A reduction in the number of psychologists working in Waukegan Community Unit School District 60, leaving the number of bilingual therapists at three, is causing concern among the mental health professionals and some Board of Education members.
Katie Barrera, a co-president of the Waukegan Psychologists Council union, said abandoning the policy of placing at least one psychologist at each of the district’s schools makes care for students who need it less effective.
Before the start of the 2026-2027 school year, each school had a designated psychologist. Barrera said since two positions were not filled for the current term, therapists are working at more than one school and care is less available.
“This administration’s illegal, unilateral decision to dismantle our single-building assignments and force staff into an unworkable itinerant schedule has severely disrupted our schools,” she said. “The district upended our assignments and disrupted critical services for students.”
Learning only three bilingual psychologists remained, board member Jeff McBride said he was stunned by the situation since the school district is overwhelmingly Hispanic and approximately 55% of all students are English learners.
“We only have three psychologists for the Hispanic population,” McBride said. “The last time I checked, this district is 80% Hispanic. That’s not adding up at all. Something’s wrong with that picture. We need to deal with that.”
Psychologists and board members expressed their concerns about the change in policy during a meeting of the District 60 Board of Education Tuesday at the Education Service Center in Waukegan, seeking answers from administrators.
District 60 Superintendent Theresa Plascencia said both the board and the union will get answers, though there is a process which must be followed. She said the psychologists have an important role in the district.
“You are wanted, and you are needed, and you are valued, and that is a very specialized position,” she said. “We have been working with union leadership on the how, the what, the when.”
Though Barrera alluded to the current legal dispute between the district and the union, she did not specifically say administrative litigation is pending at the behest of the Waukegan Psychologists Council.
Kathryn Vander Broek, District 60’s general counsel, said the union filed both an unfair labor practice (ULB) complaint and a formal grievance against the school district. Bargaining is ongoing, but a school board meeting is not the place to resolve the issues, she said.
“We are not going to go into detail in this dais on the ULB and grievance issues so we can maintain a productive venue to problem-solve with them,” Vander Broek said. “We will be working with a mediator to complete the bargaining at this time.”
Gregory Bublitz, the district’s director of diverse learners, said in an email Thursday that in the past some psychologists were assigned to more than one school. A year ago, there were 26 therapists, and now there are 25. In the past few years, there was a drop in both diverse learners and students overall.
“We assigned psychologists to schools based on the contractual language regarding caseloads (of 650) as well as declining enrollment,” Bublitz said in the email.
Ana Davila, one of the three remaining bilingual psychologists, said she must carry a “normal” caseload as well as handle a third of the needs of students and families whose English is weak.
“We carry the same duties as our monolingual colleagues, but we are also responsible for serving our district’s massive Spanish-speaking student population,” Davila said. “We assess students in Spanish across academic, cognitive, and social-emotional areas to ensure fair evaluations.”
Mollie Jungmann, another of the psychologists, said the change to placing therapists at multiple schools came suddenly, leaving little time to adjust to the conditions or prepare the students who depend on their face-to-face visits.
“At the last minute our assignments were drastically changed,” Jungmann said. “There was no consultation with psychologists. They were informed of the change with an explanation that did not make sense. No consultation with principals. No coordination with our own coordinator.”
Joshua McEwen is a psychologist who worked exclusively at Washington Elementary School until this school year. Now he spends one day at Washington and four at Clearview Elementary School. He said the students are the ones most heavily impacted.
“Students don’t get the support they need when the support splits its time between two buildings,” McEwen said. “I was going to do small groups with students with social-emotional needs, but that had to be scrapped.”
Board Member Carolina Fabian said before a plan is developed, it needs to be complete with no potential miscues. The changes with the psychologists do not meet her expectations and have created an unsatisfactory situation. She wants answers by the next board meeting on Sept. 22.
“I am concerned there is no concern for time or scheduling or systems,” Fabian said. “So, when we are taking away or removing a program or a staff member, we need to have a fully baked plan on how those changes are going to impact staff, students, and protocols.”
