Penn Hills School District hires company partially owned by its solicitor to do health screenings

Penn Hills School District officials hired a Trafford-based company, with ties to the district’s solicitor, to do temperature checks on students coming back to school despite parental opposition and calls from a few board members to delay the vote.

The school board voted 6-3 Wednesday night to have Mobile Health Services do health screenings daily at a cost of just over $5,000 per week.

District Solicitor Bruce Dice is part owner of the company.

According to the deal, Mobile Health would perform infrared temperature checks on staff and students at the high school, middle school and elementary school before they enter the buildings. Mobile Health said it would be able to screen everyone at those buildings within 20 to 30 minutes.

Board President Erin Vecchio; Vice President Yusef Thompson Sr.; and board members Michael Tauro, Jackie Blakey-Tate, Kristopher Wiegand and Evelyn Herbert supported the agreement. Finance committee chairman Rob Marra and board members Meryl Thomas and Elizabeth Rosemeyer dissented.

Gateway School District is considering a similar deal with Mobile Health Services at a cost of nearly $10,000 per week.

Several Penn Hills residents questioned how the district was going to pay for the contract and if the service was necessary.

“$5,000 a week is not nothing,” said resident Lauren Javens. “I’m not interested in what Gateway’s doing. If they’re spending $10,000, they’re in a different position. They have a different tax base and a different budget.

“There is absolutely no science to prove that these temperature checks at every building would make everybody safer. … Unless you tell me we have the money in hand for it right now, this is silly. It’s a ridiculous recommendation.”

Javens said the district doesn’t even have $1.3 million as part of money the state promised to the district last school year.

Resident Corey Young said the legal language in the scope of work for Mobile Health Services is “too loose”; it indicates that the company “can” provide certain services and not that “they shall” or that “they will be obligated” to do so.

He also said their costs over time is “quite substantial for a vendor’s service outside of the school district.”

District officials hope to acquire federal grants to pay for the service.

Having parents perform health screenings and temperature checks on their children prior to sending them to school is part of the district’s reopening plan, which was also approved at the meeting.

Vecchio noted the deal with Mobile Health Services is not a contract, that it’s an agreement for day-to-day services with the option to cancel at any time.

She also said Mobile Health Services was the lowest of three proposals.

Thompson said the district does not have the money to pay for the service, and there’s not enough scientific evidence that suggests temperature checks make schools safer. She also noted some board members did not see any other proposals.

Rosemeyer attempted to have the board hold off on a vote so the board would have more time to properly vet the company. She also said she did not know Dice was involved with Mobile Health Services, and that she had not seen the other two proposals that Vecchio mentioned.

According to Dice’s statement of financial interests with the district, he owns one-third of the company.

“He never told us he was involved in it, but it’s on his financial disclosure (forms), so that’s our faults for not knowing it,” Vecchio said. “He never pushed the issue of hiring them. … This isn’t a new company. It’s 15 years old.”

The motion to table failed with Vecchio, Thompson, Tauro, Blakey-Tate and Herbert wanting to have the matter settled during the meeting.

Wiegand said the district should revamp the agreement’s language to make sure Penn Hills is getting its money’s worth, and that it shouldn’t “nickle and dime the safety of our kids.”

“If you catch one person, then how much is it worth,” he said. “We don’t want to make a rash judgment. We don’t want to table it too quickly because there could be value to it.”

Tauro said that he had an offer from Malobicky Digital Systems to use special cameras for temperature checks.

Mobile Health launched in 2004 and has a staff of 40 people. It provides mobile services to businesses in the region, including tests for hearing, vision, lung function, drug and alcohol levels and several others, such as “wellness screenings.”

Harold Katofsky, former Monroeville councilman and fire chief, is listed as the company’s founder and president.

Katofsky and Dice were not immediately available to comment.