Community High School District 218 Board of Education members voted Thursday to give a three-year contract to Athletico Physical Therapy for athletic trainer services. The firm will provide a full-time trainer at each of Richards, Shepard and Eisenhower high schools, along with an extra trainer upon request.
The contract begins in August and will run through July 31, 2021. The high school district will pay $84,000 for the first year of service, along with $30 per hour for up to 100 hours of services performed during the summer months.
That cost will go up to $87,000 for the 2019-20 school year, and $90,000 for 2020-21.
Athletico used to provide athletic trainer services to the high schools prior to the 2017-18 academic year, but switched to Nova Care Rehabilitation of Pennsylvania for the services for the current school year. Nova Care submitted a bid to renew its contract, which paid them just over $80,000 for the year. But their total bid of $324,000 for the three years exceeded the Athletico total bid of $261,000, officials said.
Aside from being the low bid, two other organizations currently using Athletico services gave their recommendations to the high school district.
Though the board approved the measure without opposition, there was some discussion about the practicality of the hiring full-time athletic trainers instead of contracting for the service.
“That is something we have considered,” district spokesman Bob McParland said. “But there just aren’t many qualified people out there who are available.”
In other business, the board voted to approve a contract with the Chicago-based firm RSM U.S., LLP to conduct an audit of the district’s financial statements from the 2017-18 academic year.
More Top Picks Best Amazon Prime Day Lawn Mower Deals 2026
The firm is the same one that regularly performs financial audits for the Worth Township treasurer’s office.