how the proposed Model Act threatens their ability to practice their trade and that they continue to take action to encourage the staff and leadership of the American Psychological Association to restore the exemption for school psychologists prior to the final passage of the 5th version of the Model Act.  

To date, CASP has articulated a position statement located on our website and many of our members have submitted personal narratives to APA vocalizing their concerns about the proposed revisions.  As a cumulative total, NASP indicates that over 10,000 letters were sent nationally in support of reinstatement of the exemption for school psychologists during the 90-day public comment period offered at the end of 2007.  Our Connecticut Association will work diligently in conjunction with our lobbyist during the first of the year in conjunction with our lobbyist to navigate a state-level response should APA make a final decision to remove the exemption as part of the revised Model Act for the Licensure of Psychologists.

HB 7347:  An Act Concerning Minor Changes to the Education Statute 

In Public Act No. 07-241, Section 7 of this House Bill, the Connecticut General Assembly directed the State Board of Education to adopt regulations for the certification of marital and family therapists employed by local boards of education.  As you may remember from my earlier President’s report, the CASP Legislative committee has worked relentless with our lobbyist to underscore the need for parody of training with other school-based practitioners for the school-based practice of marriage and family therapy.

Most recently, a stakeholder group was convened on October 26, 2007, to review and provide an opportunity for preliminary comment on these regulations. CASP representation was in attendance.  Stakeholders major concern with the draft regulations was the lack of guidelines and professional development to delineate the differences, and possible overlap, in the training, roles, and responsibilities of a school marriage and family therapists, school social workers, school counselors, and school psychologists.

At this point, revised regulations have been drafted and the Governor’s office has provided approval to proceed with publication of these proposed regulations and announcement of the public hearing in the Connecticut Law Journal.  After the public hearings, the comments will be reviewed and the regulations modified, again, as deemed appropriate by the SDE. The proposed regulations will then be presented to the State Board for adoption on or before May 7, 2008.  A draft of the proposed regulations and the resolution passed by the State Board can be found at the following link: 

http://www.sde.ct.gov/sde/cwp/view.asp?a=2613&q=322114. 

Respectfully submitted,

Jennifer Michno

CASP President