Board delays SAGE contract renewal for school‑based therapy after legal concerns

Public commenters and trustees pressed the board April 24 about renewing school‑based mental‑health services provided by SAGE. A parent who described SAGE as "lifesaving" urged contract renewal and described SAGE’s presence at Peninsula High School as essential; she said three therapists at Penn carry a caseload of roughly 241 students and called SAGE part of the school support system.

Several trustees expressed support for continuing the service; one trustee noted SAGE was the least expensive bidder and that other bidders would charge more to match existing coverage. However, a trustee (speaker 5) raised legal concerns: the entity that responded to the district RFP represents itself as a project of Impact Philanthropy Group but has filed for a new corporation and said it intends to operate under that new entity next year. The trustee said the RFP responses and declarations of financial stability were submitted by the current entity, not by the new corporation, and argued the district should not award a contract to an entity that did not submit the RFP response.

Given those concerns, the board agreed to delay final contract action and asked staff to obtain legal review of the documentation and to return the item to the board. Staff told trustees that if the board approves a provider tonight it would normally proceed to contract creation through business services, but because of the legal questions staff supported taking additional time. Board members said they expect legal review and that the district will not interrupt services to students while the review occurs.

Trustees also asked for better tracking of mental‑health outcomes and suggested a future agenda item to review metrics (for example, data from the California Healthy Kids Survey) to assess whether current supports are improving student well‑being.