Wheeling CCSD 21 superintendent highlights school-based health center after serving about 700 students

Dr. Michael Connelly, superintendent of Wheeling Community Consolidated School District 21, said the district opened a school-based health center in May 2024 that served about 700 students over the summer, providing immunizations, back-to-school physicals, routine illness care and mental-health services.

Connelly called the facility "the crown jewel of our community service and administrative center," saying the center expanded local access to health care for students and families. "We opened up in May 2024. And over the course of the summer, saw 700 students and were able to meet their needs from immunizations to back to school physicals to just regular, I've got, you know, the flu," he said.

The center includes four exam rooms, two treatment/therapy rooms for mental-health services, a consultation room, a staff work area, a conference room and an on-site lab, Connelly said. District officials framed those features as part of a broader "whole child" approach that emphasizes social-emotional supports and wraparound services for students who need help outside the classroom.

Connelly explained the rationale for the investment in health services: when students are healthy and not attending school sick, they are more attentive and better able to achieve academically. He also noted the district's awareness of local barriers to basic health care and said the center is intended to reduce those barriers for students and families.

Connelly said the health center's combination of clinical and mental-health services is central to the district's community-based service model and that the facility will help students "grow and be successful."