WHEELING — The Ohio County Board of Education is expected in November to receive and consider a memorandum of understanding with WVU Medicine Wheeling Hospital that would lead to the establishment of a health clinic at Madison Elementary School.

Leah Stout, special education director for Ohio County Schools, has been working with Superintendent Kim Miller on getting the clinic at the school.

Stout said the school district and WVU Medicine are close to achieving terms of the MOU, and she expects the final draft to be presented to the board of education for consideration at its Nov. 12 meeting.

The MOU will outline the hours of the clinic, as well as such details as where it will be housed and procedures for treating students, Stout said. Concerns have been raised as to how parental approval will be required before treatment.

Plans currently call for WVU Medicine Wheeling Hospital to provide a nurse practitioner at the clinic eight hours each week, she added. It is not clear yet how those hours would be distributed over how many days.

“There would be room included to expand those hours,” Stout said.

Construction also will have to take place at Madison School to make the clinic area handicapped accessible, she continued. There is already a dental clinic at the school that would benefit from the work.

At their Sept. 23 meeting, board of education members accepted a bid for $173,400 from JD&E Construction of Wheeling to build out the clinic area at Madison.

The school district has more than that amount available in grant funds that have been secured for the project, Steven Bieniek, business manager for Ohio County Schools, told board members.

He reported the Sisters of St. Joseph have committed $70,000 to the project, and the Benedum Foundation has provided another $75,000 to WVU Medicine-Wheeling Hospital that is designated for the build out construction that will come back to Ohio County Schools.

In addition, Stout secured other grants from the Martha Parlin Trust Fund at $26,659; the Congregation of St. Joseph Community Grant at $3,000; and the Anne Sonneborn Charitable Foundation at $10,000.

“Just securing the funds was a relief,” she said. “That was a beast.”

Once the MOU and policies are in place, construction can begin, according to Stout.