It appears access to mental health resources in Killingly Public Schools has improved, more than two years after a group of parents and residents filed a complaint with the state.

The Connecticut Board of Education met for an impartial hearing Friday concerning whether Killingly Public Schools have done enough for student mental health, per a 10-4b complaint from 2022. Community Health Resources Service Director Caitlyn Ogilvie gave testimony on the progress made.

CHR does not have a school-based health center in Killingly. It has co-locations in Killingly High School and Killingly Intermediate School. School-based health centers are licensed through the state Department of Public Health or the state Department of Children and Families. That licensing usually comes with funding to provide care at little or no cost.

While both a school-based health center and a co-location would bill insurance, a co-location also collects copays, coinsurance, and deductibles. Sliding fee scales are used to help with affordability.

“Otherwise, they’re pretty much the same,” she said.

CHR has tried applying for grants to turn the co-locations into school-based health centers, but due to the competitive nature of the grants, those attempts have failed so far, Ogilvie said.

When and if parents are informed about a child seeking service

Parents can seek services for their student, the school can refer a student to services with parental consent, or a student can seek services from CHR. For the latter, CHR personnel will ask if the parents or caregiver of the student know the student is seeking services. If they say no, CHR will speak with its compliance officer and the student to see if there’s clinical rationale to provide services without parental consent. The student can get services if it’s concluded the student not getting services, or the caregiver’s knowledge of the student getting services, would do harm. The student is also told the parent may become aware of services through billing insurance.

Most of the time the caregiver can be involved, and staff will work the student to get the caregiver involved. If they can’t be involved, the law permits CHR to provide up to six sessions. CHR would then regularly evaluate if the agency can still provide service without the caregiver knowing.

“We want to make sure that we are doing our due diligence in allowing access, but not do something that would be against the law,” Ogilvie said.

Therapy can be individual, family or group, and is based on evidence-based models. Services are accessible during the summer through the school sites, telehealth, or going to a CHR facility, including those in Danielson and Willimantic.

Ogilvie only started working with the district in February. CHR is currently seeing 44 students, an increase since February.

Information on CHR is on the school website, and parents can learn at the open houses. There aren’t any fliers distributed at this time, and no advertising as of yet. Strategies to get Killingly familiar with CHR include appearing at farmers markets and other community events.

Ogilvie said the relationship between CHR and the districts’ staff is cooperative, and there are staff in CHR that want to stay in or move their work assignment to the Killingly schools.

The Killingly Board of Education is also working on a contract to fund and further expand CHR’s services in the district, Ogilvie said.

Draft resolution expected in two weeks

Attorney Andrew Feinstein, who represents those who submitted the 10-4b complaint, said the Killingly Board of Education went into executive session Wednesday. There was a unanimous motion to create an offer to resolve the 10-4b complaint under terms in the session.

Feinstein expects a draft resolution in two weeks. Once everything is agreed upon, there needs to be work to rehabilitate Killingly Public Schools’ image, as the 10-4b complaint and the media coverage has scared people away from applying to work for the district, he said.

Killingly Board of Education Attorney Patrick Noonan added that Killingly Public Schools administration worked hard to find the funding for expand CHR’s services.

“They now have a unified board behind them, and that’s just spectacular to see,” he said.

The terms of the resolution will be discussed before the Connecticut Board of Education in July.

This article originally appeared on The Bulletin: Community Health Resources on how services are accessed in Killingly