Board OK's early retirement incentive

The School District 6 Board approved the concept of a retirement incentive program for the district’s teachers at last week’s meeting, but it’s subject to a final vote at the May meeting. Superintendent Steve Bradshaw added the item to the agenda at the start of the meeting. The board members said they can’t approve it without giving public notice.

The concept wasn’t approved by all of the board. Board members Larry Wilson and Lyle Mitchell voted against the measure.

Wilson said it bothers him to give bonuses or pay for services that haven’t been done. The incentive would pay $15,000 over three years, or a lump sum, to 12 district employees that put in their resignation by the end of April. Their retirement doesn’t have to take effect until the end of next school year. The 12 would include the five employees who have already announced their retirement since the beginning of January. If 12 people don’t sign up by the deadline, the new resignations would become invalid except for those who already resigned.

Board member Dean Chisholm said the incentive is a way for the district to save money. A new teacher without experience would cost the district about $40,700 annually. The tenured teachers cost about $66,000. Many of the teachers have been in the district for more than 20 years, he said.

Bradshaw recommended the board approve it because in two years the district is going to need the savings. The incentive program will cost more in the short run, but the district will save $10,000 to $15,000 per position by 2018, for a maximum savings of $180,000 for the year.

Also included in the program is an additional insurance benefit of $1,500. This is on top of an annual insurance premium of $6,500 paid to retired teachers for two years.

Several board members said it’s a way to show appreciation to the teachers who have served the district for so long. But Wilson disagreed.

“Don’t call it a recognition thing, it’s a money thing. We’re doing it to save money in our budget. We’re not doing it because we like what they did,” Wilson said. Appreciation happens every day in the work place and without it the teachers wouldn’t have stayed so long, he said.

Bradshaw said the incentive program is for this one time and won’t become part of a future contract.

“It’s a crying shame it is about money … but at the same time it also allows us to say thank you to the teachers here,” Bradshaw said.

In other School District 6 news:

• The board approved a one-year agreement with Leavitt Group as a consultant for the district’s employee health insurance to replace Linda Clause, who is retiring after working with them 20 years. The board chose Leavitt Group because they have a more consistent ideology to the district’s self-insured program. Business manager Dustin Zuffelato said the services will cost more because it’s closer to market price. As far as insurance negotiations with Kalispell Regional Medical Center, board members expressed frustration that April 1 passed without an agreement. Zuffelato said KRMC’s affiliation with North Valley Hospital is priority now and the district has been placed on the back burner.

• The 2016-2017 school year calendar was approved, a version that required school on Martin Luther King Jr. Day. Board members Riley and Dean Chisholm voted against the calendar.

• The board approved a two-year agreement with the Flathead City-County Health Department to have a clinic one day a week in the Canyon Elementary School. The Health Department will pay $2,600 in rent annually.

• The board approved a three-year swim team contract with the Montana High School Association. Consideration of the contract was added to the agenda during the meeting after swim coach Mike Nelson and assistant coach Amy Caudill gave an update on the past season. Superintendent Steve Bradshaw was concerned that Nelson wouldn’t have a job at Plum Creek after the end of this year and wouldn’t be able to continue the swim program. However, Nelson said that Caudill would do a “fine job” without him and she plans on settling down in the area with her husband. Nelson also said that because the team is self-supported, if they don’t raise enough money they’ll skip a meet or not stay overnight.

• The Columbia Falls High School Academic Endowment requested the district pay the $1,200 to send students to the state science fair in the future.

• Columbia Falls High School was awarded a $6,000 grant for Graduation Matters Columbia Falls out of a statewide pot of $200,000.