On Sept. 23, 2025, the Unit District 196 Board of Education voted to seek bids for a middle school health clinic and wellness center, a 3,600-square-foot renovation on the school’s west end that the district says will be staffed by Shawnee Healthcare. The board approved the action after an informational presentation on the project’s scope and funding. The vote to seek bids passed 6–1.

The project matter matters because it pairs clinical services with district facilities and uses public health-life-safety funds already in the district budget. District officials said the clinic is intended to provide triage, exams and short-term treatment to students during school hours and to serve community patients by appointment during the school day.

Architect Ryan Don of Don Architects told the board the overall renovation covers roughly 3,600 square feet and the clinic portion will be just under 3,000 square feet. "So Shawnee Healthcare will be providing a receptionist, a nurse, an RN, and a nurse practitioner," Don said, describing a three-person clinical staffing model that would include a receptionist to control access and a clinician to move patients from the waiting area to triage.

Don and district staff described the clinic as a secured, independent “pod” on the building’s west end with a two-stage buzzer and controlled interior doors so patients in the public waiting area cannot access the rest of the building. The renovation will add an ADA restroom, two exam rooms, three offices, a small lab, reception and waiting areas and an accessible path from the eighth-grade floor via elevator. Don said the design includes a secured vestibule so the reception desk can screen visitors before they are buzzed into the clinic.

District representatives said the clinic will operate during normal school hours (roughly 8 a.m. to 4 p.m.) during the school year and will not routinely offer summer hours; whether Shawnee staffs the space on non-school days was described as a Shawnee operational decision. The board discussed parking and signage near the clinic entrance; Don said the district’s operations team will add signage and designate clinic parking spaces.

Board members pressed district staff about staffing risk if Shawnee had trouble filling positions. District staff said Shawnee typically pursues grants and other federal funding for school clinic staffing and that the district will monitor whether Shawnee can provide staff once the space is operational. No contractual staffing guarantee was presented at the meeting.

The board’s formal action authorized staff to seek bids for the health clinic project; the administration said bids will return to the board for formal award. The district did not set a firm construction start or completion date at the meeting; staff noted similar health-life-safety work is planned this fall and some projects are intended to be finished in time for the second semester after winter break.

Moving forward, the administration will solicit bids and return recommended contract awards to the board for approval. The clinic project will also be coordinated with other planned facilities work on the west end of the campus.