Gilman makes switch to Security Health, sees 12% rate hike
“We’ve worked very hard to get an insurance quote to you that is competitive and meets the needs of our district, and we are happy to say that we’ll be able to provide that to you tonight,” said Dr. Walter Leipart, Gilman superintendent.
The Gilman school board voted to switch to health insurance provider Security Health for the upcoming year. The move comes with a 12% increase in premiums from last year. If the district opted to stay with the former provider, UnitedHealthcare, the premium increase would have been about 22.7%.
“It is the exact same benefit that we had with United-Healthcare,” Leipart stated. He said deductibles have gone down under the new plan. The deductible for a single plan is now $2,000 as opposed to $2,250 and $4,000 as opposed to $4,500 for a family plan. Due to the lowered deductibles, the Gilman school district will save about $21,500 on HSA payments and cash in lieu of insurance.
Security Health offered two options to the district. Under the first option, a plan would have cost $2,299, which would have been a decrease in cost compared to last year. However, this plan would have mandated that employees get their healthcare from the Marshfield Clinic network. Leipart noted many employees get healthcare from Mayo Clinic, Aspirus, and OakLeaf, so he recommended the second option, which cost $2,671.
Vision, dental, and long term disability insurance premiums will not increase from last year’s rates.
Shifting to another agenda item, the board voted to move forward with a contract through Empowered Partners LLC, a company that connects licensed educators with school districts. “Recruiting of staff has become increasingly challenging,” Leipart said.
Contracting with Empowered Partners LLC will bring an educator to the district for $86,400. After considering the salary, benefits, and other miscellaneous expenses of hiring a teacher through the district, Leipart concluded contracting through Empowered Partners LLC would be cheaper.
Moving along, Leipart spoke about the upcoming Gilman Community Design Meeting on October 11 and 12. A design team of professional planners and Gilman’s student council will meet with members of the Gilman community to discuss hopes and concerns regarding Gilman’s future. Members of the public in Gilman are invited to attend a tailgating party at Celebration Hall on October 11 from 4:30 p.m. to 8:30 p.m. to share their ideas about the future of Gilman. Free food will be served at 4:30 p.m., and the program will start at 5:00 p.m. Reservation tickets (space limited to 200 people) are available at the Village Hall or at Gilman School. Following this meeting, the design team will use input to draw up plans for Gilman’s future. The plans will be presented Saturday, October 12 at Gilman School at 7:00 p.m.
In other news, board members heard the annual report from the eSucceed Virtual charter school. Leipart reported eSucceed set four goals last school year and met all four. eSucceed increased the total number of students by 17, increased the number of board members to five, saw 87% of students raise their MAP test scores from fall to spring, and had 100% of middle school students complete a project.
“All in all, they are doing good,” Leipart said. He noted enrollment totals need to be at 100 for eSucceed, or the board may have a “different conversation with the future of eSucceed.”
During the superintendent report, Leipart said he has been working to get Phil Tallman onboarded as interim principal. Leipart also has been planning for inservice on August 26-29, the first day of school on September 3, and open house on August 27 from 4-7 p.m. He reported the district signed on with Munetrix, an analytics software company that will allow Gilman to compare academic and financial data with other districts. He said the district is working on their Title 9 policy.
Later in the meeting, Leipart recapped how Gilman assisted an elementary school that was affected by flooding in Spenser, Iowa: 'We were able to not only help them start their school year by giving them access to curriculum materials K through third grade, but we did get $7500 for it as well.”
Interim Principal Phil Tallmn reported the new elementary playground ribbon cutting ceremony will take place on the September 3 at 12 p.m. Anyone is welcome to attend. He also noted “about 70% of our high school is involved with athletics this fall.”
In staff changes, Kim Dernovsek has moved from a part-time to a full-time kitchen staff member, Nancy Mann has resigned as an assistant girls basketball coach, and Kaytyn Stunkel has been hired as 3rd grade intern. The district will look to fill the part-time kitchen position and the assistant girls basketball coach position.
In other business, the board voted to purchase LP from River Country Cooperative in the 24-25 school year. LP will cost the district $1.099 per gallon under the agreement.
