NEWBURY PARK : School Psychologist Wins State Award

Ventura Unified school psychologist Ron Lay has won the 1995 Outstanding School Psychologist Award for his service to students.

Lay of Newbury Park was among nine school psychologists statewide to receive the award, which was presented in San Francisco last month by the California Assn. of School Psychologists.

“It’s really quite a thrill for me to get this honor,” said Lay, 48. “I know what my colleagues do and I know how hard-working they are.”

Lay, a school psychologist for the Ventura Unified School District for 20 years, counsels students at De Anza Middle School and Arnaz and E.P. Foster elementary schools.

Lay assesses students’ learning abilities and counsels those traumatized by events such as the 1993 stabbing of Ventura High student Jesse Strobel.

In recent years, positions like Lay’s have been cut back in many districts due to dwindling school funds. But Lay said that the number of social problems continues to grow, which makes psychologists’ roles more difficult.

“Being able to serve the children given the budget cuts (is tough),” he said. “We are expected to deal with the problems with less people . . . I would like to see a lot more school psychologists working with kids.”