Barron Jones
SUN Staff Writer
Española Valley High School students working out on the new fitness equipment approved by the Española School Board April 23 won’t have to go far to quench their thirst.
The Board approved the purchase of weightlifting equipment through funds received from Medicaid, in addition to a deal that gives a leading soft drink company exclusive access to the District’s more than 4,000 students.
In exchange for the exclusive access, the company will supply Española Valley High School with a state-of-the-art scoreboard to go with the new bleachers the school recently had installed in the Edward Medina Gymnasium.
School officials will buy nearly $30,000 worth of weights and other equipment with the money Medicaid provides the District to support special needs education. The Coca-Cola Company will deliver an $18,000 scoreboard as a signing bonus for entering into a long-term deal that allows the company exclusive rights to place vending machines in the District’s schools.
Superintendent Danny Trujillo said the District raised the $30,000 from Medicaid reimbursements for providing services to approximately 350 special needs students enrolled in Española Public Schools
Clara Spinks, the District’s Medicaid Billing Manager, said the program has been around since 2006 to provide Medicaid school-based services to students that meet the three requirements.
The District receives reimbursements based on information stored in a third-party database.
Every time one of the District’s ancillary staff members work with a special needs student, they log the services provided into the database managed by Sivic Solutions Group (SSG).
“If someone provides speech therapy services for one of the special needs students, that data is entered into the computer,” Spinks said. “And two or three times a month, SSG does a sweep and bills Medicaid for the services provided.”
She said even if the student isn’t Medicaid-eligible but receives ancillary services, that information is stored in the database, which makes it hard to determine exactly how many students participate in the program.
“We generate about $400,000 a year in reimbursements,” Trujillo said. “The money is used to pay for nurses, counselors and we pay for some of these kinds of programs.”
District Administrative Assistant for Instruction Regina Martinez, sits on the District’s Medicaid Committee, the body responsible for determining the best use for reimbursements.
She said the Committee’s goal is to come up with ideas that promote District-wide health and wellness.
“We have a really good contract that we developed, within the committee, as to how we are going to address the needs of the District on all grade levels,” Martinez said. “It has been a really great program to work with. I think we have elementary on up, so we really have a good committee and we have some good representation with parents and staff.”
The District also raises money through the Medicaid-affiliated random moments program. The program requests ancillary staff members respond to random emails, in a timely manner, detailing what type of work they are doing at that time of the email to help special needs students.
The Random Moment Sampling service helps state agencies and school districts’ outreach programs document staff activities in relationship to reimbursable Federal programs, such as Medicaid.
The scoreboard comes via an agreement between the bottling company and the District that gives the company exclusive rights to sell and promote Coca-Cola products in the District’s 12 elementary schools, as well as the middle school and high school, in exchange for a scoreboard, an annual $1,500 scholarship and 23 percent commission on all 75-cent, 12-ounce, carbonated Coca-Cola drinks and $1.25, 20-ounce, non-carbonated beverages. The agreement, which will take affect July 1, 2014 and last until July 1, 2021, also stipulates free Coca-Cola products for monthly Board meetings.
The New Mexico Public Education Department guidelines ban schools from selling Coca-Cola to students because of it’s high sugar content.
Trujillo said the agreement’s language is standard and parents don’t need to worry about their kids coming home amped on sugar and caffeine because they will not be able to purchase soft drinks from the machines — only teachers will have access them.
“That is standard (the agreement), we have Coke machines in the teacher’s lounge for adults, students don’t have access to Coke,” Trujillo said. “We do have Coke (vending) machines in the high school, but they only sell Powerade and water.”