By Patricia Bogumil
Editor
A special joint meeting for all school districts in the Waterford Special Education Cooperative has been called for Wednesday, Nov. 14, to discuss the Cooperative’s makeup in the near future.
The Cooperative is run by the Waterford Union High School district to provide services for special education students in the Waterford Graded, North Cape, Washington-Caldwell and Waterford Union High School districts.
The Nov. 14 meeting begins at 7:30 p.m. at the high school, 100 Field Drive.
The meeting is in response to a Sept. 19 letter from the Waterford Graded board giving notice of its intent to withdraw from the Cooperative in June 2014.
WGSD had asked in July that a joint meeting be held between itself and the high school board to discuss fringe benefits and post-retirement benefits paid to Cooperative employees, whose employer is the high school board.
“The WGSD Board has been seeking dialog with the high school board about this for several months.” said WGSD Superintendent Chris Joch via email. “The November meeting is the venue for the conversation.”
But the grade school board will have to share the conversation with members of the other school boards in the Co-op. The WGSD request for a one-on-one with the high school board was nixed in favor of the Nov. 14 joint meeting of all five boards.
Having a cooperative means cooperation by all the boards – not just between one or two of them, explained high school board president Jim Graff.
A WGSD viewpoint
Because WGSD represents 54 per cent of the Co-op’s budget, the WGSD board wants a more proportional say in Co-op issues, like staff compensation.
In particular, it seeks to reduce high school Co-op employees’ benefits such as health insurance and retirement, to make them more comparable to what Waterford Graded pays.
Waterford Graded board president Dan Jensen acknowledged that several years ago his district tried opting out of the Waterford Co-op, but returned a year or two later when administrative problems arose.
This time around will be different and much better, he predicted.
“Now WGSD is very well organized and run by district administration capable of handling special education in our district with no issues,” Jensen said via email.
If WGSD were to leave the Cooperative, the staff affected would be speech/language, occupational therapists, physical therapist and psychologists, said Joch.
“That doesn’t mean those people would be displaced, since the students would still require the same programming. Instead, the employer would change.”
Jensen said the present issue is completely budgetary.
This school year, WGSD employees are paying 15 percent of their health and dental insurance costs, whereas high school staff pay 6 percent, he explained.
Also, last year WGSD saved money by switching insurance to a different carrier while the high school continues to offer the same “overpriced Cadillac plan” that WGSD dropped, he said.
Jensen specifically criticized high school and special ed employee benefits that he said are on course to pay out $10,000 for 10 years. “That’s $100,000 for one particular employee for post-retirement,” Jensen said.
If WGSD moves out of the Co-op, all its special ed students will continue to received their approved special education needs plans, just as always, said Jensen.
“However, we will do it in a cost appropriate manner that the taxpayers of Waterford expect.”
Another viewpoint
Some of Jensen’s comments had high school officials shaking their heads.
Both Graff and Keith Brandstetter, the high school superintendent, describe some of Jensen’s information as being outdated, if not out of line.
This year, the high school and grade school districts have the very same insurance carrier, they said. “We don’t have a Cadillac plan,” said Graff.
The Co-op employee whom Jensen says is on track for $100,000 in retirement benefits was hired by WGSD when it quit the Co-op a few years ago, said Brandstetter. WGSD guaranteed her those benefits, which are similar to what a former employer was paying, he explained.
When WGSD returned to the Waterford Co-op, the terms of that employee’s WGSD contract were honored by the Co-op rather than reneged on, Brandstetter explained.
Changes made in this year’s budget have high school employees paying 8 percent of health/dental costs, not 6 percent, Brandstetter said.
Brandstetter said the high school board is concerned about kids and also concerned about taxes. He noted that the tax levy has dropped for two years in a row.
Brandstetter said he believes it’s best for students if WGSD continues in the Co-op.
Being in the Co-op means an easier transition for students who are going from eighth grade into the high school, he explained.
“It’s about helping kids make the transition,” he said. “We just need to keep it going the way it is.”
Brandstetter also questioned Jensen’s efforts to control compensation paid to the high school’s Co-op employees.
“So, does he think the rest of the people in our building should get what he wants?” Brandstetter asked. “We are not going to get into that.”
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