BROCKTON – Brockton High School students attend school just four miles away from an untapped resource that has been abandoned for about a year. The resource is the clinic. The four modular units combine to create a 3,000-square-foot clinic that is ready-to-install on the 3,700-student high school campus.
The project began more than two years ago in collaboration with Brockton Neighborhood Health Center and Brockton Schools. The health center used grants and some of its own funds to cover nearly $1 million in construction costs and prepare to staff the wards.
“At least one full-time health care provider, a nurse practitioner or pediatrician, a nurse practitioner, one or two behavioral health clinicians,” said Maria Celli, deputy CEO of the health center.
CBS Boston
But the project stalled in the Brockton School District's legal office last year, forcing the health center to decide whether to hold out hope for the project or put the units up for sale, Seri said.
“We have never been told no. We have never been told yes. As care providers, we know we have the infrastructure to meet our needs, but it's very frustrating to not be able to meet them. “It's difficult,” she said.
Brockton High School safety concerns
The holdup comes at a difficult time for students in the City of Champions, as concerns over high school fights escalated and four school board members called out last month. I wrote a letter to Governor Maura Healey. Last month, it asked for the National Guard to come to schools to help fill the staffing shortage. “Our high schools are experiencing an alarming increase in violence-related incidents,” the letter said. “Instances of students wandering the hallways, starting fights, and causing disruption in classrooms are becoming alarmingly common.”
Related: What's really going on inside Brockton High School?
School district funding problems have been widely reported. The district has laid off 113 teachers due to an $18 million budget deficit discovered this summer.
Health centers can reduce barriers
Reports from the school district and Brockton Neighborhood Health Center also identified student health concerns. About 40% of Brockton students have not responded to vaccinations, according to health center data. Additionally, a 2020 survey of school guidance counselors in Brockton found that 39% said they knew a child was intentionally hurting themselves. According to the survey report, 36% were aware of their child's suicide attempt.
Dr. Michael Curry, president of the Federation of Neighborhood Health Centers and a Brockton resident, said an on-site health center could reduce barriers to health care for students.
“They're dealing with oral health needs, they're dealing with eye needs. They may be struggling with mental health, depression, substance use disorders,” Curry said.
The school-based health center model is not new. His second and third largest schools in Massachusetts, Lawrence and Lowell High Schools, have their own centers. There are seven in Worcester. Brockton, home to Massachusetts' largest high school, does not have a high school.
Why did the project stall?
WBZ received a statement attributed to Brockton Public Schools, which said, “In the end, there were many challenges and logistical obstacles that made it unfeasible.”
Brockton's school-based health center was constructed as a separate building from the physics high school, but located nearby on campus. Most other school-based health centers are located within or directly attached to schools. Celli said that option was not available due to the lack of space within Brockton High School and the presence of asbestos in the walls of the school.
According to the district, the health center site required a “legal public procurement process.” Celli said the health center was prepared to bid in the process.
“That procurement process never materialized,” Celli said.
The district also claims underground utility lines should have been installed in each unit. Additionally, future space needs cited by the district.
“We are considering the possibility of replacing the existing Brockton High School building,” the statement said.
Celli said the health center went through an approval process with the school committee, city council, planning commission, zoning commission and conservation commission before building the units.
I can't see a solution
There is currently no resolution in sight, and Seri says some units are being put up for sale.
“We know very well that across the commonwealth there is a huge problem with access to primary care, and if this modular structure cannot be used in this community, it will be sad for us, but we want them to use them,” she said.
WBZ has reached out to Brockton Mayor Robert Sullivan, who also chairs the Brockton School Committee, and several current and former city officials for comment on the matter. No one asked for comment on camera.
Full statement from Brockton Public Schools:
While the concept and possibility of establishing a school-based health center within Brockton High School is understandably appealing, there are ultimately many challenges and logistical hurdles that make it unfeasible. became.
Due to limited space available within Brockton High School and unable to provide the holistic health model proposed by our prospective partners, we worked with them to identify alternatives.
The most thoroughly considered model was one in which the Brockton Neighborhood Health Center utilized modular construction near and on the high school grounds. However, as work on this approach progresses, the focus is on land availability, additional legal requirements, costs and debt associated with constructing public facilities, and the lack of a truly comparable model that takes into account the context. I was faced with a serious question.
Throughout this process, the district's concern was to ensure that school-based health centers were not simply the most expedient method, but to ensure that students' health needs were met in an appropriate manner. , was to ensure that it was established in accordance with all applicable legal requirements. As the parties discussed these issues, Brockton Neighborhood Health Center indicated a desire to locate limited operations and services within the Brockton High School building and are currently discussing that option together.
We value our partnership with Brockton Neighborhood Health Center. Just last week, the Brockton Neighborhood Health Center came to fruition in the form of a resource fair that helps newcomers to the Brockton community establish connections to critical resources such as medical care, insurance, and other essential services. It has expanded.
When considering the possibility of setting up a school-based health center in modular units on school grounds, we encountered the following logistical and procedural challenges:
Building utilities
As conversations about modular units continued, it became clear that underground utility lines would need to be constructed and maintained to serve the school-based health center. This raised a wide range of questions, including whether school districts should enter the public construction procurement process. Additionally, there was an open question of who would be responsible for these utility lines. These utility lines are supposed to be permanent infrastructure intended to support inherently temporary structures owned and operated by private entities.
Public bidding process
Any use of land outside the school building requires a land lease agreement, which can only be obtained after legal public procurement procedures. That way, the project will be awarded to the bidder who offers the most favorable terms for the district. There was no guarantee that the project would be awarded to Brockton Neighborhood Health Center.
Any bidding process would have been fair and open, and we would have welcomed BNHC's formal proposal, but that proposal would have been subject to consideration on its merits and the possibility of choosing to participate in the process. It would have been considered against the merits of certain other providers.
Brockton Neighborhood Health Center has not been provided with any notice to proceed at any point that would indicate that there is a clear path forward to open a school-based health center at Brockton High School, making it premature or Any purchases made without full due diligence were expired at that time. your own risk.
No equivalent model exists
Brockton Public Schools requested, but did not receive, an analysis of a comparable school-based health center model from BNHC. Lowell has a reputation as a community where the school-based health center model works well, and at the most basic level, we want to replicate that in Brockton. However, the main difference is that his SBHC in Lowell is located within an existing building. Taunton also has school-based health centers at Taunton High School and Parker Middle School. Similar to Lowell, this facility is located within an existing building, which eliminates many of the logistical hurdles we face here in Brockton. Worcester, another district comparable to Brockton, also has its own school-based health center located within school buildings.
future space needs
Brockton Public Schools is currently in the early stages of the Massachusetts School Building Authority process to consider the possibility of replacing the existing Brockton High School building with a new facility or renovating the existing building.
If that process progresses to the point of pursuing the construction of a new Brockton High School building, that means it will be essential to have as much flexibility as possible regarding available land.
Providing long-term land leases to outside vendors and establishing utility connections at potentially significant public expense to support that vendor's needs ultimately impacts the MSBA process and schools. could have adversely affected the feasibility of a new high school on the site. existing building.
