The board approved a professional-services agreement with Equinox Home Care Services, LLC, to provide 1:1 nursing services for students with high medical needs in district schools.

District staff said roughly 13 students have required medically necessary 1:1 nursing in recent years, and the contract expansion reflects an effort to add providers with home-care specialization. District staff described the contract pool as intended to ensure nurses with the right specialization are available; “Yes. They’re all 1 to 1 nurse,” the presenter said.

Board members asked about program scale and funding. The district presented a multi-year historical average spend figure of about $3,000,000, which staff said is the basis for the contract ceiling. Director of Finance Doreen Viola clarified that Medicaid reimbursement for covered services is billed by the pupil services office and becomes part of city education revenue; she said that revenue does not function as a revolving fund to immediately offset the year’s expense in the school budget. “It doesn’t really get reimbursed back into the budget,” Viola said, explaining how the revenue is recorded by the city.

Commissioners were told the contract resulted from the district’s RFP process and that Equinox was the only respondent with the home-care specialization required. The contract was approved as part of the consent calendar.