Deadly expansion of psychiatric care could end CT scan

After more than two years of conflict in the city and a state investigation, the debate over whether Killingly has adequate mental health care for students could come to an end in the coming weeks.

A committee of the state Board of Education heard testimony Friday from a mental health services provider who said services in the Killingly School District are slated to be expanded before next school year, pending funding, Caitlyn Ogilvie, director of services at Community Health Resources, briefed attorneys involved in a state hearing on the expansion plans.

“It appears that Killingly students are finally getting what they have needed for so long … and we would very much like to see this issue resolved before the start of the school year,” said Mike McKeon, director of legal and government affairs for the state Department of Education.

The hearing was part of a 10-4b investigation by the Department of Education to determine whether the local district violated the state’s educational interests when it missed the opportunity to establish a school-based mental health center in 2022. These types of complaints rarely result in hearings, but in this case there were several days of formal negotiations that stretched over more than six months.

The case with the state has not yet been officially settled, but attorneys for all parties involved said they expect to conclude it before the next school year.

A group of concerned Killingly residents filed the complaint with the state after the local school board voted two years ago to reject a grant-funded student health center. The vote came after a survey of Killingly’s seventh- through 12th-grade students by a nonprofit mental health organization. Nearly 30% of respondents said they had thought about harming themselves. And 14.7% had made plans to commit suicide.

Opponents of the Mental Health Center at the time raised complaints and references more commonly associated with the political right: cancel culture, Hillary Clinton, abortion, and gender identity.

Some questioned whether schools were the best place to provide mental health care and wondered whether providers would obtain parental consent before treating their students.

More than a year after the first vote, the local board approved a contract with Community Health Resources to provide part-time mental health care in the school district.

In the 2023 election, control of the school board fell to the Democrats, and members voted to extend the contract.

CHR plans to hire two full-time and one part-time employee. The previous contract required one employee to work 0.6 hours per week, although the agency has also offered more services, Ogilvie said Friday.

There will also be educational offerings at primary, middle and high schools, she added.

It’s not quite the same as a school-based health center. School-based health centers typically do not charge a copayment, while CHR still provides families and insurance for their services.

But for those who can’t pay, there is government assistance, Ogilvie said, and the group offers a sliding scale of payments.

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