The Plymouth Community School Corporation has hired an outside company to handle speech therapy, after no one applied for an open speech pathologist job. More over, the school board last week approved a contract with PresenceLearning.
Assistant Superintendent Jill VanDriessche said school officials had looked at a number of vendors, and PresenceLearning had the most area districts using its services. “It will be a tele-therapy service in three of our buildings,” VanDriessche explained. “It is a one-year contract, and we are going to re-post the position for speech pathologist. We’re also extending some of our opportunities for those students that are in the programs now to become interns with us.”
VanDriessche noted that the terms are still being finalized, but board documents show that the school corporation can expect to pay more than $65,000 for speech therapy for 35 students.
It was one of a few agreements approved by the Plymouth School Board last week. Saint Joseph Regional Medical Center will once again provide seven registered nurses and two health aides for this school year, but the cost is going up. The school corporation will pay over $377,000, an increase of more than $10,000 from last year.
Similarly, Saint Joseph will provide one full-time and one part-time athletic trainer for a total cost of almost $55,000. Superintendent Andy Hartley said that agreement has been in place, but those amounts hadn’t changed for a few years.
The school board also agreed to continue providing two full-time teachers and a part-time secretary to educate certain patients at the Michiana Behavioral Health Center.
