Nov. 6 through 10 was National School Psychology Week to highlight the important work our school psychologists and other teachers and staff do to help students thrive. At Dover Area High School our school psychologist is Rick Focht.

Focht has been with Dover for a long tenure and said, “Over the 23 years of working as a school psychologist at Dover, I have made it a priority to develop positive working relationships as well as proving my ability to effectively do my job.  As a result, I am able to efficiently gather information from stakeholders, even stakeholders who have  been resistant to share/respond to other’s requests.”

Focht’s mission is to help students in need in whatever way he can. That includes “managing, coordinating, and prioritizing the various aspects of my job in order to comply with the state/federal guidelines as well as appropriately meeting the needs of stakeholders.  These various aspects are like a balancing act.”

Focht says that his choice in becoming a psychologist comes from the want to help others. He said, “I went to Penn State for my undergraduate degree, Millersville for my Master’s degree in School Psychology, and since then went back to Shippensburg  University for my Administrative Certification.  I feel my programing at the various places of higher education has prepared me to do my job.”

Focht has a lot of responsibilities. One of those is qualifying students for special education services. He said, “Experience is the best teacher.  I feel my schooling was lacking in teaching us how to truly qualify a student for special education, which is the basis of my position.”  The time spent working with students has helped Focht make those decisions.