Three Rivers board approves one-year MOU for school health clinics contingent on waiver limiting contraception to condoms

The Three Rivers School District board approved a one-year memorandum of understanding (MOU) with Siskiyou Community Health Center for school-based health centers, contingent on the provider obtaining an Oregon Health Authority waiver to allow only condoms to be dispensed as contraception.

Superintendent Dave (label 8) told the board the MOU term would begin July 1 and that the district had held two town halls and received hundreds of public contacts: "The town hall produced 155 sign-ins... with 46 people speaking in favor of the school-based health centers and 7 speaking against," he said, and he said the provider had informed the district a waiver was ‘‘highly likely, 99.9% chance.’’

The vote followed more than an hour of public testimony from parents, practitioners and students. Quinn Fazio (label 10), speaking on behalf of multilingual families who use the clinics, said translated feedback from families was uniformly positive: "The health centers have helped my daughter so much, and I'm very grateful." Carolyn Litak (label 20), a physician assistant who works in the school clinics, told the board the program is provided at no cost to the district and urged trustees to weigh the views of families who rely on the services.

Opponents raised privacy and parental-authority concerns. Public commenter Oliva Herrera (label 18) criticized parts of a student health survey and said some materials were "controversial," urging trustees to respect taxpayer input. Another commenter (label 21) said elected trustees represent all district voters and suggested alternative funding if the board preserved clinics.

Board members framed the vote as a compromise between competing community views. The motion to approve the MOU "as per what Dave said" was made by Board member (label 1) and seconded by Chair (label 2). During discussion, one trustee summarized the compromise as: "If we don't get the waiver, there is no contract." Several trustees voiced deep personal conflict over the decision: "This is probably the hardest decision I've ever made in my life," one said (label 4).

The vote was recorded using a mix of voice and roll-call-style acknowledgements amid some procedural confusion; the board chair characterized the approval as contingent on the waiver and on the provider obtaining it before the MOU takes effect. Board members said the district has limited ability to fund the clinics directly and that losing the contract would end the clinics unless alternative funding were secured.

Next steps: the district and Siskiyou Community Health Center will pursue the stated waiver. Board members said they would revisit the arrangement if the waiver is not granted or if the program's operation proves problematic.

Votes at a glance: the meeting record shows the motion to approve the conditional MOU was moved (label 1), seconded (label 2) and carried with mixed yes/no responses on the record; the board discussed conducting a clear roll call on any subsequent related votes to avoid confusion.