CCSD board approves MOA with Hope Christian Health Center after debate over faith-based services and parental consent

The Clark County School District Board of Trustees approved a memorandum of agreement (MOA) with Hope Christian Health Center to provide mobile school-site primary care, sports physicals and immunizations at no out-of-pocket cost to students.

The vote came after extended trustee questioning about the MOA’s scope and safeguards. Deputy Superintendent Dr. Welch and Chief of Student Services Stacy Slye told trustees the services would be nonsectarian, provided with parental or guardian presence, and include routine items such as well-child checks, vaccinations and referrals to specialty care. Laurie Bauman of CCSD Health Services said behavioral-health screening would be limited to a depression screening instrument and that any follow-up would involve the parent or guardian and referral to external providers if needed.

Trustees pressed staff on several points before the board acted. Questions included whether “health education” in the agreement would align to CCSD curriculum or be determined by the provider, how behavioral-health screening would be defined and who would interpret results, whether the mobile clinics would operate inside school buildings and whether the provider could bill third-party payers. Staff said mobile services would be provided on campus (cafeteria, gym or another designated space) after school with a parent or guardian present, that the provider may seek third-party reimbursement (Medicaid, private insurance or Nevada Checkup) only with documented parental consent, and that the district’s risk-management team requires minimum liability insurance (reported as $1,000,000 per claim) before entering an MOA.

Trustees also raised separation-of-church-and-state concerns because the vendor describes itself as faith-based on its website and because a CCSD employee appears on the vendor’s board. General Counsel John Okazaki said a conflict-of-interest review would be undertaken if needed but indicated that, because no money is exchanged, a pecuniary conflict was not obvious. Staff noted the MOA includes a 30-day termination provision and that the district could terminate the agreement if the provider did not comply with the nonsectarian requirement.

Trustee Cavazos moved to table the item pending additional research; that motion failed 3–4. Trustee Dominguez then moved to approve the MOA; Trustee Biasati seconded. The board reported four yeses, one abstention and two no votes. Trustee Cavazos stated on the record that the abstention reflected a concern about a potential open-meeting-law issue.

The agreement will allow CCSD schools to request mobile services when a site needs support (for example, to facilitate sports physicals or catch-up immunizations), and staff said they will provide further documentation and examples of similar MOAs on request.

What’s next: staff will process the executed MOA and coordinate scheduling and background checks for provider personnel. Trustees asked staff to return with clarifying documentation about monitoring, complaints processes and a side-by-side comparison with other school-based health MOAs in the district.