
Kevin McNicholas, Jerseyville. (photo/RiverBender.com)
Meeting in a brief special session Monday night, the Community Unit School District 7 Board of Education voted unanimously to hire Kevin McNicholas, Jerseyville, as a district social worker.
The action followed a 10-minute executive session to discuss personnel issues. McNicholas was hired on a motion by Peyton Bernot, seconded by Bill Carter. Four board members—enough for a quorum—attended the meeting. In addition, to Bernot and Carter, Weye Schmidt and Board President Mark Hayes were present.
McNicholas currently is employed as a social worker for the South Macoupin Association for Special Education, a consortium of school districts providing services to the Staunton, Gillespie, Mount Olive and Bunker Hill school districts.
In March, the board posted two vacancies for newly created social worker positions. CUSD 7 Supt. Joe Tieman told the BenGil Post Monday night that McNicholas will fill one of those two positions and that the board will determine at a later date whether or not to fill the second post. Creating the new positions followed a February presentation by Kalli Erwin, high school/middle school counselor, suggesting that she was devoting an inordinate amount of her time to dealing with social/mental health issues.
During the regular March meeting of the board last week, Tieman told board members that anticipated new revenue the district expects to receive because of Evidence Based Funding could be used to pay for a social worker. EBF funding is designated new expenditures targeted at school improvement. On Monday night, Tieman said hiring McNicholas at this point will not preclude the district from using EBF money to pay McNicholas’ salary.
Although the board met only a week earlier, Tieman said he set a special meeting this week because school districts compete for a limited number of candidates qualified to work as school social workers.
“There’s a very competitive market for school social workers,” Tieman said. “You have to have a certification for school social worker, not just a social worker.”
Tieman said McNicholas was selected from among about seven applicants in part because he was “highly recommended” by CUSD 7 teachers. Since he has been providing services in CUSD 7 schools via the South Macoupin Association for Special Education, Tieman said McNicholas already is familiar with CUSD 7 attendance centers, staff members and students.
McNicholas completed his undergraduate degree at Illinois Wesalyn University, Bloomington, and obtained his Master’s degree from the University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign.
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