Gary Superintendent Yvonne Stokes said Wednesday the district and school board were in the early phases of evaluating two presentations from local nonprofit providers bidding to establish a community health clinic at the West Side Leadership Academy.

One school board member has ties to one of the providers, but in response to a question from a newspaper, Stokes said Edgewater Health CEO and president Danita Johnson-Woods has filed a conflict of interest document.

Stokes and Johnson-Woods said Edgewater Health has been providing services, including crisis intervention for teachers, to the school district since 1974.

Johnson-Woods was appointed to the board in 2023 by state Secretary of Education Katie Jenner.

Both Edgewater and Community HealthNet officials offered presentations to the school board in recent weeks.

No timeline has been offered for a decision.

Carole Carlson is a freelance reporter for the Post-Tribune.