Shoreline Unified is seeking a full-time staff psychologist to provide professional counseling and assessment for students in the district’s five schools. “This is a huge need for students right now,” said Adam Jennings, the district superintendent. “We need someone a part of our team to develop an ethos toward solving mental health as opposed to a cycle of [hiring].” In the past, Shoreline has contracted with school psychologists from either the Marin County Office of Education or private practices. Resorting to outside contracting has caused a high turnover rate leading to hurdles in addressing students’ mental health problems, Mr. Jennings said. Having a dedicated psychologist provides benefits that cannot be offered through general counselors. Last Thursday, the board approved a job description and salary schedule ranging from $93,000 to $122,000. It plans to fill the position in coming weeks. Shoreline currently employs five counselors, two of whom, Megan Schweitz and Alejandro Maya, work part time and are funded by a grant through the Petaluma Health Center. Rachael Kobe is the counselor for Tomales High School, Susan Winters serves both Tomales Elementary and Bodega Bay Schools and Morgan Shepherd acts as the counselor for West Marin and Inverness Schools. These counselors provide a place for students to come and talk to someone. Ms. Schweitz and Ms. Maya provide additional resources for students in Tomales, offering one-on-one scheduled sessions and referring students for learning disability and mental health assessments at health organizations. Ms. Schweitz says the need for a school psychologist cannot be understated. If the counselors feel a student needs to be recommended to a health agency, they will do so, but a 10-week strike by the National Union of Healthcare Workers, which represents the 2,000 non-psychiatrist therapists at Kaiser Permanente’s Northern California branches, has seriously impacted students’ ability to access therapists and psychiatrists, Ms. Schweitz said. A district psychologist would eliminate the vulnerability that comes from depending on outside health services. Shoreline’s most recent psychologist, Mitch Biermann, worked for the school intermittently for three years through a contract with the county education office. He resigned in August, and Shoreline approved a contract for another psychologist through the county while it seeks a full-time staff member. Mr. Biermann’s three years at Shoreline may seem short, but they were more than any other school psychologist had served, Mr. Jennings said. Martha Youman, Shoreline’s current interim psychologist, splits her time with Cabrillo Unified School District. Her primary task is assessing children with learning disabilities and prescribing individualized education plans, which outline specialized instruction for children with learning disabilities. In the past month, she has referred four Shoreline students for I.E.P.s. The Marin County Office of Education conditionally approved Shoreline’s budget for the year. In a letter to Mr. Jennings, Mary Jane Burke, the county superintendent of schools, expressed concern over Shoreline’s deficit spending, which is projected to continue until the 2024-25 school year. Deficit spending is unusually high for the 2022-23 school year, at nearly $900,000, but is is expected to shrink by 26 percent over the next two school years. The most recent state budget for schools includes an unprecedented increase to the local control funding formula, a formula used to allocate state funds toward education, by around 13 percent. Local property taxes, which provide Shoreline with 75 percent of its total unrestricted revenue, are also rising, though the county warned of a possible recession that, combined with high inflation, underscores the need to maintain reserves and fiscal flexibility.