MARIETTA - The Marietta City Schools board voted unanimously Tuesday night to contract with three retired metro-area directors of special education and a certified psychologist through June 30, 2010. Additionally, the board reduced life insurance coverage caps for district workers and approved SMART certification for 15 employees.

The three retired metro-area directors and a certified psychologist are expected to sign contracts with the school system within the next week, according to Donna D. Ryan, Ph.D., assistant superintendent of Special Services & Assessment. Last week, the board voted to re-hire Karen Underwood as an occupational therapist to serve the school system's students with disabilities.

Asked why the school system is hiring employees for the special education department, Ryan said, "We are focused on special education teachers and students with special needs because we received over 1.5 million dollars in IDEA ARRA funds designated for this population and our GaDOE Focused Monitoring report indicates a need for educators of students with disabilities to receive additional training."

The American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 appropriated stimulus funding for programs under the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act. The same funds will also be used to contract the certified psychologist for Marietta High School.

Ryan said contracting with experts is an appropriate use of IDEA funds because it avoids a funding cliff while building capacity that will remain in the system after the stimulus funding stream ends.

The combined contracts total $60,000.

In a vote of 6-0-1, the board also decreased the district paid employee life insurance coverage from six times annual earnings (or a cap of $400,000) to five times annual earnings (or a cap of $300,000).

"Due to ongoing rate increases, the cost of employee life insurance coverage has risen. In lieu of Social Security, this coverage is paid for by the district as is a portion of the disability and tax sheltered annuity contribution," said Thomas Algarin, spokesman for Marietta City Schools. "In an effort to avoid a reduction in the district's annuity contribution for employees in the coming year, a reduction in life benefits was necessary. As a result of the lower life coverage cost, employees should see a slight increase in the district's annuity contribution."

The change to the policy, effective Jan. 1, will impact approximately 1,219 Marietta City Schools' employees, according to the district.

Marietta City Schools will use $7,998 from its State Professional Development Funds to provide SMART certification for 15 employees. The certification will be over a four-day period from Nov. 16-19.

SMART Technologies makes interactive whiteboards, interactive pen displays, interactive digital signage, wireless slates and software, according to the company's Web site.

The 15 employees that will receive training from the SMART Technologies Company will use the training to train other teachers in the school system on SMART products. After the training, the school system will have a SMART certified trainer available to train teachers at every school, Algarin said.

This is the first time Marietta City Schools staff members will receive training to be SMART certified.