News
July 2, 2015Matt Newsome, School Psychology Alumnus, '14
My name is Matt Newsome and I am a 2014 Graduate of the School Psychology Program at RWC. As my 1st year as a School Psychologist, I am working in Carteret County, NC where I serve 4 schools. Two of my schools are k-8 with one class per grade level consisting of around 12 students per class. I also serve a 6-8 middle school and then my home school where I have an office is a k-5 elementary. So in all, I am serving around 1000 students. We have a team of 5 (looking for one more!) psychologists to serve the 14 schools within the district. All in all, I really couldn't be happier in my career with this county. I have the freedom to practice how I want which is not common in other parts of the state. I have the time to do things other than test, report write, and attend meetings.
I completed about 40 evaluations this year. Although other psychologists in the county completed more, I believe my knowledge of the RtI process and also having schools that are adopting this process correctly have kept my numbers lower. I had to explain this at the end of year meeting where we were assigning schools for next year as some other “veteran” psychologists felt that because I was doing less evaluations I needed more schools. Luckily, the EC director understood my perspective and I will be keeping the same amount of schools.
I spend a lot of my time consulting with teachers, parents, attending RtI meetings, and working with students in both groups and individually. NC is going through a transition currently where by 2020 no district will be allowed to use the discrepancy model anymore. Although some districts are currently functioning in this manner, Carteret County is not one. We will be having two pilot elementary schools using just RtI for placement next year. We still require the process to be used for pre-referral and actually have resources, although limited to provide interventions with validity. However, there is an alternate to discrepancy model for placement that I will often use based off the evidence of intervention resistance. I have had a few very interesting cases this year, both from a mental health and academic/ cognitive perspective. One of which brought consultants from NC Department of Instruction to assist with service delivery. I am currently working through the end of June as I have an 11 month contract. The student's last day was on Monday so I have successfully made it through the year!!
Personally, I am very happy. My wife and I are living in a small coastal town called Beaufort, two blocks from the water front. There is just so much to do on the water. I spend a lot of my free time with my new puppy, going off shore fishing and kayaking in the ocean. I caught a shark recently!! We are going to be looking at getting a house within the next year or so which I am very excited about. Next year, I am going to be helping coach the soccer team which is something I have always wanted to do.
I just wanted to take some time to let you both know how I am doing and also to say thank you for helping me get where I am today. I know I was a student who did not often volunteer but I did gain a great deal of knowledge and maturity in grad school and I credit this to both of you. Keep our county in mind if you have any students looking to come to NC for a job. We are still looking for a psychologist for next year and will be hiring one more for the year after!