After public uproar to keep health department’s 50-year school nurse contract, issue returns

After an uproar in Lexington over the Fayette school district’s proposal to end the Lexington-Fayette Health Department’s 50- year history of providing nurses for students, school board members decided in 2023 to negotiate a one-year extension of the health department’s contract.

The contract is up for bid again and the health department will try again to get it. The school board is set to hear an update at its Jan. 27 meeting.

“Our team of nurses and professionals have created strong bonds with the students, caregivers and staff, and we hope to continue that in the future,” health department spokesperson Kevin S. Hall told the Herald-Leader Wednesday.

“We hope our bid, including our decades of experience in the schools, is strongly considered, along with the outpouring of support the community showed us at the last renewal.”

Dr. Steve Davis, interim commissioner of health, said a “continuity of care” is instrumental in improving students’ health.

“We value the partnership we have had with the health department and appreciate their interest in continuing to provide school nursing services. Their bid, should they enter one, along with others, will be reviewed carefully as part of the (request for proposal) process to ensure the selected provider aligns with the district’s needs and priorities, district spokeswoman Dia Davidson-Smith said Thursday morning.

Longtime Lexington nurses, parents, teachers and health department officials are among those who raised objections about the decision to take the contract away from the health department in 2023 and give it to a lower bidder.

(The Herald-Leader reported in 2023 that FCPS officials had chosen another vendor to provide school nurses. School district officials released a document showing the new vendor, Maxim, outbid the health department. The health department bid about $4.6 million for services. Maxim bid about $3.1 million and outscored the health department on a series of standards.)

With the contract extension ending June 30, 2025 , Fayette County Public Schools again released a request for proposals on the contract. The bids are due by Feb. 7, according to the request. The school board could vote on the contract March 24 according to a timeline on call for proposals.

A committee the district formed in summer 2024 analyzed various options including hiring nurses as district employees, but determined that would not be advantageous. The committee recommended seeking more bids.

Under the current contract, extended by the board of education for one year, nursing staff employed by the health department will continue to serve in campus clinics until the contract’s expiration on June 30 The process aligns with the district’s standard practice of issuing RFPs for health and nursing services every four to five years.

An update on the situation will be presented during the Jan. 27 board of education meeting, Davidson-Smith said.

The new contract will run July 1 through June 30, 2026, with an option to renew for five years in total, according to the request for proposals.

With roughly 41,000 students enrolled, the school district provides clinical and wellness care for both students and employees, the request for proposals said.

It said the Lexington Fayette County Health Department provides health services, as well as medical oversight for unlicensed assistants in traditional schools, magnet and special programs, a pre-school center, and technical/specialized academic centers.

A separate agreement is in place with Healthfirst Bluegrass to run full-time health clinics in 11 schools

There are staffing agreements with other vendors to provide the special education department with nursing services to specific students with special needs.

There is generally one nurse for each traditional school and nurses for technical schools and special programs.

The request for proposals indicates that nurses have a wide range of duties that can include administering medicines and performing urinary catheterizations.

This story was originally published January 23, 2025 at 1:43 PM.