DCF Exonerates Former Principal Patricia Girard of Abuse Allegations

BOE Chairman Dr. Gene Nocera has released the DCF report clearing former Farm Hill Principal Patricia Girard of abuse or neglect of a child (or children) in connection with the "Scream Room" allegations of January 25, 2012.

According to a State of Connecticut Department of Children and Families Report dated 3/30/2012, an investigation found no substantiation of abuse.

Girard left her position as Principal on January 30th, and Interim Principal Mark Proffitt stepped in until a new principal can be hired. That search is underway, but complicated by the subsequent departure of Superintendent Michael Frechette and Assistant Superintendent Barbara Senges last month. At this evening's Board of Education meeting, Interim Superintendent Dr. David Larson specifically mentioned the importance of finding a new Superintendent before vacancies at the building level are fulfilled so that the new head administrator has input on two new Elementary principals (Farm Hill Elementary School and Woodrow Wilson Middle School) and an assistant principal at Middletown High School.

Interestingly, the BOE also voted this evening to modify Policy 4111 (Personnel - Certified). Specifically, the old policy regarding the hiring of Administrative Staff allowed the Superintendent to override the interview committee's candidate selection. The new policy calls for a slate of finalists to be recommended to the Board of Education for interviews, with the Board and the Superintendent interviewing candidates together.

The Board of Education has hired Cooperative Educational Service to assist in the search for a new Superintendent, and is hopeful that the search will be concluded by the end of June.

Riverview Hospital is not Connecticut Valley Hospital

Earlier this week, I called attention to an excellent column by Rick Green in The Hartford Courant. In just the few sentences of text that I wrapped around a link to his article, I managed to completely mangle one major fact and a couple of minor ones. I further proclaimed my ignorance loud and clear with a beautiful image of a vintage postcard. My major mistake was to conflate Riverview Hospital with Connecticut Valley Hospital. These are different entities, serving different patients. Rick Green's column was unambiguously about Riverview Hospital, I mistakenly thought that CVH and Riverview were two different names for the same thing, and used the CVH moniker because that was more familiar to me. Fortunately, within a day of my posting, Dr. Wayne Dailey, Senior Policy Advisor for the Department of Mental Health and Addiction Services, posted a comment correcting my mistake.

I contacted Dr. Dailey to learn more about CVH and its relationship to Riverview, he very graciously answered my questions about CVH and Riverview. He told me that Riverview was built on land that was formerly part of CVH, but is now completely separate. CVH currently owns 730 acres of land. It provides potable water and Police and Fire Department services to Riverview, but other than that, the two hospitals do not share any equipment or buildings. CVH services solely adults and is operated by the State Department of Mental Health and Addiction Services, while Riverview services solely children and adolescents and is operated by the State Department of Children and Families. While Rick Green reported that the cost per patient at Riverview is $860,000 per year, Dr. Dailey told me that the cost per patient at CVH is a much more modest $429,605 per year. In an email, he said, "This rate is determined by the Connecticut Office of the Comptroller, and is similar to the Medicaid rate for any of the large general hospitals in Connecticut."

My apologies for the mistake. Middletown's two state-run mental health facilities on the hill overlooking the river are completely independent.

Rick Green on CVH

Rick Green has an excellent column today in The Courant about the care for children needing psychiatric care at Connecticut Valley Hospital. The Department of Children and Families (DCF) spends $860,000 per year for each patient. Advocates for state fiscal responsibility, as well as advocates for patients, have expressed concern that this money is not providing the best care for children who can be institutionalized for several years at CVH. Other states spend far less money per patient by contracting care to privately owned corporations.

CVH is on 650 acres overlooking downtown and the Connecticut River. It was built in 1868, over the years it has become the state's sole psychiatric institution for children, housing patients from throughout the state.

NOTE ADDED (December 11th):
Rick Green's column is about Riverview, NOT CVH. See HERE for more on the relationship between the two institutions. Thanks to Dr. Dailey who pointed out this mistake in a comment.