Local Involvement: Update in Killingly Connecticut

This past Wednesday, there was a big breakthrough in the fight to provide quality mental health care for Killingly, Connecticut students. The Killingly Board of Education voted to approve a contract with Community Health Resources to provide such services.

Community Health Resources is based out of Windsor, Connecticut, and contracts with 36 school systems to provide therapeutic services for students. They also run several outpatient clinics throughout the state. The agreement with the Killingly school system will have a CHR staffer coming to the high school for 3 days a week to start, starting in August. The number of staffers and services can expand from there, depending on the need.

The Killingly residents who filed a complaint with the State Board of Ed (and whom I have helped out) are happy and relieved about the agreement. However, they are annoyed that it took over a year to approve a proposal that was very similar to the contract that was rejected last year. They also don’t trust the Killingly Board of Education to fully implement the agreement. So their attorney has urged the State Board of Ed to monitor Killingly to make sure the contract is being followed.

I am happy myself that Killingly students are one step closer to getting good mental health care. However, like I said in my last post on this subject, my opinion is that new members will have to be elected to the Killingly Board of Ed this coming November to make sure when Community Health Resources comes to Killingly, it STAYS there.

I will provide an update in the fall to write about whether and how the agreement is working.

Do you have any thoughts? Comment below.

bmgrody

April 28, 2023

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4 responses to “Local Involvement: Update in Killingly Connecticut”

marilyngrody

April 28, 2023 at 4:26 pm

This is good news! Thanks for the follow up.

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Jeff Grody

April 28, 2023 at 5:37 pm

Thanks for the update, Brandon. It took too long, and, as you say, the election matters, but, for now, the good guys won! Great that you are covering this.

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Dave Smith

April 29, 2023 at 10:59 am

You have summarized it correctly. Getting anyone to run in this environment is the challenge. Or, more specifically getting anyone committed to quality public education to run is the challenge. All you have to do is look at how this board treated Susan Lannon to see what a person would need to be prepared to face and you see the problem. Today’s Conservatives are committed to subsidizing private/religious schools with public monies. First you make the public schools so bad that parents want to flee to the comfort of the private academy. That leaves all special needs education, all troubled youth and all other “undesirables” (read minorities) to the public schools. The proposed budget sure doesn’t point to a school system that is the pride of the community, only more of the same but with armed guards.

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Sue

May 18, 2023 at 5:31 pm

I’m so impressed with your blog and your initiative in covering this very serious problem today. Keep up the great work Brandon.

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