Kaleida nurses to sue Buffalo City School District over nurses contract

Kaleida Health filed a lawsuit against the Buffalo City School District, the Buffalo Board of Education and the Buffalo City School District Superintendent Dr. Kriner Cash in State Supreme Court.

This comes after the district ended its 13-year contract with Kaleida Health in June of 2018. Kaleida's bid was delivered late to the district, a violation of the bidding process.

Kaleida Health wants the school district to rescind the award of the contract to its current nurse staffing agencies, reopen the RFP process and consider Kaleida's original proposal.

In the lawsuit filed August 23rd, Kaleida Health says "the District purportedly rejected the Proposal on the basis that a hard copy of the Proposal was delivered sixteen minutes late, yet the District failed to follow its own rules and procedures regarding rejection of late proposals." A spokesperson for the district, Elena Cala, says Kaleida's was one of three late bids that were rejected.

The lawsuit also states "the sixteen-minute delay in delivery of the hard copy did not in any way prejudice another bidder or otherwise compromise the RFP process. Kaleida Health gained no unfair or competitive advantage by submitting the hard copy at 11:16 a.m."

The Buffalo City School District, after ending its contract with Kaleida, contracted Supplemental Health Care and Sunbelt Staffing. Cala says the new nurses "are working out really well, we're really happy with how things are going." A statement from general counsel for the Buffalo School District, Nathaniel J. Kuzma says, "Certainly the district is confident in its decision and that it was based on the law and consistent and clear district policy. It looks forward to presenting its position to the judge in October.”

A court appearance is scheduled for October 24th at 9:30 a.m.

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