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Board approves special-education vendor contracts; member objects to continued teletherapy over in-person services
Summary
The board approved recommended vendors for RFPs covering speech-language services, sign-language interpreters, teletherapy and school nurses. One board member voted against approval, citing concerns about teletherapy and urging pursuit of in-person clinicians for district students.
The Central Consolidated Schools Board approved evaluation results and vendor selections for four special-education RFPs covering speech-language services, sign-language interpreters, teletherapy and school nurses, but the vote was not unanimous.
Joel Balosuit of the special education department presented four RFP evaluations and recommended multiple vendors for each service. For speech therapy (RFP 25SPED154) the team recommended several vendors; for sign-language interpreters (25SPED155) the recommended vendors included Gifted, National Recruiting and others; for teletherapy speech services (25SPED156) top-ranked vendors included Soliant, Illumina and Gifted Nurses; and for school nurses (25SPED157) recommended vendors included NewAmerican, Gifted Nurses, Soliant and CareStaff.
Board member Christina Aspis said she would vote no on the package mainly because she wants more in-person services rather than relying on teletherapy. "I say no because mainly because of the points that I brought up. I really feel like we need to ... really try to fight and ... ask for these people to be in person," she said on the record. Balosuit and other staff acknowledged the district's preference for in-person providers where possible and said the district will hire in-person clinicians should they become available; Balosuit noted the district had secured at least one in-person nurse and one in-person social worker during the school year.
Why it matters: Special-education service delivery affects student access to therapy and accommodations required by individualized education programs (IEPs). The board approved a slate of vendors to ensure services are available, including teletherapy, while staff continue seeking in-person clinicians for district needs.
Details from the evaluation: Balosuit explained the scoring criteria used by the evaluation team: qualifications, experience, assigned personnel, licensure, references and cost. He read scores for multiple vendors; for teletherapy RFP 25SPED156, Soliant scored 92, Illumina 91 and Gifted 90, among others. For school nurses, Gifted scored 93, Gifted Nurses 89, Soliant Health 87, and Care Staff Partners 84.
Action taken: The board moved and seconded the recommendation to accept the RFP evaluations and vendor selections. The motion passed on a roll call with at least one dissenting vote from Aspis. Staff said they will continue to seek in-person providers and will transition away from contract vendors if district-hired clinicians become available.
Key quote: "There's a big difference with an in person. So, we will keep on looking for an in person. That's the priority for me also as ..." Joel Balosuit said in response to board concerns.
Limits of the record: The contracts and final award amounts were not read into the record at the meeting; the approvals covered the evaluation results and recommended vendors to allow staff to execute contracts as needed.
