By STEVE REAGAN Staff Writer If you can't find them, grow them. That's the approach Big Spring Independent School District officials are taking to address a shortage in speech therapists and will be one of the topics for consideration when trustees hold their monthly meeting at 5:15 p.m. Thursday in the high school board room.
Finding enough qualified therapists has always been a struggle for school district officials throughout Texas.
“The coursework and certification process for speech pathologists is very difficult,” BSISD Superintendent Michael Downes said. “In addition, therapists have opportunities outside of education ... that offer higher salaries.”
To combat that shortage, trustees approved a “grow your own” program in 2006. In short, the program pays a significant portion of a person's college fees if he or she in turn agrees to three years of service as a therapist for the district.
Downes said the district will pay up to $21,000 in tuition, fees and books for persons participating in the program.
On Thursday, the board will consider the first two candidates — both currently classroom instructors — for the project.
In other business, trustees will learn that recent trends in increased enrollment in the district are continuing.
Downes said that 3,799 students were enrolled in BSISD classes as of Friday, an increase of 55 from this time last year. That increase reverses almost three decades of steady declines in enrollment and is the biggest increase for the district since 1991.
Also Thursday, trustees will consider:
• Policy changes and bids for athletic equipment.
• A proposal to cede property currently held by the district to Howard County so that the county can then sell the property at auction.
• Personnel matters.
Contact Staff Writer Steve Reagan at 263-7331, ext. 234 or by e-mail at
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... this city because it reminds my family and I about our hometown back on the island of Kailua - Kona Hawaii. Well we love the people they are so welcoming and we tell our family about it and they say we are lucky to have picked a wonderful place to move to and I say "yes we are " my children love their school and their teachers i'm so glad that we moved here to give our children a better opportunity in life..
Michelle Maumau - Big Spring, TX
...i am scared to even have my kids outside because you never know if you are going to be in the crossfire of another one of the shootings.
