Here at North, there are a bunch of school support coordinators, counselors and other people who are responsible for the well-being of our school. A recent addition is Elizabeth Deutsch, the school psychologist. She uses her passion for problem-solving to create solutions to help struggling students with their academics.
“That’s a lot of testing, working with students to learn more about them, putting together, like a report that I can send home to the families and meeting with the families and stuff. Other than that, I’m a part of problem solving teams here,” said Deutsch.
Born and raised in the St. Charles area, Deutsch went to East, where she ran track and cross country. She graduated from college with a degree in psychology and communications. Deutsch has been all over Illinois as a school psychologist, from Chicago public schools to Barrington to Burbank, before she returned to St. Charles this school year.
“I went to college for psychology and communications,” Deutsch said. “I have worked in Chicago. I was in Barrington for a little bit. I did a year in Burbank last year. I grew up in St Charles, so [I am] back around family.”
Deutsch has more than just family with her: she has three dogs named Marty, Maverick and Milo, all rescues. Additionally, she just got married to her husband, but has not made the name change yet.
At first, being a school psychologist was not on Deutsch’s radar. It was only after she was searching for what to do with her degree that she first came across school psychology. After reading more about it, she was convinced that this was something she should pursue.
“I did some research on what I could do with my degree. I stumbled upon school psychology and read a lot more about it. I’ve always liked being in the school setting. I love a school schedule. You can’t beat having summers off. And I just liked how team-oriented it was described to me,” said Deutsch. “Once I learned more about it, I was like, yeah, I think I want to try this.”
Now, her work involves working with students, staff and families to help create solutions to help students struggling in school with their academics. Her work involves overseeing IEPs and 504 plans, which many students depend on in their everyday lives.
“I do a lot of testing to learn more about how students learn best. Like a few students struggling in school and kind of figuring out why, and then providing or coming up with a plan to help students be able to achieve what they want to be achieving in school, whether that’s through special education, an IEP or accommodations through 504 or even just talking with teachers to feel like, switch things up in the classroom. So it’s a lot of problem solving, I would say,” said Deutsch.
Overall, Deutsch enjoys using the skills she learned in college to help students and provide the support they need.
“I enjoy getting to work with students and providing support to [help] students feel more successful. I think high school is a tough enough time as it is. But if you’re struggling with academics or socially, that’s tough,” said Deutsch. “So if I could just be another support person in the building to help students [lives] be a little bit easier, just be supportive and helpful, that would be my message that I would want people to know.”
