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NEWPORT — Kimberly Shaner said school psychologists are hired to do one thing: support children.
Shaner has provided students with psychological and behavioral support for about 14 years. Besides doing disability assessments, mental health counseling and crisis intervention, she has filled out food stamp applications for students, made appointments with students’ doctors and waited in hospitals with students during health crises.
“That’s kind of how you have to roll in the schools,” said Shaner, 54. “Sometimes you might wear several different hats, and you just are there to help support the kids.”
Since January, Shaner has been supporting the students at the Newport School District as its newest school psychologist. She is replacing Laurie Jones, who is retiring in the summer after serving as the Newport School District’s school psychologist for 30 years. “I’m here to help,” Shaner said. “Whatever I can do to help, I’d be happy to.” Born and raised in North Idaho, Shaner attended North Idaho College not to become a psychologist, but a veterinarian. But soon, the mother of seven realized going to veterinary school “wasn’t in the cards,” she said.
She got an associate degree in psychology from North Idaho College instead in August 2008, followed by a bachelor’s degree in psychology from University of Idaho in August 2011.
“I always tell everybody school psychology chose me,” Shaner said.
Shaner started working for public schools around the time she graduated from UI.
As a psychosocial rehabilitation consultant for Alliance Family Services — psychosocial rehabilitation being a “fancy word for mental health,” she said — Shaner visited students with social-emotional needs at schools. Some of those schools were part of the West Bonner County School District.
“That’s when I found my job,” she said.
Shaner took her first public school position with the West Bonner County School District in February 2012, after serving as a psychosocial rehabilitation consultant for a year and a half. She was the West Bonner County School District’s educational support counselor until August 2017, when the district promoted her to school psychologist.
School psychology, she said, was “very similar” to educational support counseling.
“I was hired mainly because of my experience in doing suicide assessments, doing threat assessments and being able to work with those kids that kind of didn’t fit inside the box,” Shaner said.
Just before the district promoted her to school psychologist, Shaner got a master’s degree in special education from Concordia University in March 2016. Then, three educational specialist degrees, the first in school psychology from Eastern Washington University, the second in building and special services leadership from Northwest Nazarene University and the third in district leadership also from NNU.
“Those are official degrees,” Shaner said. “Educational special- ist, it’s like one step up from a masters.”
Alongside a counselor, Shaner also co-founded a crisis team at the West Bonner County School District. By her second educational specialist, the district had promoted her again to special services director.
But that would be Shaner’s last position with the West Bonner County School District. It was cut in 2023 after the district failed to pass a levy.
“One of the main things was an administrator had to be cut, and the easiest one was special ed director,” Shaner said. “The best thing for me to do was to step down.”
She did so in August 2023. Since then, Shaner has served as the school psychologist of the Cusick School District. She watched for an opening at the Newport School District, which would cut her commute in half, and applied for school psychologist when it appeared.
Shaner will start working full-time in August. Until then, she is part-time, only coming in on Fridays to “get [her] feet wet,” she said.
“They have a really good team in Newport and [are] very supportive,” Shaner said. “They really care about their students there.”
While Shaner is based out of the Newport School District’s office, she works with students from all of the schools in the district. School psychologists mostly work with special education students, but Shaner said her services may become available to other students if necessary.
She may continue serving as the Cusick School District’s school psychologist about once a month.
“Supporting the kids, all of them, including their family, is kind of my passion,” Shaner said.
