Killen hired as MCPS counseling supervisor for mental health

April 07--Dr. Robb Killen has been hired as the Supervisor of Counseling and Mental Heath for Maury County Public Schools.

Killen, who started at Central Office last month, is the first person to hold the position created by the school board last December.

"I'm really excited to be here," he said. "I'm excited about the board and the director and the direction they want to take with the school system."

Even without a space to call his own, Killen was hard at work communicating with colleagues Tuesday in his temporary office space, the conference room at the district's central office.

As an administrator, Killen will represent and lead the district's 29 school counselors who work with more than 11,000 students to unify each program toward a common set of goals.

"I see my role as being an advocate for them so they have the resources they need, so they are able to better serve their students and the community," Killen said.

He added he is enthusiastic to see the school board's support for character education programs, a personal passion of his.

As his first project, Killen plans to work with his colleagues to develop a district-wide crises and restoration plan from tragedies experienced by individual students to a county-wide catastrophe.

He will represent a mental health standpoint in the development of the program.

Killen left a position as the assistant division head for kindergarten through fourth grade at Currey Ingram Academy, a private institution for students with learning disabilities and unique learning styles located in Brentwood.

At his most recent post, he supported school-wide positive behavior programs for nearly 100 students with learning differences such as ADHD, dyslexia and autism. He also worked with students' academic assessments and taught character education and social skills.

Before that, Killen served as a fifth and sixth grade counselor at the school for eight years.

Killen says he will spend much of his time developing and searching for ways to better utilize the school's resources for the improvement of the mental health of its students.

With the dialogue set in motion, Killen said he has received feedback from counselors on a number of concerns stemming from the difficulties of balancing the many expectations put on counselors by both state and federal governments.

He said he wants to help instructors succeed in their "true role," the mission of helping the county's students improve their mental health.

"Our district has had a need for oversight and resources in the area of counseling and mental health, " Maury County Director of Schools Dr. Chris Marczak said. "Dr. Killen is the perfect fit for this. He'll bring much-needed professional development and continuity for our school counselors."

Killen has conducted lectures on building effective character education programs and creating safe schools through bullying prevention for the Tennessee Association of Independent Schools, Vanderbilt University, Character Plus National Conference and the Tennessee School Counselors and Administrators Institute.

Following another personal passion, Killen said he plans to implement similar bully prevention programs in Maury County Public Schools.

A graduate of Trevecca Nazarene University with a Bachelor of Science degree in Behavior Science and a minor in Psychology, Killen has also worked in the field of educational programming for more than 15 years as a writer, developer and puppeteer for Opryland, the Jim Henson Company and PBS. His character education series, "Webster and the P.O.D. Squad," is being utilized at schools across the Southeast.

For Killen, working in academic administration is more than just finding the most efficient way to operate.

"I really want to get to know the faces and the families in the communities," Killen said. "I want my face to be recognizable, that they can come to me with questions or concerns."

He says that sort of attitude will support the counselors and help the school system further its goal of educating students for life.

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