Since my last post on this topic, the new Democratic controlled Killingly Board of Education has taken office, being sworn in this past December.  SInce then, they have taken steps to resolve the issues which had been simmering in Killingly over the past year.  In February, they made Athletic Director James Lackner’s position a full time position.  This is notable because last year, the then Athletic Director Kevin Marcoux and the previous Board had a dispute when it came to renewing Marcoux’s contract because the Board did not want to make Marcoux’s position full time.  As a result, he resigned and became the athletic director for East Lyme Connecticut.  Last week, the Killingly Board approved their budget, which increases spending by 3 percent, and will be used to hire a Social and Emotional Learning Specialist, and a new Director of Mental Health.  The Board has also created an ad-hoc committee to tackle the issue of bullying in Killingly schools.  These are good first steps to addressing the mental health issues which are going on among Killingly Students even before the issues regarding the 10-4b complaint are resolved.

On that front, there is progress as well.  In January, the Killingly Board parted ways with Debra Stevenson, the fiery attorney who was disruptive at the first State hearing regarding the 10-4b complaint, and decided to hire Patrick Noonan of the Carmody Law Firm to represent them on this front.  The Board also successfully pushed to postpone the latest State hearing on the complaint so that they could begin discussing a resolution with the 10-4b complainants.  While there hasn’t been a settlement yet, the State Board of Education rescheduled the hearing for next Tuesday, March 26th, so that they can hear from the former Director of Mental Health Kathy Cote.  After that hearing takes place, it is expected that a resolution between the State Board of Education, the Killingly Board of Education, and the 10-4b complainants will take place quickly.  Stay tuned for another update on this issue.