After rejecting one school health center, Killingly looks at another Dec. 28. What to know
A Killingly school board committee tasked with finding “alternative” student mental health options to a school-based health center is slated to review a draft proposal – from a different school-based health center operator.
The Board of Education ad-hoc group initially formed in the fall is expected on Dec. 28 to discuss a proposal from Community Health Center, Inc., or CHCI, to operate a school-based health center, or SBHC, in Killingly.
The company oversees more than a dozen such centers across the state, including in Groton and New London school districts, according to the agency’s website. The group states its centers are staffed by licensed health care providers who work with school nurses to provide, among other things, behavioral health services to students.
The CHCI option, first presented to the committee on Nov. 30, is strikingly similar to one rejected by the board in March that proposed allowing the locally-based Generations Family Health Center to operate out of Killingly High School.
But unlike the Generations model, the CHCI plan requires parents to “opt-in” before a student can avail themselves of their in-school services. The lack of such an enrollment requirement was previously cited by several board members as the main reason for voting against the Generations plan.
Killingly student mental healthState IDs Killingly as high-need district for student mental, behavioral health. Now what?
Superintendent Robert Angeli previously said the CHCI plan will require financial support from the district, unlike the Generations model, though no hard cost estimates have been calculated.
The rejection of the Generations proposal led to a citizens’ petition, a state investigation and an order for a formal inquiry – tentatively set to begin in January - into the board’s alleged inaction in addressing the ongoing mental health needs of the district’s students.
What happened to Killingly's first mental health exploratory committee?
During its Dec. 14 meeting, board Chairman Norm Ferron announced the resignation of Kelly Martin as chairwoman of the ad-hoc mental health exploratory committee after only one meeting. Ferron also noted the committee was improperly formed in September as he, as chairman, did not directly assign members and allow them to elect their own chairperson.
A new committee has been formed that includes Martin, Chris Viens, Laura Dombkowski and Kyle Napierata as members.
Behavioral health responseAfter months of controversy, Killingly schools to pilot mental, behavioral health program
Ferron said Martin’s departure from her leadership role was prompted by the “actions of a member of the committee.”
In a Dec. 3 email thread shared with The Bulletin, board member Susan Lannon – who was not re-assigned by Ferron to the ad-hoc committee – questioned aspects of the Community Health Center presentation.
In her email, sent to Martin and Ferron and copied to Angeli, Lannon said she was concerned the Community Health Center plan “fails to address the urgent and severe mental health crisis in Killingly schools.”
Lannon said the proposal calls for a part-time counselor to be recruited - Generations proposed starting with a full-time counselor - and it could take up to 180 days after being contracted for the group to be licensed and working in the high school.
Lannon, one of three board members who voted in favor of the Generations proposal, in her email stated a CHCI spokesperson reiterated the group “would not treat anyone - adult or minor - who does not fill out the (enrollment) form.”
State investigation into KillinglyBlistering state report condemns Killingly BOE's response to student mental health crisis
Lannon noted a subsequent conversation was had with Generations’ Chief Operating Officer Melissa Meyers in which the company said it was open to a second discussion on its proposal “inclusive of a conversation around an opt-in option.”
In her email, Lannon requests both the CHCI and Generations proposals be placed on a future board agenda and representatives from both groups be invited to discuss their proposals.
“In short, I find the CHCI proposal too little and too late,” Lannon wrote in her email. “We have a present crisis. There is no assurance that CHCI will even be able to begin their program during the balance of this, or any, school year. One part-time therapist is insufficient.”
John Penney can be reached at jpenney@norwichbulletin.com or at (860) 857-6965.
This article originally appeared on The Bulletin: New Killingly student health center proposal
