A Killer school board committee responsible for finding an “alternative” mental health options for students has a school health center It is planned to consider a draft proposal – from another school health center operator.
The Education Council’s ad hoc group initially formed in the fall is expected on 21 December. 28 to discuss a proposal for Community Health Center, Inc., or CHCIto operate a School Health Center, or SBHC, in Killingly.
The company oversees more than a dozen such centers across the state, including in the Groton and New London school districts, according to the agency’s website. The group says its centers are staffed by licensed healthcare 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 November 11. 30, is strikingly similar to the one rejected by the board in March that proposed allowing the local 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 of their services at school. The lack of such a registration requirement has already been cited by several board members as the main reason for voting against the Generations plan.
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Superintendent Robert Angeli has previously said that the CHCI plan will require financial support from the district, unlike the Generations model, although no estimate of actual costs has been calculated.
Generations’ rejection of the proposal led to a citizens’ petition, a state investigation, and a formal investigative order slated to begin tentatively in January into the council’s alleged inaction to address the ongoing needs for district student mental health.
What happened to Killingly’s first Mental Health Exploration Committee?
During his Dec. On the 14th meeting, Board Chair Norm Ferron announced the resignation of Kelly Martin as Chair of the Ad Hoc Mental Health Exploratory Committee after just one meeting. Ferron also noted that the committee was improperly formed in September because, as chair, he did not directly appoint members and allowed them to elect their own chair.
A new committee has been formed which includes Martin, Chris Viens, Laura Dombkowski and Kyle Napierata as members.
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Ferron said Martin’s departure from his leadership role was prompted by the “actions of a committee member.”
In a Dec. 3 threads shared with Le Bulletin, board member Susan Lannon – who was not reassigned by Ferron to the ad hoc committee – questioned some aspects of the presentation of the Community Health Center.
In her email, sent to Martin and Ferron and copied to Angeli, Lannon said she was concerned the Community Health Center plan ‘is not responding to the urgent and serious mental health crisis at Killingly schools’. .
Lannon said the proposal calls for the hiring of a part-time adviser – Generations proposed to start with a full-time adviser – and that it could take up to 180 days after being hired for the group to obtain a license and work in high school.
Lannon, one of three board members who voted in favor of the Generations proposal, said in his email that a CHCI spokesperson reiterated that the group “would not treat anyone – adult or minor – who does not complete the (registration) form”.
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Lannon noted a subsequent conversation he had with Generations COO Melissa Meyers, in which the company said it was open to a second discussion on its proposal “including a conversation around a membership option.
In his email, Lannon asks that the CHCI and Generations proposals be placed on the agenda of the future board of directors and that representatives of both groups be invited to discuss their proposals.
“In short, I find the CHCI proposal too small and too late,” Lannon wrote in his email. We have a current crisis. There can be no assurance that CHCI will even be able to begin its program during the remainder of this school year or any other school year. A part-time therapist is insufficient.
John Penney can be reached at jpenney@norwichbulletin.com or (860) 857-6965.
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