Manatt represented THT Health (formerly, Teachers Health Trust), the health benefits plan serving employees and dependents of Nevada’s Clark County School District, on the creation of the Taskforce Initiative for Educator Safety & Screening (T.I.E.S.) to promote the safe reopening of schools in Nevada in light of the COVID-19 pandemic.
Designed by THT Health and Manatt—and in collaboration with the Nevada State Board of Education, local stakeholders and University Medical Center of Southern Nevada—T.I.E.S. is a state-funded COVID-19 testing program for educators, administrators, bus drivers, and school staff aimed at preventing the introduction and spread of the virus in schools statewide. It also provides quarantine support, contact tracing, personal protective equipment and more to its participants.
The T.I.E.S. program was approved by the State of Nevada to cover all school districts in the state. The state government also approved funding for the program, including through state-accessed federal CARES Act funds.
To further support the program, Manatt also advised THT Health on the creation of, and tax-exemption application for, Teachers Emergency Assistance & Community Health, Inc., a new nonprofit, 501(c)(3) organization that will serve as a funding vehicle for T.I.E.S. and other disaster relief and health education services for the education community in Nevada.
Manatt Health partner Paul Carr-Rollitt led a team of attorneys and consultants from Manatt Health in designing and implementing the program, including structuring, funding, project management, legal and regulatory issues. The team included on the strategy side, Brenda Pawlak, Eric Bartholet, Bill Bernstein and Michelle Howell; and on the legal side, Randi Seigel and Christopher Rundell. The team also included Manatt partners Brian Kelly and Megan Christensen, as well as attorney Jonathan Weiss.
For more information on T.I.E.S., click here.