When I wrote my previous post on the Killingly saga that highlighted the contract the Killingly Board of Education voted on with Community Health Resources (CHR) to provide student mental health services, I predicted that it wouldn’t be the end of the story. I was right.
At the end of the school year, the Superintendent’s contract was not renewed by the Killingly Board. The Board members made their decision in part because they felt Superintendent Robert Angeli did not do enough to defend the Board during this whole drama. In addition, 3 mental health staffers left their positions in the school system.
In response to those developments, the attorney for the student mental health center advocates, Andrew Feinstein filed a motion with the State Board of Education. In the motion, he complained that the situation in Killingly was deteriorating despite the agreement made with CHR. He expressed irritation that the State Board has not launched an official inquiry into the Killingly Board’s conduct despite unanimously approving it last November. He requested that the inquiry should begin at once, and that the State Board consider appointing someone to directly oversee education decisions in Killingly.
The Legal Counsel for the State Board of Education, Mike McKeon responded that he was concerned about the allegations cited by Attorney Feinstein. He suggested that the State Board launch the inquiry promptly, and asked the Killingly Board to send the State Board information about the contract with CHR. He also asked for information about the staffing levels among clinicians in the Killingly school systems.
The attorney for the Killingly Board replied with a scathing response. She wrote that the motion should be rejected because neither Attorney Feinstein nor the Killingly parents had standing to request the hearing. In addition, she asked that Attorney Feinstein be sanctioned for filing frivolous claims about allegations that he knew were untrue. She further insinuated that the State Board counsel McKeon wasn’t showing impartiality in his role complaining he was showing favoritism to Feinstein.
The next day though, she emailed the text of the agreement with CHR and the information about the mental health staffing levels. However, as one of the student health center advocates Christine Rosati Randall noted, there was no mention of a timeframe for when the agreement would be implemented. The State Board will consider the motion filed by Feinstein on September 6th.
On a more positive note, the Killingly Board members are up for reelection this November, and the slate of candidates that will challenge these recalcitrant Board members was unveiled. It is a mix of Democrats, independents, and Republicans who want to end the controversy that has occurred over the past year. As I have stated before, I believe it will take new members of the Board to fully implement this agreement, and end this issue once and for all. I will be knocking doors for them in the fall.
If you want to support this slate of candidates, please donate to the Killingly Democratic Town Committee at this link:
Grodence Paquado 
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