July 23, 2014 at 2:10 p.m.
Schools to switch to new insurer (06/27/06)
Jay School Board
By By BETH A. CLAYTON-
After a lengthy discussion, a failed motion and a split vote, the Jay School Corporation has ended its professional relationship of nearly 30 years with Indiana Insurance, offered through Bixler Insurance Agency, Portland.
The board voted 4-3 at Monday’s meeting to accept an annual property and casualty insurance quote of $166,307 from Hanover Insurance, offered through First Merchants Insurance Services, Muncie. The current policy, set to expire June 30, was priced at $280,503.
Additionally, the board voted to accept a worker’s compensation quote from Hanover Insurance at a cost of $55,164. The corporation’s current carrier, FCCI, offered through the Miles & Finch Agency in Kokomo, provided a quote of $80,888.
First Merchants Insurance Services Agent John Parker also offered a three-year guarantee of property and liability rates.
Bixler agent Steve Stockton said his company could likely offer a similar guarantee upon request, but it was not currently written into the agreement.
Board member Bryan Alexander first made a motion to keep the current carrier, but the motion failed and a second motion was made to change carriers, which passed. Board members Jay Halstead, Frank Vormohr and Bryan Alexander cast the dissenting votes in making the switch to a new agent and underwriter.
Indiana Insurance offered an original quote of $203,886 by the June 19 deadline, but Stockton said he called Indiana Insurance a second time in an attempt to secure a lower rate for the school corporation and came back with a quote of $167,911.
This second quote seemed to rub some members of the board the wrong way.
“Do deadlines mean anything?” asked Greg Wellman. “Is this really the lowest quote this time?”
Board president Doug Inman expressed similar sentiments.
“I am a firm believer in pencil-point pricing the first time,” he said.
However, other board members felt loyalty to local providers should be a priority.
“Frankly, I’m a little afraid of the unknown and we would be bad stewards of our tax dollars to take those out of the county,” said board member Bryan Alexander.
Parker, whose agency carries both Hanover and Indiana Insurance, said that while doing his research, he discovered that the rates offered to Jay Schools by Indiana Insurance were much higher than they needed to be and pointed out that the savings his company could offer would be wise use of tax dollars.
Business Manager Brad DeRome recommended Hanover Insurance strictly due to lower rates — an opinion shared by board member Mike Shannon.
“I am making this decision based on dollars and cents only,” Shannon said.
Insurance dilemmas were also discussed when the board approved the Memorandum of Understanding for Administrators and the Memorandum of Understanding for Support Staff.
These memorandums are not contractual agreements, but are an explanation of benefits at time of employment.
The MOU for Administrators remained the same except for revision of dates. Also, the length of the contract for the director of special education was lengthened to 12 months, and changes were made to reflect that.
Downing expressed her desire that the board consider pay increases for all administrative positions, except the superintendent, when the teachers’ contract is settled.
The two-year teachers’ contract expired at the end of the 2005-2006 school year and a new contract is currently being negotiated.
Under the MOU for Support Staff, all support staff will receive a pay increase of 30 cents per hour.
This increase will help offset rising insurance premiums some support staff will face in the coming year.
The board voted three years ago to freeze corporation contributions at a set dollar amount for all support staff, but offered several plans from which employees could choose.
Due to rising insurance premiums, some support staff members could potentially pay 73 percent more for insurance in 2006 than in 2005.
Though a decision was made somewhat reluctantly at May’s board meeting to remain with the corporation’s previous insurance providers, despite the dramatic increase, the decision was split and several board members expressed a desire to revise the insurance plan for the 2007-2008 school year.
That desire was again expressed Monday.
“Our benefits package is blowing up in our face,” said Alexander. “I think it’s imperative that we take some initiative this year.
Inman agreed, saying that the issue would be discussed at future meetings and a committee or task force would be assembled to face the dilemma.
“As soon as possible, we need to come up with an entirely new benefits package for support staff,” he said.
In other business, the board:
•Heard a financial report for May 2006 from DeRome.
DeRome said Jay Schools received funds from the state of Indiana amounting to $1.4 million, but because the state is delaying some payments, the corporation will not receive the June payment until September, when the corporation will receive two state basic grant payments.
However, DeRome said the corporation will receive the local property tax draw in June, which are expected to add $2.4 million to the general fund.
Medical claims/prescription payments for May were $368,000, which is $31,000 higher than in April, and on pace for a total of $4.9 million for the year. This amount is $300,000 higher than in 2005.
Though medical claims are on the rise, DeRome said the corporation is currently under budget for the year.
•Voted to move ahead with the refinancing existing bonds, under the condition that a savings of at least $275,000 could be secured.
Jay Schools financial consultant Lonnie Therber of the municipal finance firm Therber & Brock, Indianapolis, discussed with the board the option of refinancing nearly $20 million in bonds issued in 2000, 2001 and 2002.
Therber explained that the process is very similar to refinancing a home, and that his current calculations, based on a 4.7 percent interest rate, could result in a cash savings of about $240,000 and possibly more.
Other refunding options include reducing the annual debt service by about $20,000 per year, resulting in a savings of $380,000 from 2007 to 2025, or reducing the final payment by $580,000 in 2025.
Though the latter two options yield a greater savings, Therber recommended the cash savings because of its increased impact.
“Twenty thousand dollars kind of gets lost (in such a large budget) and who knows what the situation will be 2025?” he said.
Therber said that the board had the option of withdrawing their request to refinance if the final numbers were not as high as expected, but warned that interest rates could change quickly.
“I would not expect these rates to change in the near future, but there are no guarantees,” he said.
Therber will present more data at the July board meeting.
•Heard a presentation from Larry Wilson, program director for Title 1 for Jay Schools, detail the allocation of a $618,674.45 state grant that provides extra funds to schools serving underprivileged children.
Wilson said the funds were spread out over six elementary schools that qualify for Title 1 funds based on free and reduced lunches to provide salaries and benefits for teachers of reading recovery, English as a second language and literacy coaches on full- or part-time schedule, as funding an enrollment allow.
Bloomfield Elementary School does not qualify as a Title 1 school.
It also will help fund Title 1 teachers to assisted in extended half-day kindergarten programs at six of the seven county elementary schools.
Pennville and Judge Haynes Elementary schools will have a half-day Title 1 kindergarten teacher daily in addition to the regular teacher, while Westlawn and Redkey elementaries and East and General Shanks elementaries will pair off and share kindergarten teachers on alternating days.
The grant also includes a $23,030.18 payment to the Youth Service Bureau, to offset the costs of tutoring and summer school for children at YSB who receive those services.
•Participated in a review of school board goals, last discussed at the January board meeting, led by Downing.
Downing said she will form committees to evaluate the feasibility of incorporating the International Baccalaureate Diploma and Project Lead the Way, a pre-engineering program at the high school.
Also, a committee, chaired by Bryan Alexander, is being formed to establish guidelines for inclusion on the Athletic Wall of Fame at the high school. The committee will also include Vormohr and representatives of the high school coaching and administrative staffs.
Additionally, Downing said she received three quotes from independent consultants concerning reviewing the block schedule at the high school. The quotes range between $6,000 and $8,000. The board asked Downing to proceed in selecting a consultant.
•Heard an update from Inman concerning the hiring process of a new superintendent.
Inman said a pamphlet featuring photographs and statistics about the school corporation has been created by the Graphic Printing Co. and will be ready for distribution to interested parties beginning July 3.
Completed applications are due Aug. 11, and interviews will begin the following week with the anticipation of reaching a final decision in September.
Inman invited the public to speak at the next board meeting, to be held July 17 at 6 p.m. in the conference room of the central administration office to give the board input about qualities desired in a superintendent.
The board policy requiring visitors to put requests to speak in writing will be waived for this discussion.
•Heard an update on the high school renovation from building and grounds coordinator for Jay Schools Ron Krieg.
Krieg said the floor of the swimming pool had been poured and that the project seems to be on schedule.
Krieg also said that he has taken more than 800 photographs of the project, stored both in albums and on several different computers, so that a visual record will be kept of the process and location of conduits and cables.
“Nobody really knew what we had before, and I don’t want the person who comes after me to be in the same position,” he said after passing around a 3” binder full of photos.
•Approved the resignation of several employees and the appointment of Jared Nussbaum as vocational agriculture teacher at JCHS, Amanda Reinhart as food service secretary and Joella Rinker as part time food service cook and driver.
•Voted to appoint General Shanks Elementary School principal Michael Eads to the Jay County Mentoring Inc. Board of Directors.
According to the by-laws of the non-profit organization, the school board is asked to appoint two members to the board of directors.
Downing was previously appointed and serves as board president.
•Approved the 2006-2007 school bus drivers’ contract.
The contract remains the same as the contract for 2005-2006, with the exception of date changes.
•Approved the after school tutor/detention rates for the 2006-2007 school year.
After-school tutors will receive $20 per hour, and middle school detention supervisors and Saturday school detention supervisors will receive $50 per three-hour detention session.
•Approved rental fees for elementary and middle school textbook fees and additional fees for high school book rental for the 2006-2007 school year.
Downing announced that at the elementary and middle school levels, rental fees increased no more than $4 over the 2005-2006 school year.
Though the board voted to approve the high school rental fees at the May board meeting, the price of some workbooks in family and consumer science courses were inadvertently omitted from the total. The vote at Monday’s meeting corrected this oversight.
•Heard the second reading of and approved the School Board Wellness Policy.
Under Federal law, each local educational entity must have a wellness policy in place by June 30.
The first reading was approved during the May board meeting and the policy has been reviewed by the legal counsel of Bose, McKinney and Evans, Indianapolis.
According to the policy, a student survey will be conducted during the school year in regard to food choices and menu, and monitoring and measurement of the goals will be conducted annually.
•Heard Downing present commendations to Joseph Vormohr and Amanda Johnson for their individual performances at the track and field state finals and to Annie McClung in honor of her being named 2006 Indiana High School French Teacher of the Year.
“We are very proud of all three individuals,” said Downing.[[In-content Ad]]
The board voted 4-3 at Monday’s meeting to accept an annual property and casualty insurance quote of $166,307 from Hanover Insurance, offered through First Merchants Insurance Services, Muncie. The current policy, set to expire June 30, was priced at $280,503.
Additionally, the board voted to accept a worker’s compensation quote from Hanover Insurance at a cost of $55,164. The corporation’s current carrier, FCCI, offered through the Miles & Finch Agency in Kokomo, provided a quote of $80,888.
First Merchants Insurance Services Agent John Parker also offered a three-year guarantee of property and liability rates.
Bixler agent Steve Stockton said his company could likely offer a similar guarantee upon request, but it was not currently written into the agreement.
Board member Bryan Alexander first made a motion to keep the current carrier, but the motion failed and a second motion was made to change carriers, which passed. Board members Jay Halstead, Frank Vormohr and Bryan Alexander cast the dissenting votes in making the switch to a new agent and underwriter.
Indiana Insurance offered an original quote of $203,886 by the June 19 deadline, but Stockton said he called Indiana Insurance a second time in an attempt to secure a lower rate for the school corporation and came back with a quote of $167,911.
This second quote seemed to rub some members of the board the wrong way.
“Do deadlines mean anything?” asked Greg Wellman. “Is this really the lowest quote this time?”
Board president Doug Inman expressed similar sentiments.
“I am a firm believer in pencil-point pricing the first time,” he said.
However, other board members felt loyalty to local providers should be a priority.
“Frankly, I’m a little afraid of the unknown and we would be bad stewards of our tax dollars to take those out of the county,” said board member Bryan Alexander.
Parker, whose agency carries both Hanover and Indiana Insurance, said that while doing his research, he discovered that the rates offered to Jay Schools by Indiana Insurance were much higher than they needed to be and pointed out that the savings his company could offer would be wise use of tax dollars.
Business Manager Brad DeRome recommended Hanover Insurance strictly due to lower rates — an opinion shared by board member Mike Shannon.
“I am making this decision based on dollars and cents only,” Shannon said.
Insurance dilemmas were also discussed when the board approved the Memorandum of Understanding for Administrators and the Memorandum of Understanding for Support Staff.
These memorandums are not contractual agreements, but are an explanation of benefits at time of employment.
The MOU for Administrators remained the same except for revision of dates. Also, the length of the contract for the director of special education was lengthened to 12 months, and changes were made to reflect that.
Downing expressed her desire that the board consider pay increases for all administrative positions, except the superintendent, when the teachers’ contract is settled.
The two-year teachers’ contract expired at the end of the 2005-2006 school year and a new contract is currently being negotiated.
Under the MOU for Support Staff, all support staff will receive a pay increase of 30 cents per hour.
This increase will help offset rising insurance premiums some support staff will face in the coming year.
The board voted three years ago to freeze corporation contributions at a set dollar amount for all support staff, but offered several plans from which employees could choose.
Due to rising insurance premiums, some support staff members could potentially pay 73 percent more for insurance in 2006 than in 2005.
Though a decision was made somewhat reluctantly at May’s board meeting to remain with the corporation’s previous insurance providers, despite the dramatic increase, the decision was split and several board members expressed a desire to revise the insurance plan for the 2007-2008 school year.
That desire was again expressed Monday.
“Our benefits package is blowing up in our face,” said Alexander. “I think it’s imperative that we take some initiative this year.
Inman agreed, saying that the issue would be discussed at future meetings and a committee or task force would be assembled to face the dilemma.
“As soon as possible, we need to come up with an entirely new benefits package for support staff,” he said.
In other business, the board:
•Heard a financial report for May 2006 from DeRome.
DeRome said Jay Schools received funds from the state of Indiana amounting to $1.4 million, but because the state is delaying some payments, the corporation will not receive the June payment until September, when the corporation will receive two state basic grant payments.
However, DeRome said the corporation will receive the local property tax draw in June, which are expected to add $2.4 million to the general fund.
Medical claims/prescription payments for May were $368,000, which is $31,000 higher than in April, and on pace for a total of $4.9 million for the year. This amount is $300,000 higher than in 2005.
Though medical claims are on the rise, DeRome said the corporation is currently under budget for the year.
•Voted to move ahead with the refinancing existing bonds, under the condition that a savings of at least $275,000 could be secured.
Jay Schools financial consultant Lonnie Therber of the municipal finance firm Therber & Brock, Indianapolis, discussed with the board the option of refinancing nearly $20 million in bonds issued in 2000, 2001 and 2002.
Therber explained that the process is very similar to refinancing a home, and that his current calculations, based on a 4.7 percent interest rate, could result in a cash savings of about $240,000 and possibly more.
Other refunding options include reducing the annual debt service by about $20,000 per year, resulting in a savings of $380,000 from 2007 to 2025, or reducing the final payment by $580,000 in 2025.
Though the latter two options yield a greater savings, Therber recommended the cash savings because of its increased impact.
“Twenty thousand dollars kind of gets lost (in such a large budget) and who knows what the situation will be 2025?” he said.
Therber said that the board had the option of withdrawing their request to refinance if the final numbers were not as high as expected, but warned that interest rates could change quickly.
“I would not expect these rates to change in the near future, but there are no guarantees,” he said.
Therber will present more data at the July board meeting.
•Heard a presentation from Larry Wilson, program director for Title 1 for Jay Schools, detail the allocation of a $618,674.45 state grant that provides extra funds to schools serving underprivileged children.
Wilson said the funds were spread out over six elementary schools that qualify for Title 1 funds based on free and reduced lunches to provide salaries and benefits for teachers of reading recovery, English as a second language and literacy coaches on full- or part-time schedule, as funding an enrollment allow.
Bloomfield Elementary School does not qualify as a Title 1 school.
It also will help fund Title 1 teachers to assisted in extended half-day kindergarten programs at six of the seven county elementary schools.
Pennville and Judge Haynes Elementary schools will have a half-day Title 1 kindergarten teacher daily in addition to the regular teacher, while Westlawn and Redkey elementaries and East and General Shanks elementaries will pair off and share kindergarten teachers on alternating days.
The grant also includes a $23,030.18 payment to the Youth Service Bureau, to offset the costs of tutoring and summer school for children at YSB who receive those services.
•Participated in a review of school board goals, last discussed at the January board meeting, led by Downing.
Downing said she will form committees to evaluate the feasibility of incorporating the International Baccalaureate Diploma and Project Lead the Way, a pre-engineering program at the high school.
Also, a committee, chaired by Bryan Alexander, is being formed to establish guidelines for inclusion on the Athletic Wall of Fame at the high school. The committee will also include Vormohr and representatives of the high school coaching and administrative staffs.
Additionally, Downing said she received three quotes from independent consultants concerning reviewing the block schedule at the high school. The quotes range between $6,000 and $8,000. The board asked Downing to proceed in selecting a consultant.
•Heard an update from Inman concerning the hiring process of a new superintendent.
Inman said a pamphlet featuring photographs and statistics about the school corporation has been created by the Graphic Printing Co. and will be ready for distribution to interested parties beginning July 3.
Completed applications are due Aug. 11, and interviews will begin the following week with the anticipation of reaching a final decision in September.
Inman invited the public to speak at the next board meeting, to be held July 17 at 6 p.m. in the conference room of the central administration office to give the board input about qualities desired in a superintendent.
The board policy requiring visitors to put requests to speak in writing will be waived for this discussion.
•Heard an update on the high school renovation from building and grounds coordinator for Jay Schools Ron Krieg.
Krieg said the floor of the swimming pool had been poured and that the project seems to be on schedule.
Krieg also said that he has taken more than 800 photographs of the project, stored both in albums and on several different computers, so that a visual record will be kept of the process and location of conduits and cables.
“Nobody really knew what we had before, and I don’t want the person who comes after me to be in the same position,” he said after passing around a 3” binder full of photos.
•Approved the resignation of several employees and the appointment of Jared Nussbaum as vocational agriculture teacher at JCHS, Amanda Reinhart as food service secretary and Joella Rinker as part time food service cook and driver.
•Voted to appoint General Shanks Elementary School principal Michael Eads to the Jay County Mentoring Inc. Board of Directors.
According to the by-laws of the non-profit organization, the school board is asked to appoint two members to the board of directors.
Downing was previously appointed and serves as board president.
•Approved the 2006-2007 school bus drivers’ contract.
The contract remains the same as the contract for 2005-2006, with the exception of date changes.
•Approved the after school tutor/detention rates for the 2006-2007 school year.
After-school tutors will receive $20 per hour, and middle school detention supervisors and Saturday school detention supervisors will receive $50 per three-hour detention session.
•Approved rental fees for elementary and middle school textbook fees and additional fees for high school book rental for the 2006-2007 school year.
Downing announced that at the elementary and middle school levels, rental fees increased no more than $4 over the 2005-2006 school year.
Though the board voted to approve the high school rental fees at the May board meeting, the price of some workbooks in family and consumer science courses were inadvertently omitted from the total. The vote at Monday’s meeting corrected this oversight.
•Heard the second reading of and approved the School Board Wellness Policy.
Under Federal law, each local educational entity must have a wellness policy in place by June 30.
The first reading was approved during the May board meeting and the policy has been reviewed by the legal counsel of Bose, McKinney and Evans, Indianapolis.
According to the policy, a student survey will be conducted during the school year in regard to food choices and menu, and monitoring and measurement of the goals will be conducted annually.
•Heard Downing present commendations to Joseph Vormohr and Amanda Johnson for their individual performances at the track and field state finals and to Annie McClung in honor of her being named 2006 Indiana High School French Teacher of the Year.
“We are very proud of all three individuals,” said Downing.[[In-content Ad]]
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