The Parsons USD 503 Board of Education will soon be deciding the direction it will go with its liability and property insurance coverage.
For years the district has worked with Bob Wood with Wood Dulohery Insurance as a representative of EMC Insurance. Monday night at its regular meeting, the board learned there is now another possible option to consider, that could be more affordable.
Tom McGuire, with Gallagher Insurance in Kansas City, representing the Kansas Insurance Cooperative for Schools, presented to the board the option to join the insurance pool 153 other Kansas school districts have joined. In aggregating all 153, KICS can go to the insurance market as one big entity. McGuire claims 80% of all governmental agencies nationwide participate in insurance pools because of the benefits. He said 97% of schools in Missouri are in a pool together.
About one-third of the 153 districts joined the KICS pool in the last year. One facet for districts joining is the pool is member run, so every member gets a vote in the say of how the pool is operated.
Gallagher said more school districts are joining because of the rising costs of insurance and premiums.
He touted other benefits, like a flat, per occurrence wind and hail deductible rather than having to work on a percentage basis. He said the pool also does not put limitations on the age of roofs related to costs, so there is no depreciation.
“Ours is full replacement cost, no matter what,” he said.
McGuire said renewal costs for KICS insurance remained flat last year and it is believed they will remain flat again this year.
“Every member that joins helps keep costs down,” he said.
To join, districts are required to make a 3-year commitment on the front end. From there out it is a year-by-year contract. Once a district is in the pool, a district cannot be kicked out, like other insurance companies can do.
As Wood sat before the board, he spoke to the longevity of EMC, which has been around for 40 years, and talked about how it has offered safety dividends the group has paid when they have had good years with few claims, despite the company having only made a profit in 10 out of the 40 years on the school property insurance end. Where the company has lost money in school insurance business, it made up for in other areas, so it was willing to still serve school districts when other insurance companies across the state refused coverage.
Wood said the more schools that get on board in the pool, the more likely it will be that some districts face a major loss, leading to the same experience EMC has faced.
While there have been large inflationary increases in premiums the last few years, Wood believes this year EMC’s rates will be more stable.
He touted the long partnership they have held with the district and the local level of care and attention always offered. The district is not bound to a three year agreement under which it is obligated regardless of what might happen with premiums.
“EMC can drop us though?” Lori Perkins asked.
Wood said the company could, but it hasn’t.
Superintendent Lori Perkins said that was a concern last year for the district with EMC.
Wood admitted similar issues with EMC did result in the company losing several districts. It also lost some districts because of policies on aging buildings and roofs, which he said is not a problem for Parsons, as it well maintains both. The full replacement is paid on roofs up to 15 years old, and it is only after that the percentage kicks in, which is reasonable as a roof naturally begins to deteriorate.
Perkins told Wood they have appreciated the local care when there has been an issue, but the fact is, in dealing with a budget that deals with taxpayer funds, the district has to make sure they are putting all the funding in the right places to make best use of the funds and to best serve the district.
No actual dollar amounts were presented to the board at this meeting by either representative, but the board now has some understanding of a possible alternative to EMC Insurance as budgets again tighten.
Leadership Team
Parsons Middle School eighth grader Ashlee Linnebur gave the board an update on the school’s Leadership Team activities this year.
Ashlee shared the group’s weekly schedule, which includes Traveling Tuesday, Working Wednesday and Thinking Thursday, when students would work on homework or come up with new ideas for their work days.
Traveling Tuesdays, the students would visit other school’s to help tutor younger students in math or reading, or help with projects. Working Wednesdays, the students would volunteer for a variety of projects at the school and within the community, like helping with Stella Wells food boxes.
The students’ most recent project has been working to improve the north vestibule going into the middle school gym to include replacing tiles and cleaning and repainting the walls. She said they would like to have a “huge Viking head” with “Welcome to Parsons Middle School” on one wall. On the wall above the stairs, Ashlee said the students would also like to leave their imprint on the school, making a graffiti wall with the leadership class’s handprints and names and class of 2029.
She said they would also like to see the entry doors to the gym replaced “so it doesn’t look like a dungeon, when out of town people enter” the school. As they can’t address replacement until next year, Ashlees said they would like to at least paint the doors and remove the “Staff Only” sign. They would also like signage so people know where to walk in for games in the gym.
Mrs. Perkins said improvements to the gym entry was one of the items removed from the remodel of the middle school to cut costs. However, as a lintel above the doors was rusting out, the doors, lentil and wall braces around the doors were replaced to a tune of about $66.000.
Given the substantial amount to replace the doors, Perkins said consideration would lean to the great ideas the students have come up with to make the entry better, so it looks cleaner and more welcoming.
Perkins commended all the Leadership Team students for their efforts.
“They’ve done a lot of service projects for the community this year. It’s been a good addition. You’ve done good work,” Perkins said.
“Good job,” Board President Lou Martino added.
IN OTHER BUSINESS, the board:
Heard Kindergarten Enrollment will be May 1 from 8 a.m. to 4 p.m. Each child will participate in a kindergarten readiness test to help the district meet every child where they are at and offer immediate support right off the bat.
Heard there are seven openings left in 3-year-old pre-K for the 2025-2026 school year and there are 15 left in 4-year-old pre-K, but spots are filling up fast, so parents are encouraged to enroll their children as soon as possible to ensure they get in.
Heard the PHS Spring Play is at 7 p.m. Friday in the Parsons High School Auditorium.
Heard there will be school on Good Friday, to make up for a snow day.
Heard there is no school Monday April 21, because of staff development.
Heard the Parsons Area Community Foundation will award the district a grant April 22, to help with costs of the Douglass Memorial.
Heard the Parsons Education Foundation Scholarship Banquet is 5 to 9 p.m. May 4.
Heard there will be elementary and high school orchestra concerts May 6 and 7.
Heard May 9 will be Garfield's Pennies For Poems in Forest Park. Students donate all the money they raise to local nonprofits, like the Proud Animal Lovers Shelter.
Heard PHS graduation is May 11 at 2:30 in the PHS gym
Heard the next Board of Education meeting is May 12 at 6 p.m.
Accepted donations totalling $841.59.
Approved job descriptions listed in the agenda.
Approved membership in the Kansas Association of School Boards.
Approved a KASB legal assistance contract.
Approved posting of capacity for open enrollment.
Accepted the resignations of PHS/middle school art and Viking Farms teacher Kelsey Fabrycky; Kurt Forbes, maintenance tech; Tyler Gordon, Middle School principal; Jesus Medina, second grade teacher; Evan Scott, maintenance tech; Mikinzi Gordon, fourth grade teacher; and Mary Hoffman, part-time Lincoln custodian.
Accepted the resignation for retirement of Liz Phillips, Guthridge fifth grade teacher.
Approved in-district transfer of kindergarten teacher Jennifer Anderson as preschool teacher; middle school math teacher Wendy Neff, to high school math teacher; Blake Turner from Elementary orchestra to PHS/middle school band and elementary strings; and middle school assistant principal and athletic director Olivia Nolting to middle school principal.
Approved hiring Matthew Byrd as high school head custodian; Ronnie Hickles as maintenance tech; J.R. Keene as PHS automotive teacher; and Chris Smith as maintenance tech.