Regional School District School Committee at 601. Uh we'll start with the reading of the operational goals. The school committee's primary responsibility is to establish those purposes, programs, and procedures that will best produce the educational
achievement needed by our students. The committee's charged with accomplishing this while also being responsible for wise management of resources available to the school district. The committee must fulfill these responsibilities by functioning primarily as a legislative body to formulate and adopt policy by
selecting the executive officer to implement policy and by evaluating the results. It must carry out its functions openly while seeking the commitments the comments of the public student and staff in his decision-making processes. We're going to shift things around just
a tiny little bit um tonight to move up the student presentation. Uh and Allison and both um George and Sarah are not with us tonight. So we're going to do a you do a brief overview or do you decide
to just shift it? >> Okay. The first uh order of business before we move on to the students and Allison would be to review and approve the minutes from September 9th.
>> Move to approve. >> Is there a second? >> I don't think Dian said that he was maybe going to join us late, so I don't think he's on there. Excuse me. >> All right. So, uh stay in
ahead. >> Yes. Approving the minutes. >> Yep. >> Yes. Yes. >> And we have minutes uh revised to review and
approve from June 10th, 2025. Need a motion to approve. Make motion. >> Second. Just go ahead and roll the approval of the minutes. So, >> yes. >> Yes. >> Yes. >> Yeah.
>> Yes. >> Am I supposed to abstain because I wasn't there? >> Except your last. >> I think I'm going to abstain because I just wasn't there. Okay, >> Shelley, are you okay if we can?
>> Perfect. Thank you. >> So, we have uh a student council report. >> NHS >> is their student. >> They were supposed to be here. So, >> okay. >> But I'll hold the student council report
and >> eventually. So, unless you guys want to be put on the spot to do the student council report as well, uh we'll table that and um let you both do the uh NHS
presentation. Okay. Um good evening school committee members. Our names are Tegan and Roomie and we are here representing the high school's National Honor Society. Let's go Presence. Um, we just wanted to let you guys know that society is running a food drive to support families in need
um throughout the Western Mass community and it's open to all students and families in the elementary, middle, and high schools schoolers. Uh, it started last week on October 6th and it's ending on November 14th. We don't have all the boxes to middle schools yet or to the
elementary schools yet, but um in the high school and middle school there are boxes uh for people to donate and there's information on the boxes as well. And then uh we also wanted to let you guys know that we are hosting a movie
night on October 24th in the high school auditorium to kind of like kick off the food drive um and get it going a little bit. Um, we're going to be playing ET from 6:00 to 8:00 and it's open to all elementary and middle schoolers and
we're encouraging like families and students to donate at the door and come for the movies and snacks. Um, it would be greatly appreciated if you could help us get the word out about this initiative, whether through official groups like schoolwide announcements um
by administrators on parent square and um posters that we are handing out for the elementary schools or also parents word of mouth. Uh, thank you very much. >> Thank you. Do you guys have a flyer that you can
>> Yeah, that was my question, too. Do you have like a flyer you could put in the chat or somewhere and we can get that to parents? >> We have Yeah, we've got a flyer for the movie night and for the food drive that we wanted to distribute. Um I don't know
how we insert it in the chat. Romy, do you know how to like share the link or >> Oh, I try. >> Yeah, we'll look right now. >> If you also send it to me, I can send it out to her. >> Yeah, how about that? We'll email it to you. >> Sounds good. >> If that's okay. And we've got two
flyers. Yeah. Thank you. >> Thank you so much. >> Thank you. >> And Allison, you have a a couple of trips. >> Yes. Hi everyone. >> Nice to see you. Um, so I'm here for two
different reasons. One is for the yearly AP government and AP world history trip to Washington DC in March. And the second is a trip in 2027 to Spain and Portugal over April break. Um my Darius,
can I share my screen? >> You should be able to. Yeah. >> Okay. I'm going to pull up the draft itinerary for the DC trip first. Um Lauren Moore and I are just giving
these out to students. Um we just gave them out today. We figured out the cost. Um and we've been in touch with the hotel and um >> Alsie, if you blow up your screen a couple clicks, >> uh all right,
>> the troll. >> Oh, okay. There. >> Is that good? >> Couple more. >> All right. show is getting >> there. What does that make me? All right. Um,
so we're thinking about leaving on Saturday, March 14th, and returning on Wednesday afternoon the 18th. We tried to do it so we weren't the biggest um problem with sports, so trying to do it
in between um seasons. If we can do it a little bit earlier in March, we have a better chance of getting the hotel. Um, so we would go down on Saturday. Sunday would be um AP government going to
Arlington on uh Sunday morning and I will be taking AP World students to the Holocaust Museum. Then we will be going to the African-American Museum that afternoon. So it's a museum and Memorial Day Monday. Um, and this is all
based on who's going to be in DC. And we're hoping that we're not going to be going down this year during the, um, spring break that that Congress has. Um, so, uh, Laura's already been reaching out to
Congressman McGovern's office and we'll be reaching out to Senator Warren's office and, um, I'm not sure if she'll be able to reach Marky. he he tends to have a tighter schedule. Um but you can
see on um the draft itinerary that we've got Monday and Tuesday packed and then we will be coming back on Wednesday morning and be back before dinner time on on Wednesday.
And we have um a lot of kids this year and a lot of kids um really want to go. So, we just want your seal of approval and hopefully we'll have another great trip.
>> Hopefully the Smithsonian will be open for you. >> Fingers crossed. >> I It's very I'm going down in December, so it's going to be interesting to see what's going on in December for a for a conference. Um, that's going to be
that's going to be sort of my test of how things are down in DC right now. >> Um, so I can report back. >> And Bill, I I hear the um Can I just add a quick quick question? Allison, do you did we just lose you just
>> Oh, no. I'm sorry. You just fell off the the screen and I I wasn't sure if we lost you. Um, so that's kind of my question is is there a plan in place for what happens if things are escalating or there's
national troops or museums that are shutting down? >> So just it seems like a a crazy question to even have to ask, but >> so the only example I can use is co.
So, we had to um we had everything all planned and then we had to cancel everything and we were able to get um the hotel money back and the bus we hadn't paid like you only paid the bus 2 weeks before. Um that's
when they expected the check. So, we're just hoping for the best that, you know, I mean, going down, we went down last year when Congress wasn't in session and we still had interns that were able to take us around and we were
able to go to the museums. So, um, we know DC pretty well, so, you know, we can make it something that is meaningful to the students. Um, if uh the troops sing, I I don't even know
what to say. >> Neither do I. >> I don't know what to say. So, um, we will do what we can. >> You know, >> can I ask a question? >> Um, how many students are you looking at
taking and how many years have you been doing the trip? >> So, we've been doing the trip since 2012. and um they're still trying to decide whether they're committing or not, but it looks like this year we're probably
going to have around 50 students. >> Yeah. >> Have you ever taken that many students before? >> Pardon? >> Have you ever have you ever taken that many students before? >> We've taken 45. >> Okay. you sorry I guess
>> can you say a little about the finances including the availability of financial aid? >> So we've taken 40 we've taken a trip with 45. >> Sorry Alison um Jess uh was wondering if you can talk a little bit about
financing and cost and whether there's any um student aid. So my understanding is that if there are students that um need some assistance, we just bring it to Mr. Lenus and um the
school has been um able to um quite a few times cover like half of the cost. Um and I'm sure that would be available. I think Darius knows a little bit more about that than me. Um there are I know that there are funds that can
help some of the students. >> And do you know what the cost is for the rest of the students? >> Oh, it's $525. >> Thank you. >> I didn't hear everything people said. Sorry. >> That's all right. Any other questions?
>> That's a good price. >> Yeah. And it's it's cheaper than it was last year. Um so it's because we've got more kids. So it's it's you know and that's you know it's a it's a nice little boutique hotel that's right in in
um Boggy Bottom and we take the kids around on the subways um and they do really well. They're and they're older, you know, they're 11 and 12th grade. Bill, do you want to? >> Yes.
>> They'll resubmit the motion to approve the trip to DC. Second. >> Thank you. Uh because we don't have to do roll call for this. U just all in favor of approving the trip to DC.
>> Yes. Thank you. >> You've got one more for us, Alison. So, one more. >> You got the >> So, this >> Yeah. >> You want me Do you want me to go ahead? >> Yeah, go for it. >> Okay. So, um
last year uh Jenny and I took um No, not uh I took kids to London and Amsterdam. Well, earlier uh this year and we had a great time and I was going to make that my last um student trip, but I decided and the kids convinced me to do one
more. Um this will definitely be my last one. I'm not sure how many more years after this I will be a frontier. So, um we're looking to go to Spain, Portugal in April. Um leaving on Saturday, April the 17th and coming back on uh Sunday
the 25th in 2027. So, it's a year and a half from now, a little more than a year and a half from now. So, it's plenty of time for planning. Um, there are already 15 people that are um initially signed up for it and I have
worked with Explora a number of times and I know that I will be able to get them to do some discounts for people um as we're moving forward. um students that already did um express interest got a $400 discount off of the price. Um
it's with Explorica, which is overseen by World Stride. Um I this is going to be I think my sixth trip that I've done with them. They're a little little bit above Explorica. I mean, EF tours. Um the trip
we had this past April was actually private. There was only frontier students and people and there were like 23 of us altogether. Um so we had a very private trip. This one we would be going to Madrid first and then we would be
going to Salamanca then we would be going over to Porto and then down to Lisbon and then fly back. So it's uh warm weather there in April. So, the kids get to be outside a lot. Um, there'll be a lot of walking and a lot
of exploring. Um, we're going to be going to Salamanca where there's a huge university and Jenny Yel is going to be one of the chaprons. Um, she went to university there when she did her study abroad. So,
that's going to be um fun for her. And so the um price includes rancher airfare, seven nights, breakfast daily, dinner daily, and they do a very good job of making um the meals uh an
experience for the students as well. Um we have professional tour director, guided sightseeing tours, all covered with the price, visits to attractions, local guides when the cities were visiting. Um and tips are also included in this. I get tips included in the
price. So, it's not something additional that kids have to um find money for. Um the only cost that students have is buying lunch every day. Everything else is provided for them. Um and it I've been to Madrid before, but I haven't
been to Portugal. So, it's going to be kind of an adventure for me. My last time traveling with kids. So, that's that. So, I'm happy to answer questions. This, just so people know, this is the 10th
overseas trip um I will do with students. I've done nine before. >> Do you have a ballpark of what the I know it's going to vary depending on how many >> So, I was able to um up until last week
had the price down to $3,700. um it's gone up, but I know that I'll be able to get Explorer to do some other um short periods to get some discounts. Right now, the price is 4,100 for everything except again except for
lunch. >> And do you know if there's any need-based uh so these are during school vacation trips? So, um I'm sure students could decide to do fundraising if they wanted
to. Um most of these trips the students and and the parents uh I've known students that have because I do them way ahead of time. The students have time and sometimes have family that do matching,
but um these trips we haven't done the need-based because it's not a school field trip. It's a separate from the school day, like the school week, like the Italy trip that they're doing
this upcoming April. >> I wasn't sure if you knew of any local organizations that do any grants to kids who are doing these kind of trips. >> I don't know. All right. >> Questions? >> Motion to
move to second. >> All in favor of approving the spring break trip made in Portugal. And have fun on your trips. Thank you very much and I appreciate moving things around for us all today. Thank you very
much. >> No problem. Thank you. >> All right, Shel unwelcome. >> Uh did you lo >> I did not. Although it's not uh it's not >> Oh, I am. Okay. I just want to make sure
this Okay. Um so financial statements and updates. So I uh sent you out the expense reports. I'm going to talk about a few items. Um Bob did come in and review and sign the warrants. There were 23 warrants totaling uh 1,895,47657. Um so if you're looking through the
expense reports, there are some accounts with budget overages. Currently I haven't done any transfers to clear um deficits on the lines. Some of them are typical overages. And when I say that, it's things like the accounting software, um our liability insurance,
the league fees that we pay to um Maya for sports. All of those rates are set after our budget comes in. They typically run in a deficit every year. We'll cover that deficit with another account that has funds available. Um it's one of those ones that's a little
bit harder to predict and we can cover in another way. Um, things that I did want to point out that are other new overages is any teacher salary, whether it's labeled a teacher or guidance, um,
nursing lines, OT, PT, those are all true overages after contractual obligations. So, we settled slightly higher than the placeholder. So, it is resulting in some deficit on those salary accounts. um not significant for the teachers,
much more significant for the instructional assistants. So there's a few things happening there. Um one, we settled a very rich contract for the IAS that were higher than the placeholder. Two, we restructured the tiers based on
the jobs that the IAS are performing and there are more falling in the highest category of pay based on specialized duties that they're performing with students. and two, we always have um turnover in these positions. So, we've hired some people at a higher step than
was in the budget to begin with. So, all of that is is resulting in about a $20,000 overage on instructional assistance. That kind of um overage at one of our elementary schools would be much more challenging to absorb into the budget, but we'll be able to recoup that
from another expense line. The other thing that I wanted to mention on um occupational therapy is we have uh someone on a paid leave of absence and their replacement is in the budget as well cuz we did have to back fill the
position. So that's about a $19,000 overage as well there. So just some bigger things for you to have on the radar as we go through the year. Uh the health insurance overage is not accounted for in this
report. We just received the newest bill that has the new rates on it with the 101 increase. So we'll be accounting for that. You'll see it in the next reporting cycle. >> Are you going to be discussing that more in greater >> the insurance? >> Yeah,
>> it's on the agenda. Yeah. Um, but my estimate right now is around 75,000 that I think we're going to be over in that account. So, all of these little things add up. They're much more significant overages than we've had in these expense
accounts in the past. So, it will eat into our excess and deficiency certification for next year. Um, because it just reduces our free cashes. We're going to use surplus bonds to help our mortgages. So, um, any questions about
that? I know it's a lot of information. Where are you going? Okay. The other thing is, uh, the audit is complete. Uh, I signed and certified along with our treasurer, Michael Barge, uh, the forms on DLS website, uh, late last week. So,
Scanlin will go in, they'll do their final component and get it uploaded to DLS. um estimated right now 500,000 maybe a little bit higher. Um I don't expect it to be less than that. The 5%
cap would have been around 650,000. So we're under that 5% maximum. Um but still in a healthy position um to be able to have some money for the way for, you know, parking lot that we're going to talk about. Roof is still coming up
for any other overages and to help support our budget next year. cuz we already know it's going to be a challenging year. And I emailed you out a report that had a revolving fund update. Um, I gave you the starting balances where we closed out for June
30th, anticipated revenues, anticipated expenses, and projections for end of year. Um, what I wanted to say, I gave you school choice, I gave you special education revolving, and school lunch. Those are the three primary revolving funds. Um, school choice currently is
projected at uh 1.7 at the end of year, 1.7 million for a balance in our school choice fund. Um, expenditures are exceeding revenue when you look at choice and charter going out and our other expenses. But what I will
say about that is uh last budget cycle, if you remember, we voted to use an additional $100,000 of school choice to help reduce the assessments. So that's in there. And um it's a little bit deceiving because
rural aid has to be used in the year that it's received. So we took the rural aid cash, threw it in school choice, and are now expensing that out. So it's really like $200,000 of choice expenses that really aren't from our school
choice revenue coming in, which I know is complicated, but I just want to make sure we're being transparent about about is going bye-bye. >> Um, we haven't heard of that yet. >> What is the situation with rural land? >> Uh, rural land was cut by 25% from the
previous year. Um, but I have it has been suggested there will be another fair share supplemental budget that will restore the amount was cut before the end of this year. >> Not guaranteed, but our word either. We still haven't received anything from the
state. >> Not even the allocation. No number. Okay. Um we were told we would get that in August this year. >> I'll ask about that. >> I think it was November last year, but it was just before Thanksgiving. >> Yeah.
Um so we're in a healthy spot for school choice. The revenue coming in could be higher than what I'm anticipating right now. I'm waiting for um the student information data to be certified with DESIE for our 101 enrollment. So once I
have those numbers from the IT department, it could mean some growth in revenue for us because I know we had some larger numbers coming in. Special education revolving. The one item that I want to point out there is uh last month I had talked about our out of district
tuition being about $200,000 higher than um we budgeted for based on outplacements. um the special education director and I talked about how to pay for those expenditures and we're going to use some revolving funds to do that. Even with
that additional expense, we're ending the year roughly at about $250,000 in that account. So, we're still in a good spot. Um and then school lunch has uh more money than we've ever had at um about $450,000.
uh the school lunch director and I talk regularly about equipment upgrades, putting some of that back into the food to try to increase food quality um and those kind of things. We have a lot of cool things going on in the farm to school programs districtwide this year. So um hopefully we'll see some
improvement there as well. Question about money. Can the um those fund balances are those allowed to make money for us like interest or investment? >> So we're allowed to do that. >> So all of the money that we have sits in
an investment account regardless of what type of fund it's for. Um only these certain pots can be revolving so we can carry those balances. So we do earn interest on those. Okay. >> Um I don't have the June 30th numbers on
me. June 30th of the prior year of 2024, we had earned over $100,000 in interest. I think this past year was something like 60,000. So, we're definitely seeing some return on our money. >> Any other questions? Just didn't know if
you wanted to touch on I don't know that everybody got the letters that you sent out to the towns or >> Oh, everyone did not get. I just >> I just thought these are one of those things where like >> we got to do it our own form to help >> required to re So what Missy's referring
to is I CCed her on some communications with each of the four towns. Um chapter 70 ended up being $100 per pupil instead of $30 per pupil in the final state calculation. So we owed our town's uh
refund on the assessment. So I issued those notices. We don't actually cut checks by for them. We just reduce the amount that they pay us and their um final bills cuz they pay four times a year. So that happened this week. Yeah. I think it was total like maybe $38,000
extra that frontier received that we had to return to the towns. >> And then the last thing to attach to all that. So there's been lots of talk behind the scenes about 9 seat cuts, whether or not they do them. State revenues are down and they have to make that decision by 15th, which is
tomorrow. So we'll have an idea by the end of the week whether or not. But that's still in field hockey, but we could pretend it's for you. Why not?
That's great. Um so anyway so the other week that kind of thing has been looming. Um Julie Kelly as we know kind of organized about that because there's been small talk about CS after uh transportation
and so that's always been the theory last year and we talked about last year that they didn't give us a rent back and it didn't happen. So, it's that kind of doom and gloom where we don't want to really talk about it. I just want people to know it. So, by the end of this week, we'll be clear of that that concern hopefully.
>> Are you going to give us a brief update on George? You know, I didn't today and put you on the spot. >> That's fine. I don't have his record. >> Okay. >> Yeah,
>> I think there's at least two people here from the public. Is there any either of you from public comment? See if there's no public comment. We'll move on by the unfinished business and >> All right. So, you have a strategic
plan. Um, we talked about it last time. Any questions or concerns? Move that forward. >> I look at you. I've been looking for you there. I realized you were going to come in here. I know. >> Welcome. Thanks. Thanks for
>> swinging by on your way back through. >> Any questions on the strategic plan? >> Anybody? >> The final plan does have the fix does have the fix. I don't recommend the sizing of the uh portrait. That's I
didn't reset it out. You can read it better. They blow it up with different background. all the time. >> There's a small fly that's that's floating around. If you happen to see me whack there, that's what I'm trying to
do. Shoot. >> There's no flag. Jess, you have a question. >> Just wanted to say again, I've spent a lot of time with the strategic plan. I think it's a great document. Thank you to Sarah Mitchell and Laura Ramsey and everybody who put in a lot of time on it and thank you for giving us the opportunity to approve it. It's it's
really good work across the district. >> So I I I brief glimpse at it. um should have spent more time on it, but I the I was looking for mentions of organizational uh
um uh any any feelings of any discussion about uh potentially further exploring the K2 district. And so it's a
>> just that it will be explored >> like >> K12 regionalization is in exploring it is in the regional plan is in the strategic plan and if there's interest there there's like two procedural steps in there >> it is covered.
>> Okay good >> but in a non-committal way. >> Yeah. Yeah. >> Um yeah it's just basically develop a model for regionalization of the district. Um, this section will be developed should the school be decided for this topic during the school year
>> like a little administration. >> Motion to approve. >> Perfect. >> I'll second that. >> Excellent. All in favor of moving this district strategic plan forward.
All right. unanimously passes. Thank you for all that work. Just to echo Jess's comment. You really want to head into health insurance rates. >> That's all we talk about. >> I know you.
>> All right. So, Shel and I are going to tech this. Um, we can start. So, I just kind of give an overview. So, we've had a lot of conversations and a lot of things have transpired in the last week um which will get into um as well with the
Hanford Trust. Um we also met earlier today with the town administrators from the three towns affected and some of them not affected by this um other than their participation at Frontier. Um so and we've had meetings with um uh
different insurance groups and providers and um there was a meeting with the Hampton Trust last week and Shel's going to go through that information because she knows it even better. >> Okay. So uh in July when we had the
insurance advisory committee meeting and decided to set the rate for 101 increase and created projections um we've been doing a quarterly update on that. So that was provided to the full insurance advisory committee. Revenues came in just about where the insurance director executive director
predicted they would be. Um premiums collected for uh the last premium payment did include the 101 increase. We're not yet seeing the benefit of the GLP1 elimination because that just took effect on the first. So that'll come
into the next billing cycles. Um but claims are still a little bit high. They're not quite showing trends of stabilization. Um and for the 3month period, claims ended up being about $1.7ish million over what was projected.
Um if you show that chart there, just gives you a little idea of what claims look like. The baseline for the trust is just over six million that we pay Blue Cross Blue Shield. Um and you can see there in August there was a spike up to 8 million. Um came down a little bit in
September but still above the benchmark. So um we're hoping to continue to see that fall off so that there's no additional loss of um end ofear revenue with that 101 increase. Assetwise, this
question keeps coming up whether it's to me or the full insurance advisory committee. People keep saying when is the trust going to run out of money. Essentially, the trust really shouldn't run out of money because the premiums are coming in and we're using today's premiums collected to pay last month's
claim bill. So, you're sort of doing it in the reverse direction, whereas in the past, we would have had savings reserved to help pay for those claim overages. So, it really sort of is right now an in-out transaction. You can see the
change in cash is minimal in the 3-month period. Um, and accounts receivable, while it is an asset, it's, you know, we're just waiting for claim pay or not claim payments, premium payments to come in from units. But that's really the bulk of the $4.5 million swing was on
accounts receivable, not on cash. So, um, you know, it's not like the trust is going to run out of money today. we can continue to operate in this fashion where we're sort of borrowing from premium payments to pay claim bills from the prior month. Um it's just not really an ideal scenario. And then projection
wise, um so what did that loss of 1.8 million or 1.7 million in the 3-month period do the finances? So the 101 premium increase would have given us about $5.7 million in the bank as reserves at the end of the fiscal year.
With the loss that we've had, we're at about 3.8 million. So we've taken into consideration the GLP1 change, the 20% rate increase, and we still have a bit of an allocation for a buffer. It should flatten out that financial stability. Um
but you know there's always this caution that with continuously high claims it continues to strain the trust cash flow and cash reserves. But um executive committee is meeting right now if not every week every other week we're trying to get claims data as quickly as we can
from Blue Cross Blue Shield and CVS Caremark um so that we can have the most upto-date financial information. Um did we talk about this? I don't know, but I'm interested in if you could possibly elaborate on that as
you know about when you say closely monitoring it monthto month now more closely than you were before >> but previously we were monitoring monthly the executive committee it was only meeting once a month and now we're almost meeting if not every week every
other week >> and I guess that I mean that's my concern but not I mean I I know all the towns are that the towns are the employees are um bad. Um and
there's a lot of upset that I mean I'm that is being directed towards Yeah. Um but you know and and and I'm like you know our the school is acting completely responsibility and we have excellent people on the job but they can
only bake cake with the ingredients they have. Um, and you know, to that end, the the the feeling that you know that we're hearing a lot is that it shouldn't have been as bad as it it
the losses should not have been as that we should that the executive director should have been more on top of the trends, the CL the high claim trends that other insurance groups in the state were more on top of it and addressed it
sooner than we did. And because so much time went by between the executive director notifying the executive committee that the this uh claims the GP1 stuff is was way higher than than
was expected that that's why the premium increase is so much higher than other insurance groups are paying. and and you know I I I don't know.
Yeah. Like the the result is that um the towns are having special town meetings where they're asking the voters for more money for this after for 20% in the middle of the budget cycle um after the
18% just a few months ago. And um you know what um what are we doing about is so is is there a person that is
responsible for not being on top of this to um if so what are we doing about it? So, I think that there's more information that's going to come in this
um that will give you greater insight. I have been on the executive committee for 2 years. I've been the repier since I started in 2019. Um, personally, I don't think that this is
any one person's fault. I think a lot has changed in the insurance industry in the last year. And I think um when you look at the financials, some writing was probably on the wall
2ish years ago, but not to the extreme change that has happened in the last 12 months. I mean, you can't predict that you're going to lose $15 million in one year on insurance claims. you can't predict that and it and the GLP1 piece
um I do think that we were too late on that and I don't think that that is while Joe Sha is the advisor to the insurance advisory committee um I think that he did the best that we could with the information that he had and so much
changed between setting the rates in January 202 yes um to June that we couldn't really have predicted. And then he recommended changing the GLP1 eliminating those weight loss drugs for drugs for July
1st. But there were some committee members, some of our municipal towns that felt like they needed to talk to legal counsel to see if they were going to have to negotiate that with unions and there wasn't time to do that. So, that's probably really the one timing
piece that has come up that we could have done that back in January and it would have saved a ton of money. Um, but it's not just the pharmaceuticals. Um, medical claims have been through the roof. I mean, that last graph, if you go
back up to that stairs, um, shows a swing of millions of dollars in one month. Um, and there is a buffer built in. you know, we built in the projections with almost a $6 million buffer. That's a lot of money. Um, but
when it's getting eaten up eaten up at this rate, I don't know how you get around that. I will say though, the the idea of other insurance trusts or whoever knowing and seeing the landscaping and predict it, I don't
think that that's known either. The GIC got a a $240 million bailout from the state last year. >> Yeah, they don't like it if you use the word bailout. >> Well, that's exactly what it is. They can't have a deficit in a in a >> investment. I'm told. Now, I shouldn't
use the word bail out, which I've done in multiple meetings. Um um but you know, that's one of the reason why a lot of the towns are looking at moving in that direction. um because it seems like the state supports that and it seems like from what I'm you know I keep
hearing that there's a real loss of confidence in the leadership of >> so if we can go through this presentation >> it's going to point out some things about the goods and the bads that and of our leadership by the goods and bads that there's change >> and I will just say that the other piece
that can offset some of what happens with other plans is the duck Right? So if you have no deductible, there's no deterrent there for you to move forward on something that might cost you if you had a deductible thousands of dollars up
front before you got to that insurance coverage. So that is one piece that makes that a bit of a vulnerability. >> And every unit has a representative or an opportunity to have a representative at the table. So while it's easy to blame Joe Shay who's in the seat as the
professional and adviser, it the rest of us have had and a sight in it. So, I think I think it's a really complicated situation. Um, he's taking a ton of heat right now. Um, good, bad, or
indifferent. His reasoning why I can't speak to, but he did just announce his retirement for November 15th. He turned 65 on the 14th. Um, that came out just in case there are rumors spreading around there. There was an insurance
advisory committee on Thursday morning. Executive committee had met on Wednesday. Thursday afternoon at 3:30, executive committee got a notice that he was retiring. So, I just want to get that message out there that this is not a resignation. Um there's
also rumors that the state forced him to retire. The state doesn't have any oversight of um his role. He reports to the insurance advisory committee which is made up of the 73 member units. Um and you know we can all probably read
into his reasoning for retirement but >> the timing is >> I guess so my is like we can point fingers but that doesn't fix the problem in front of us right so we can say you know you know it's kind of like after a bad storm comes through and someone says well we didn't put enough barriers up
someone should have known more whatever. So you can blame Joe who's retired. go ahead and send him an email and tell him you're mad at him. But the problem in front of us now without Joe because he retired. So we got to find our way out of this whether or not we have a you know you're there you know executive committee which we have a membership the
information that you're getting compared to what other people I bring Shel to meet with superintendent cuz they have no idea what's going on. You know we have a kind of insight into this a little bit deeper than most people do and we being fortunate of that. I just want to make sure that kind of get the sense of someone's to blame. find them, you can drag them out, but we still have
a problem in the room that we got to help her move forward. You know what I mean? And so, and now we have another problem cuz Joe Shay brings 30 years of um before this year. He was the greatest, you know, the greatest manager of insurance alive cuz he went for how many years was he? 15 years with low
interest, very healthy accounts, those kind of things. The towns were loving it. We all we had cheers in this room and we had zero on insurance >> for two three years a year operating. >> So you hindsight's great. I didn't see you vote against it and maybe you say, "Hey, let's put money aside cuz I think
he's wrong here." Right. So it it's easy in hindsight. I just I just I just we also have other problems in front of us. I mean going backwards and looking at why it happened I think was last meeting or the you know last was last week's agenda. You know we talked about last meeting. It's the only thing I can say
because now we got another problem because now we got to figure out um you know how we feel Joe's position while we're in kind of a um tension moment >> crisis >> call it a crisis you know um and then
also looking at the reality because you made a statement earlier that our plan costs more than the plans around us remember we raised our plan by 38% and it's still cheaper than GI
So just just remember that. So like so people are you know we can kind of go down to that >> so it's just so we right now said let's see the GIC we will pay more in our budget and our in our our employees who are we're trying to get the best
possible affordable plan for them will be paying more too and they'll be paying more deductibles um out of pocket expenses to them. So it's um and you want to take them through the >> Yeah. So so the trust plan is in the the left column. The Health New England HMO
is probably the most comparable plan to the Blue Cross Blue Shield with the exception that it is just regional. The trust has a bench or not the trust the GIC has a benchmark plan which is Harvard Pilgrim. That is the plan that most employees go with retirees. Um, you
can see there they do not offer an individual plus one plan. It's individual or family. And if you add in the monthly premium plus the possible deductible per person or per family, and this doesn't even mention co-pays for um
doctor's visits, which are tiered depending on where you go to the doctor and who you see. Um, our employees will and us will actually end up paying more than we're currently paying with a 38% increase. So the 38% increase is
alarming. No one planned for it, right? So that's the hard part is now we have to find out how to fund it. But when you actually look at the benefits that our employees and retirees are receiving compared to the GIC and the cost of the GIC plans, we're offering better
insurance at the same price ultimately. >> And I imagine our retirees will not love to be put on the Health New England plan. um the copper boy land because Blue Cross Blue Shield is is more recognized in other areas of the
country. Um and there'll be a lot of it will cause a major disruption to our employees um receiving health services. They're going to have to adjust their plans based on where they live and so on and so forth. That's not the driving factor, but it is another factor that
>> and I think what I'm hearing as an executive committee member is that the membership sees this the these the math is easy here, right? And we also know GIC is going to have an increase July 1. So is the trust if if the trust makes it
through this mess. I think what's scary for people is one the risk of not having a benefit at all and two f future instability. So the GIC is a state program. While we pay premiums into it if you're part of it,
the state makes an investment into the employees and retirees that are part of the GIC and they do have to right side the budget. They can't have a deficit in that account. So if claims are high, which they have been with the GIC for, I think at least two years now, and
they're already in a deficit, I believe, for the new year, um the state has to fund that account. So there's stability, I think, that people see with GIC in that regard. GIC could still have mid-year rate increases. I don't know if
it's ever done before, but it's certainly a possibility if the state budget is bad enough and they have to come up with a way to cover deficits. So, I think that people are um people are upset. I think people have lost trust in
the trust and in Joe in particular. Um and I think people are scared about not having insurance for the retirees and their employees, but this is the GIC isn't necessarily the better place to go. Can you talk a little bit about the
implication of if we did go to GIC, what would be uh the claim impact >> for like because I think that that's an important piece to you have these figures but that's >> Yep. >> Yeah. >> Um so if we were to leave the trust
whether we decided to go with GIC, whether we go with Maya, whether we selfinsure and and Dar's going to talk a little bit about other options there too. um we would have to cover our claim runoff by contract with the trust for up to 18 months, which means that come July
1st, we're responsible for any unpaid medical and pharmaceutical claims as of July 1. So if someone has major surgery or goes in for um chemo treatments on June 30th, the trust will not have paid
that bill. We will be responsible for it. So, it's going to be incredibly costly, completely unpredictable, um, and put smaller uh, members in a really tough spot. I mean, it's going to put everyone in a tough spot, large or small. And you can't predict that. We
don't know what our claim history looks like um, to even try to predict it. And, we don't know what's going to happen. You know, it very well could be that if employees find out that you're changing insurance that's not as rich in benefits, they're going to go get as many things taken care of as they can in
the current plan year, which is just going to drive up our claims. So, no matter which way you look at it, there's risk involved however we perceive, whether it's financial risk, risk for our employees, risk for everyone involved. And so as we kind of talk about risk, so
there's that concern of like what if the trust closes shop next month, right? >> The trust would only close if we close it as members. So even so this kind of wrap your head around this. So if we were to leave right now, there would be
a cost, right? I'm the the runoff cost that we would have to budget for and then there would be the cost of coming on to a new plan. Um and then um and so forth. So you know generally those costs if the trust was to run out of money
they again will come to us and say you guys want to pay more right and there has to be a dollar amount in which we say you know we don't have to pre-present this cuz the problem hasn't existed but I'm talking about if we reach that cliff of of running out of money the trust running out of money the
trust can ask for more money and the towns would probably be smart to say we will pay this and then begin the operating process and then work with the trust to say, you know, we're going to dissolve in a year that we've gotten too larger. If the cost starts becoming bigger than the other plans, then you really have no argument to stay with the
trust. And then um you know, so I'm just kind of talking about that the edges, we're not going to suddenly get an email and the trust is going to say we're closed. It's like the trust is we are the trust, right? So we are just like a town part of a regional agreement, you know? So together they decide what's
going to happen and nobody collectively only one town voted against the increase wants the coverage to suddenly stop you know so and if we reach that point yes again it's going to be it's going to be a tough it's going to be another crisis moment um but the costs are not going to
be so astronomical. There's going to have to be reductions in budget in town budgets and we would have to do reductions in our budget here to cover those costs. But it's not it's not like you can't do it like it can be done. You know, a lot a lot of other it's like a bad ice storm that
costs thousands and thousands and thousands of dollars. You know what I mean? Like um you know those things do happen. So we could get through it. It's not I don't want to be I don't want to be uh in a fear of decision- making that what if what if. So, if that was to happen, we would find a way around it.
Um, we've also, we talked a little bit about the ability to self-insure could also happen. We can go directly to Bluec Cross Blue Shield um with a broker um most likely and um be able to take on
insurance ourselves. You know, what it does requires us to have money behind that. You know, and so, you know, Frontier right now, you know, again, crisis moment. This is all in and please jump in. I'm going to stay on here. Um
these are all if whatifs, but you know, we could ensure our own employees back up that insurance with our own um either END, you know, we also have school choice monies. We have those reserves that we don't want to be spending on
this, but if we had to become. So, I think it just, you know, it's it's a bad worst case scenario, but it's a lot better than a lot of other schools and um towns are in um in that sense. So the scenario that you're laying out is an
argument another argument in favor of K through2 regionalization because this pertains to the three towns and that's that's what people looking at this might not realize that it's not
just your your local school your town school district your town elementary school it's all the town employees at besides them which in Kanye's case is like five people but in the Deerfield build some hat real not even way
that um >> note that you're yeah not that you are um while the towns are going through that and they're getting a hit proportionally to their size that the number of employees that you are we're seeing within this is 180 >> Frontier so you're dealing with 180
souls so to speak right all right so our you're we're Frontier is considered kind of a midsize insurance inside the group a lot of the towns are really considered small. Um, we're midsize. We also have buying power because we're a midsize group. You're attracted to um, if we do
end up going out to the market for whatever reason. This just information I can go a long way. We're not the there's some really big groups in the trucks like think like Beltown is a really big group. South is a really big group. Um, but we're kind of a midsize um, you know, we're probably in the top 10 in
size in that group. made that number up so I can figure out, but we're in the upper upper, you know, quarter, I would say, of of the trust being. So, um, all right. So, I kind of put all that out there cuz we're as we're working through this.
Where where I got off >> um >> Joe, go back to Joe. >> Oh, okay. So, let's go back to Joe. So, Joe Sha resigned. Um, executive resigned. >> No, I'm sorry. I keep doing that. Retired is really important. I have to say wonder where this
Unfortunately, a memo did go out. >> Not from me. >> Not from us, but from a um you know, from the person in charge in the area, and it said he resigned. So, it was kind of like no, he did not. There was rumors behind that immediately. So, no, he did
retirement and such. The impact is the same, but you have I like to respect the person, you know, I have respect for people who are in leadership positions who are getting beat up, you know what I mean? So like you know translate what it is you got enough
>> why exactly do you >> I don't know but um so anyway so they met today they can't go the details of it because there's a full group meeting coming up but >> yeah so their uh executive committee will make a recommendation on how to proceed with replacing Joe's position.
So the full insurance advisory committee will meet on Thursday and then we will go from there. So this just the timing is terrible and has even larger impact than anyone could predict. But >> it could be positive.
>> I don't know. I I looked at it right away as a positive. I think a lot of people are frustrated with with Joe and then sometimes to bring in um a different face in crisis sometimes is hopeful. So I I think to continue to be optimistically positive. Um
>> in the meantime, the trust has also requested full claim history for two years from the cross shield. so that we can quote other companies besides Blue Cross Blue Shield. So, we're looking at Sigma, we're looking at Etna, we're looking at Harvard Pilgrim. Um, also ask
Blue Cross Blue Shield for some alternate plan options. And then we will put out technically the pharmacy plan. We have one more year on the agreement what you can pull out. So, we'll be good at pharmacy as well. And with looking at pharmacy in particular, they'll look at
our claim history and say, "Okay, you know, XYZ on your claims is related to diabetic drugs." So, they'll try to find a program to get us the deepest discounts on those type of drugs. So, we're really we have a a consultant doing a deep dive into the claim
information. So, >> that's good. I'm glad to hear that. The thought behind that is to be able to either present plans and prove that our Bluec Cross Blue Shield plan is the best at the cheapest premiums. Um or we could
offer additional plans instead of just the Blue Cross. We could add items at deductibles, you know, those kind of things. So, um it sounds like that's what the full insurance advising committee wants. So, we're doing due diligence and and getting our research
on there. We won't have info on that probably until before Thanksgiving. Um, which all impacts the timing because the GIC deadline in statute is December 1st for July 1 enrollment. So, if Frontier
or any of the other 73 units wanted to leave the trust and go to the GIC, you have to do that um in writing. I think before July 1st, there's certain steps that you have to take according to the statute. So, um, it's making
the whole situation a little bit more heightened because there's 5 cents a day before July 1st. Before December, >> so you have to notify them by July by December 1st that you want to join the next July. >> Okay. >> Um, with Maya, if we were to go to Maya,
they're similar to I think I did that wrong. It's supposed to say M I I A, not M I A A. Um, MAYA is similar to the trust. It's structured in the same way. There are some greater securities, I think, with
Maya. They don't have a claim runoff period. If you leave after the 2-year commitment, you you walk out the door, you don't have that claim runoff. Um, it's just your book of business. So, if you're uh don't have high claims, your rates could be better. Whereas with the
trust, you share some of that risk because if you're a small unit, um you help pay for some of those larger claims, but you're getting a good insurance plan. If we went with an independent broker um to try to insure on our own directly with the company, it's less restrictive in timeline. We do
have to pull um some detailed census information. Um typically when we do census, it's just employee data, but this would be collecting all subscriber data as well and submitting that. and then getting our claim information. So, we have some time if we go ahead um with
Maya or another broker if um the school committee because ultimately this is your decision. It's not our decision on how we'll proceed with this. If we wanted to go with um GIC, then you know Darius and I would start those steps. We are talking we have another insurance
meeting tomorrow um with a different broker and then I've requested our claim data from the trust. So we're in process. It's just well it's going to take time in terms of implication of changing
insurance and who offers the insurance in terms of the teachers contract. >> So we can change carriers. The the problem comes into play is if you're reducing benefits. So if we're adding a deductible, we're adding to your
co-pays. um some of that might require negotiation with the two unions going to the GIC because we've adopted chapter 32B sections 21 to 23 which is particular to um like group insurance purchasing school committee adopted that
years ago. So we could join the GIC pretty easily. Um >> if there's savings you have to pay out the savings but that's not going to be the problem. In fact, it's going to be a problem to almost any plan you go to. There won't be savings, but if there was savings,
you'd have to there's a percentage that you have to pay out to back to the teachers um in that in that first year. >> It's in the law. So, but that's not likely the case. >> You're giving this answer on behalf of
Frontier, the Union 38 schools, the exception of Sunderland. Um that is not a bargain for the the their town employees. Yes, >> they're town employees, but the select board would have to bargain with any unions. If you have a police union, which I think
>> dear, >> um any teacher union, any IA union, if you're reducing benefits, you likely have an argument. >> Is is it possible to offer an option? Do we have enough employees that we could
say oh you you employee could choose between GIC and address or are they all or nothing options or >> so we talked about that talk about that and they the answer was so with the one
one of the things was can where the answer came in was in the trust they said can we have more than one plan we have a plan that goes through blue cross blue shield and have a plan that goes with our pill or something of that sort and it have different cost, you know, that kind of thing. And they said that
>> the brokers on the other side of that, they don't want that. You know, they want they want to take you as a package where one they also have more of a guarantee of what they're getting when they sign on that they're going to get you some way or another the amount of people that are enrolled in health insurance. So, I imagine the same kind
of idea applied to that with my somewhat knowledge on that. I'm just hearing Michael talk about that. Um, also understand that while I said we are a midsize group, so we are attractive business-wise, um, insurance companies don't have to take it. So, we, you know, let's say we
apply to Maya and they look at us and we don't know this. I'm just making us up, but let's say our claim history is very high. We have a high number of people that say, you know, diseases or such. um they can say you know what you're planned we don't like
and they can just you know there's nothing left so to speak. Um so it is that is a problem that um some of the smaller units we may run into where they can't just get picked up by any >> right they have to guess
>> I think I've heard of um another regional school and I don't want to name it because I I could be misremembering but they have a certain plan for their retirees and they have a certain plan for their employees and those could be different but we couldn't split and be part of the trust and be part of GIC.
That that wouldn't work. Um, and I thought of something else. So, oh, uh, it's had to do with the pay. I'll think of it. Had to do with savings.
Um, so I just I just wanted to make sure I'm understanding. So right now we don't have the information about our frontier claim history but he's requested the information so that then we will so then we will know that information of like
are we an are we actually an attractive group to other insurance companies. Is that right? >> Yep. And that will be like that will give us the information obviously in a healthcare private way of like as a
group we are we have had high claims with lots of health issues or we've had relatively low or we're average >> right so we'll take that claim data and give it to one to multiple brokers and they will seek quotes on our behalf.
We won't know looking at it because we won't know the comparison, >> but we'll have our info. >> When we get our info, we have no idea if it's if it's a hot potato or if it's >> we just have a dollar amount. >> You got a dollar, right? You know what
I'm saying? But the way the question is like when we get the information, it's not going to be like you're a fourstar rating. You know what I mean? Like it won't it's just going to be the data on our line. So, we won't know unless it's comparable to other groups. >> We would have to use a program. We'll be able to look at it and say the number of
membership you're they may look at but >> no I wouldn't >> with that data also would we be able to calculate from that how much in co-pays we've saved or deductible you know get a sense of are the co-pays and deductibles really a problem as a group in the
aggregate and something we should be thinking about um not just for >> I could ask the question that would be helpful if you could figure that would be difficult to
>> um only because their usage right >> yeah like who goes to what specialty or what they're like it might be >> so I guess to summarize where we're at um
I mean the I think Relle and and I were the Joe Shade curveball um is not a true curveball to what our planning was, but it's a curveball to how others are going to react in the trust. Right. I think we're seeing in our conversations that a lot of people
are sticking with the trust. Um >> people want to stick with the trust. >> They want to stick with the trust. Right now, our three towns are sticking with the trust. Um there's no um formal movements to move to the GIC right now. Um
I believe our state legislators are um I don't use the word pushing but are suggesting strongly that people move to the GIC. Um and so there's still conversations of that happening. Um so right now
um Michelle and I are thinking is that a couple things we're researching. One is can we create a um a >> stabilization >> stabilization account for insurance and put money into it cuz if we do decide to leave we're going to have that runoff in
that um and you know we while we have different pockets of money do we take one of those pockets and make a dedicated insurance kind of u safety account moving forward as well. So we're looking to we can legally do that. Um I mean right now we can hold in other
counts and you know do a promise making promise to the table but I think we better put it into account um for that so that if we do have to make a move if we do stay with the trust and the trust ends up um not fulfilling our needs let's put it that way uh we could then
begin the change and we won't have to worry about funding that change cuz no matter what that's going to come you know I guess we can decide not no matter what but you know 10 years down the road you're still going to um you know so that that's one of the
things we are thinking that we're not going to make that GIC deadline um that we have enough you know trust faith in the trust um to get through another year and still look at take without being rushed into the GIC um for
the July enrollment if we hold on another year um I kind of say the worst case scenarios if things go really south we will be able to weather that storm it may cost a little But um we would still be able to look at Maya and other
brokers at the same time without being forced into that 12 to1 decision which really is you got to back it up cuz you have to make that decision and you have to notify them by 121. So that >> and there is some notification still to the unions that has to be met that
you're making a change. But it's a smoother transition than willing. >> So I I guess what we're saying is that um you make the decision, but we're going to get we're going to get hit by a deadline and we're kind of letting you
guys know that deadline's coming and that we see it coming and are kind of where we are right now. Although we have, you know, a big week in the sense of looking at the leadership change and what that is and what that comes out of the meeting. um which
and then Friday the state legis are meeting with the executive board. We don't know what they're talking about. Um we had an insight track was on the executive board. Um so you know what is that conversation about? So we're still kind of collecting information but the last thing I want to do is come to you
and say well we missed that deadline. Well we wanted to do that. So, if this group really wants to move toward the GIC, um, you know, we really are going to have to have probably have another, um, maybe two weeks, have another meeting or such to discuss that again. Um, cuz we
got to get our ducks in a row. >> Well, I I don't know what, you know, it we've never really had a discussion of philos the philosophy of health insurance in this room. Um but you know it
if if you believe that equity and fairness in health insurance and in healthcare delivery um is going to be found in a singlepayer health care system like it is in every other industrialized nation on earth um
besides this one that that and if you believe that the blue cross is a state is a United Healthcare take about 40 cents out of every healthcare dollar and return it to shareholders um instead of you know and that the GIC is a state
operation. It it is government health. It it is government delivery of healthcare. Um we don't we don't we never really talk about that but philosophically that's what aligns with my beliefs is is to go to GIC. I am, it still is a mystery to
me why it would appear from the information we have that right now benefits to the employees are better in Blue Cross Blue Shield. But I I find that hard to believe. Um that are we really comparing
apples to apples and oranges to oranges? Um I don't know. >> Well, we have plans with no deductibles and co. So >> I understand that >> that in itself makes it a better option for >> it does. >> We also have national coverage, right?
So cross shield isn't just regional. So I would disagree that GIC is anything but system. >> Well, it moves in that direction. >> It's brokered and it's subsidized, right? uh takes advantage of the fact that it's so many state employees, but
as somebody who's been on GIC for 20 years with various options, it's just they're my broker kind of paying. You know, my choices are limited, but they're better than most companies because I have so many different choices I can choose from, but their choices
between mid and off. And you know, they're not being paid for at the state, >> right? How do I do that? And each employer within the state is negotiating different rates and different cos and different plans. So yeah,
I would love to have a single player plan. Don't get me wrong, but that's not it. you know how do we how do we move in that direction likely beyond the scope >> I mean the fact that stable
makes that risk >> and did okay I just want to make sure I understood earlier that you said if we change to GIC that does have to be negotiated with the unions or that does not >> there's a notification process, but I do
not believe we have to negotiate >> even if it results in higher costs and therefore lower compensation >> because it's the state program and the way that the statute is written. My understanding is that we would not have to negotiate that. >> I believe what you're negotiating is
what you're doing with the savings. They're not allowing you to make they're not allowing you to make decisions that bring savings to to the school on the backs of their benefit and so cost is increased. That makes sense. Okay. >> But there will be some conversation and
I imagine they will represent and as they go with you know the FDA sure has experience in this area and you know we move a little bit back and forth but I don't think there'll be a full negotiation. How thoroughly have the union members
and the employees got this information? To what extent? Where are we comparing that? >> We gave um a presentation to the executive boards and then a second presentation to anybody who wanted to
come um about the increase in overall crisis. The information of what we have this kind of detail. It's live baby right now. So, um, you know, we said we'll meet with them anytime they want to talk about it, but, um, certainly we meet with them if we're going to talk
about a change and what that means and how we got there and that kind of thing. Um, but so we gave the first presentation you guys got on this, we gave that same present, same slideshow, same kind of go through. This is the first time we've
done this kind of presentation today. Do you know what the claims run off policy is if uh if the trust were to dissolve? >> It's still going to be 18 months from that separation date, whether they close
or >> um I think if they were to close midyear, it presents a different scenario. And I think Darius's talked about this a little bit. I think the trust would be looking at how to
price the plan so that units pay to get through to June 30th and then from July 1, you have your run off. Thank you for all for all the work that you're doing. This is the opposite whatever the opposite of fun is. This is
this is kind of it. Um but uh you know and I think I I just know from the town point of view that everybody's really scared about the special town means it has the potential to be really ugly and um uh
of it. I think that's kind of what's prompting my concerns and questions. >> I I think they're stuck funding. >> Yeah. >> You know what I mean? So they're all transferred from free cash, right? And so, um, all three are, um,
>> because if it doesn't pass, what what do you do? >> You're going to be putting forth at the >> regular town meeting to play pay prior year bills that you hadn't paid. So, I >> I mean, that's that's the worst case scenario coming asking people for their
vote and telling them while you're asking for a vote, then it doesn't matter what your vote is. This is what's going to happen anyway. That's never fun. So, I guess one other question I have is whether or not we should anticipate
just cuz the timing is going to be like right up against Thanksgiving. >> That's what I'm saying. We should have a meeting early November if um outside of the other meeting if um >> only problem is is we're not going to
have any more information than we have right now cuz there's no way we can get independent broker quotes in 30 days. I mean >> you're not going to be able to have comparative quotes the GIC. If you go to the GIC you want to go there and I think Phil, you know, touched upon kind of one of those things like the philosophy.
What is this body's philosophy about that benefit? you know, health insurance is a huge benefit um at Frontier. Um you know, the percentage we pay and the good plan that it is. So, you know, if we go to GIC, you're not going to be able to say,
well, what the cost of May is going to be or cost. We won't have those numbers, right? >> I did remember what I was going to say before. Um you had asked, can we have different plan offerings for different groups? So currently, and this would probably have
to be negotiated, but currently what we have is if you're on the HMO, we cover 8020. If you're on the PO, we only cover 70 versus 80. So it's 7030 split. So you can change your plans. Like it could be if you want the PO, the employee pays
100% of it. You could change what those percentages look like. So, we could try to be creative in that regard if we wanted to go with um independent insurance. You can even do that with the trust. Each of the units have different percentage rates that they contribute
and some of them don't even offer the PO plan even though the trust has that available to us. So, um those are some things we could consider. Other things we haven't talked about is the contract does have a $1,000 payout. If someone opts not to take our insurance, we could
try to push that to bring costs down a little bit. If someone has a spouse that has a plan that they could get on while it still has a cost to us, it's cheaper than what a family plan would be for the school. So, just some other things to think about. But I do think the first
decision is do we want to move to the GIC because that does have a deadline or do we want to ride out the trust andor get quotes from other independent programs. I would be interested in hearing the rationale of our state legislator. I do
know that you are correct that they are preserent fashion than what I heard. >> I haven't had a conversation with them. I would assume it's predictable and stable and we have budgets that fluctuation the budgets that we do in our small towns. You're just not going
to get this kind of fluctuation. Would be my guess. Do we recommend starting? So I have to find out from Desessie if that is an account that a regional
school or a municipality can hold. I there are certain restrictions on revolving funds related to um tuitions which is why we have the special ed revolving elementary schools have early childhood revolving. We have the school choice. Those are all related to
tuitions and revenues coming in. Um, you can have a capital stabilization fund to save for capital expenses. I don't know if you can do it for healthcare insurance benefits. So, it's on my list to reach out to some contacts at Desi.
If we can do that, then yes, there would have to be a vote. It would likely require, I'm guessing, because the capital stabilization required it, but our four towns would likely have to approve it as well. So, what it sounds like to me is you
you're waiting for statement which might at least give us some estimate about what funds might need to be in a stabilization fund if we can set it up. >> I mean, I think that's hard because we don't really know what people are going to get.
>> It's something better than like >> So, I think we asked for are they giving us 12 months of claim data? I can't remember. 18, >> but we would know what our whole claim in that period was. So, it would give us, you know, >> some
>> and so we need to figure out if we can set up a fund and look at some claims data to get some figure to at least start to have an idea about that ballpark. And maybe we'll have some update about what quotes have gone out,
but not unlikely to have quotes back from anybody in a month. >> Everyone we spoke, nobody said they can give us to us before December 1. So, the options are we either make a
vote tonight to stay or that we meet in a month. >> I Yeah, I would um I don't feel comfortable. I mean, that's how we're meeting is not
good at the GIC, but there's this there's the latest kind of I don't know if it's going to change. I don't know. I part of me is like there's still some information that we still have some time with that information on one side, but the other side is I doubt that information is going to change much. You know what I mean? Like it's so
it's like am I hesitating just to hesitate because it's easier to make the decision tomorrow we sometimes do in our lives. Um >> well, I don't know. I mean the insurance advisory committee technically could come up with a different plan for the trust.
Right. >> Lifespan, outcome, where are we going? I mean, they might say, "Our insurance director just submitted retirement notice. The financials are in a terrible position. We should come up with a dissolution plan." That could happen, which then
dramatically changes our conversation. at least >> I'm just looking at November which would be like we've got the 18th and the 25th I think are the only Tuesdays as options
>> we have a meeting on the 12th >> right >> I think it's joint union 38 separate >> changed that this year >> okay >> thank you >> um I >> think regardless though it's good to
having these thoughts and these discussions because we are about to ask for 20% increase from the towns besides what Frontier is doing to its budget to accommodate that without even asking the towns for more and that's just 5 months after asking the
towns for 18% increase to this district that's we ought to be doing this for sure. >> So we have a meeting on the 12th. >> So that's separate from the joint meeting. >> That's the joint meeting is at 38. Got it. Okay. >> Um
>> get an update on the 12th. >> We get an update on the 12th. If things go completely sideways, I will meaning, you know, things go crazy at the meeting this week. Um I very much doubt it's going to be late, but if it does, be honest. Can I ask two questions or a question
and for some information that the question is the comparisons are the same 2080 7030 the GIC comparisons that you >> we would set our yes that would um figure the second I I would find it really
helpful to know at that November 12th meeting what is the worst case scenario right like if if the trust collapses. If we decide to stay in the trust collapses, how does that play out? How does that seems like a key?
>> I'm sure there's a lot of moving parts. We kind of give you an idea and I'd like to provide that. How's that? So, I I accept your challenge. >> Along with that same question, um you had commented on if
If it fails and our option, like an emergency option is to selfinsure for even just a year. Is there any way to figure out how much that would cost?
>> We could try to get we could try to get a an envelope estimate of what we're getting into, right? So, >> we won't we won't have a cost that we're going to get, >> right? >> I don't know if we'll have a vital, >> but we can try to see if there's any kind of
>> Let's see if we know the cost of Chevy. >> It would cost, right? I mean, it would certainly cost more. Um, we can kind of look at that. But I was going back to saying earlier though, no, I don't think the trust the all the members of trust don't want
to do that. We're in the position where we could actually probably pull off because we do have reserves where we could self-insure and we have that, you know, we can gamble with our reserves, which I don't want to do, but we could. A lot of times don't have that ability.
They would rather probably pay we'll pay another 20% and then and then dissolve the trust at the end of the next fiscal year. I think there'll be more planning like that because nobody we're all in it together. There's nobody in the room. Um, you know, everybody in the room with the
same purpose, right? We're to provide, you know, healthcare for healthare employees. So, nobody's going to say, "Hey, let's let's just shut this thing down. Everybody's everybody in the room's got the same problem and the same concerns." So, um, I think we're actually having deeper discussions regarding it than most groups are able
to. Just in my conversations with people about what they know about stuff, we are usually information provided. So, it's a lot. And does GIC have any kind of emergency like you know if a something event happens I can always
change I can change my insurance out cuz >> typically it has to be a life-changing event had maybe got married that kind of thing >> but do they have that for groups I mean can they would they do that for us to skip that December 1
dissolves >> our state representative I've talked with Natalie about this and she said it's something that they're talking about, but they literally would have to change the law in order to have that exception. So, I think there's still
it's still on the table, but they can't say yes or no whether or not it would work. >> I wonder the same thing if one of the one of the lifeboats of it would be could they use special legislation to take this 12,000 people and put it on
the GIC outside of that? >> Yeah. and they probably can't guarantee it, right? I imagine if I was, but I was thinking the same kind of thing rather than telling everybody to leave before it's reached its end, the trust has reached its end, you know, maybe it's
can we have a life raft is is what you so >> including potentially covering that runoff, right? Is mom burning health insurance questions? >> That's a whole different >> All right. I said November 12th going to
update different directions. Thank you for being so involved in this outside of your regular duties. It's appreciated on lots of levels. >> Could have gotten out and didn't >> Oh yeah, they did. She didn't announce
that, but they did reelect the executive committee and Shelby was voted on >> and it was contested 10 people for five songs. people. >> 10 people ran. >> They never heard of y. >> No, they should. >> No, originally they did, didn't they?
>> Yes. When I originally ran, I only put my name in because they sent email after email after email about open seats. And I was like, I guess if you >> someone texted me during the meeting and was like, "Really? You're putting your name back in there?" I said, "I can't
bother. That doesn't sit well." So anyway, >> all right. On the lighter topics, we got second reading for these
policies. Do you have any anybody you think we should vote on individually? >> Yeah, I'm all for bundling. Any objection to bundling? All right. I would need
A motion to adopt policies KBG, KBE, EFBA, ECAB, JJ E as outlined in the packet. >> What she said? >> I'll second it.
>> All in favor? All right, we need to officially appoint a MASC delegate. I think we discussed this uh briefly on who was going to the conference and I believe that Jess, you
put your hat in. >> I will be there at the time of the delegate assembly. >> Yeah. You is anybody else going to the MLC conference? Would you be so kind as to represent us as the delegate?
>> Thank you. I appreciate it. And officially appointing >> capital planning. Um just really briefly. So um it's normal we talk about capital planning in October. The what we're looking at is the parking lot. um the capital planning subcommittee is not
met yet because we don't have the cost estimates um the general cost estimate from our um design yet. So I threw it on the agenda thinking I would have those numbers to kind of give you an update we're at. So looking at you know the cost that
parking lot will be in the range of a million dollars. Um it's uh with insurance going on at the same time and the other kind of cost of town. So, it's going to be a lot of conversations about um you know, what we're going to be able to afford, how we're going to
pay for it, what's going to be the capital cost of the town, that kind of stuff. So, um that's the only thing we're looking at moving forward for next year for capital um out outside of what we >> one comment is that the building management system project funding is
still there. We voted on last school year. um we're carrying that over as we continue to navigate how to pay for that project and what the scope of that project is. So that could come to fruition. That's $200,000 that we have
appropriate for that project. >> So in general, that's kind of so the the conversation will be simple in what we're paying for, but it's going to be very expensive on the other end. Um and um again that's why we created the capital for our newer members. The we
created a capital committee that's made up of a school committee member from each town and a select board member from each town. We kind of sit and talk about you know what the project is and how we're going to pay for it. So there's a lot of transparency through, you know, whether or not we go to a warrant, whether or not we pay for, you know,
we've done some other kind of creative things um for paying for things, but this is there's nothing less exciting in parking lot at a school like we're >> health insurance, health insurance. >> Oh, health insurance. >> I guess you're right. Well, I don't
know. So I mean we have roof we have the roof and the parking lot which both don't you know don't directly affect educating our kids but um they have to get done >> meeting at the end of the month it is >> we didn't schedule it to do
>> can I say two other things one the new van is in and logo right it has a hawk on we got both vans now with the hawks on the side so and both are up and running plates registered Um, so that's good news. And the fire
panel is project is almost done. We had a couple change orders. We're over budget by like $1,600. So we'll probably be using some school choice money to cover that pending any additional change or >> still have to fix the problem. >> There's like little healthare. So $1,600.
>> I know. >> Um, but like punch list stuff still has to be gone through. So, we're we're in the final stages, but um >> still in progress. >> All right, speaking of being in the final stages,
we are in the final stages. Jess, I know you don't like to be in the limelight, but um Jess has been uh is going to get the all state committee award for MC and just a very small recognition of all the
work you do, which is I don't >> What's the award? >> It's the um >> Well, I'm like, what's the award? >> She just does a lot of work. >> I know. I know. I know. I What's the award? What what
>> uh 2025 MASC all state school committee >> congratulations a lot of work outside of anything that anyone has asked you to do it is really really appreciated by all of us here and just it's good for you to be recognized
and thank you. Um so that's all I have on my report. Anybody else from any committees have any updates? >> Collaborative is uh the process of choosing a new executive director and
getting their budget. >> Darren, are you going to talk about the densy chapter 7 listening sessions or should I >> go ahead? So, uh, in the final state budget, Senator Lewis, who's the chair of the joint committee on education, got
included an amendment instructing Desi to do a study on the needs for updating chapter 70. Um, this has been kind of controversial because a lot of the legislature thinks, well, we should finish implementing the Student Opportunity Act first. So, it finally
got through. It's sort of a smaller scale um examination than otherwise could have been, but um Desi has announced and Darius has shared it out to all of us by email. They're doing listening sessions around the state, including one in green fields. Um and this is our opportunity to to um get our
rurality factored into our basic state funding and stop having to rely on rural aid. We would like rural aid, which is just a band-aid, to be um outdated. Um I'm we are finalizing uh talking points for for the rural schools committee which I will share out to all of you. Um
just wanted to suggest that even if you don't feel super confident and comfortable talking about those, you could just show up and make a three-s sentence statement that you are a Frontier School Committee member and you would like to echo the importance of considering rural towns in chapter 70
updates. just in terms of numbers, having people show up and say that could could be powerful because there are not that many rural uh you know rural representatives in the legislature. They are wildly outnumbered by non-rural people. So, we need to we
need to show up in numbers as much as we can. So, you don't need to say anything fancy. But >> who's who's the legislature that's going to is that Jason? >> What what what about Jason Lewis? legislator tour that's going to be there. >> No, no, no. This this session is being
run by Desi. When is it? >> Uh, great question. It's in Greenfield. There's also one online. >> So, I I email all the information. It's in your inbox. You haven't checked it
today cuz I got the >> Yeah. Uh, Greenfield on Thursday, November 6th, 4:30 to 6:30. And there's also an online session on Tuesday, November 18th, 4 to 7:00 p.m. >> You mentioned Senator Lewis.
>> He's the one who got the amendment onto the budget to make this happen. There's a lot of resistance to this happening, but he finally got it through. >> He's the one I like. >> Yes. although >> and on you know if you're planning your calendar to go to that I also sent out
uh Purog is doing a um united against a training which if you didn't get it I'll send it out to you they just said that they had already sent it out to principles and superintendent so um if you're so inclined should be good
training Um, and anybody want to do the honors and make a motion to >> All right. Uh, second. >> All in favor? Thank you for spending the evening with us.