001evening and welcome to the October 7th meeting. Excuse me. I would like to call the meeting to order and ask that you stand and join me in the pledge of allegiance. I aliance to the flag of the United States of America and to the republic for which it stands. One nation under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all. >> Okay. May I have a motion to approve the regular meeting? >> So move. >> I second. >> John Christensen. >> Yay. >> Chris Luca. >> Yay. >> Kathy Holland. >> Hi. >> Ann O. >> Yay. >> AJ Wilson. >> Yay. Motion carried. >> Okay, we're going to start with our gifts. So, our first gift item is a donation to Vinand Elementary. Mrs. Padilla, >> thank you for allowing me to speak to uh speak
002this evening. I'm Victoria Padilla, principal at Vineland Elementary. I'm pleased to share that uh our grandparents, Shawn, Karen Martin, have generous generously donated $1,000 to support our school's safety and security efforts. Their donation will fund the installation of additional cameras to cover areas not currently visible with our existing system. And so we're truly grateful for their generosity and commitment to helping us keep our students and safe. Any questions? >> No. Great. >> Wonderful. >> Thank you. >> Okay. Our next couple items are donations to Pleasant View Middle School. Mr. Padilla. We'll go. Uh, thank you, Madam President. U superintendent, I would like to um we have a $2,000 donation from Minqual Works that's going to go to our incentive program that we offer there at the school with our academic jackets. And also to help
003increase attendance, we're going to buy some high dollar um I don't know the gaming stations that they call. I I'm not a gamer, so but I know the kids would want to do that. So, if they have 95% attendance, they'll be able to uh earn a ticket to be put in a drawing to to uh help increase attendance. So, that's what we're going to use that money for. The next donation is $15,000 from um St. St. James Sporting Properties that went to our Hustle for Russell effort. Um Hustle for Russell is an annual event that we in honor of Mr. Um, Wiler, if you went to Pleasant View, you you probably had him back in the day. He was a great phenomenal teacher, dynamic teacher that cared for all his students and was a great
004impact to Pleasant Middle School. So, that money goes to that um that fund. We also, the last donation was a donation of $1,67.66. That was right off the invoice. Um they are supplying that's GOVA construction Frank Gova supplying the handrail to our new pickle ball courts and uh we will be having a ribbon cutting for that court next week um on October 15th. So if you can make it we'd like to see you there for that and those are our gifts. Thank you. >> So what time is that? >> Huh? >> What time is that? >> That it's going to be after awards assembly. So it's like 8:30 >> in the morning. >> Yes, ma'am. >> Get up, mama. Just curious, was that uh one for 15,000 or 1,500? >> Did I say 15? It's
0051,500. Did you say 15,000? >> Yeah. I was just curious. So, >> we want to make sure we have that written down, right? >> Hope Fisher heard that. >> Go back and tell them the immediate the difference. Huh. >> 15,500. I'm sorry. No worries. >> 1500. He does it every year. His kids been there the last two years. He does that every year. So, very cool. >> We greatly appreciate his support for that. doing great at getting the donations in. >> Okay, next we have Excuse me, Mr. Robotto. So, we have two for Vinand Middle School. >> Yeah. Hi, I'm Brian Robato, assistant principal at Vinland Middle School. And yeah, we've got two donations. Our first one uh is an estimated around $7,000 for a 22x 22 concrete pad that um our uh PE teacher,
006Mrs. Gorum, got donated and that'll be in like December, but it's a Gaga pit ball. Uh I'm not I not real sure what it is, but it's I guess the kids love it. So, uh it'll be um >> it'll be a fixed um structure, so we know >> so she doesn't have to take it up and uh take it down every every day. So, it'll be there uh for community to use, what have you. So, uh that like I said that and that's from uh Langston Concrete. >> Okay. >> Uh and they provided labor and materials uh free of charge obviously. So, >> wow. >> And then our second one is from Siieta uh construction. That's a $5,000 donation and that is for our athletics and that and so with that uh they offered to
007purchase something that I needed for our athletics could be from uniforms. And so we've already got uniforms. So I went ahead and ordered uh the mats that go behind the baskets in the gym. So we got where I ordered uh 30 feet on each side and they will have our pirates on one end and our logo on the other and that so that's what that um athletic money from uh construction is for. So that was very nice of it. >> And that is all our donations at this point. Thank you. >> Great. Thank you. >> Okay. Next we have some donations to Flobo West High School. Mr. Cman, >> thank you madam president, disting board members, superintendent Ryan for this opportunity. I am Mark Kumman, assistant principal athletic director at at Public West High School.
008We had a very very kind community this year providing us several opportunities to uh uh receive funding. Uh the first one I want to make mention of uh the department golfers memorial association. Uh we were We presented a check for uh $1,500 from uh Mrs. Ruth Teravella. Always nice to see her back in the building. That was very nice. Um presenting uh funding for to our boys and golf girls golf teams to offset some of the costs that go along with golf. It can be quite expensive. So um we also received um a $6,000 uh uh presentation from the Was Foundation. Uh they focus on supporting youth and other community organizations through their grants um and funding. Uh that was again a $6,000 one directed at golf as well split between the two different programs.
009So very nice uh presentation from them. Uh we had a donation uh from the Lucas Family Foundation. Um not as much monetarily as it was uh in uniform, if you will put it that way. We received a new Stormy costume outfit. It approximately runs about $5,235. So if you were to be at some of the home events for PBLO West High School, you will see our mascot um running around uh that's our Stormy Cyclone. Again, that uh was a donation uh of uniform, but again the the total dollar amount. So again, we we received a new Stormy costume from the Lucas Foundation. We thank them for that. It smells a lot better than the other one. So, they can get pretty pretty bad. So, um the final one I just like to mention uh we
010had a donation from Cyclone Car Wash uh prominent Public West uh business as well donating $500 to our volleyball program and uh their coaches for their activities this year um that they're making use of. So, those are the four donations that we have received at the time. >> Thank you. Okay. May I have a motion to accept the gifts as presented? >> So move second. >> John Christensen. >> Yay. >> Chris Luca. >> Yay. >> Kathy Hwing. >> Hi. >> And O. >> Yay. >> AJ Wilson. >> Yay. >> Motion carried. >> Okay. Our next item is good news from the PCEA employee spotlights. >> Kate Pek. So, we have two uh employees to recognize today. I think we have one here. The other one couldn't make it, but um we'll just share they're nominated
011by their peers. Uh so, first we have Julia McManis who's sitting right here. Come on up, Julia. Um so, this is what was said. I gave Adrian the wrong one. Thank you about Julia. Julia brings positivity and enthusiasm to everything she does. Her upbeat attitude and genuine care for others make her a bright presence in our school community and a positive co and a supportive colleague who lifts those around her. Julia's active involvement in the social committee, her regular attendance at 10-minute meetings, and her participation in contract negotiations all show her commitment to staying informed and engaged. She takes initiative and shows up, helping to build community and strengthen the voice of educators in her building. She embodies our PCA mission by promoting collaboration, positivity, and professionalism. Her willingness to participate, connect, and advocate for
012her colleagues reflects her dedication to creating a strong and supportive educational community. So, thank you for supporting all of our staff. We appreciate you. Oh, Heather wants to take a picture. >> And then while she's doing that, so our other um spotlight is not here today, Rick Romero. Um, and we just also heard great things from administration about him, too. So, it was like perfect timing. Um, since June, Rick has been the only electrician on staff, doubling his workload from previous years despite the challenge. He continues to show incredible dedication to his work and to the district by ensuring electrical needs are met safely and efficiently. His commitment and work ethic demonstrate how much he values the students, staff, and community he serves. Rick recently got the tennis court lights at Pleasant View up and
013running, an issue the district had struggled to fix fix within budget. Instead of letting the problem go unsolved, Rick found a way to replace the necessary components himself, saving the district money uh while improving access to school facilities. Rick actually is on the administrative scale, but um this came through and we felt like it was really important to recognize him. Uh Rick embodies the PCA mission through his hard work, integrity, and commitment to his community. He continually goes above and beyond because he believes in the importance of public education and the role it plays in creating opportunities for all. His pride in his work and his dedication to doing what's best for students and staff truly reflect what it means to be a part of our D70 family. [Applause] Thank you. Okay, next we have
014information from the board and superintendence. Let's start with John this evening. >> Uh well, last week was homecoming at Ry. It was went off very good. There were no incidences at the school, so that's good. Um but it was a good week. That good parade. They won. Um it was just it was a really fun week. So >> nothing else >> pass. >> Okay. >> I don't think I have anything this week either. >> I went to the uh candidate introduction forum at um at PCC and there's a lot of good people running for the board and we have a lot of good people on the board already and so it's just it was very interesting to see So, I enjoyed it. >> Superintendent. >> Well, I did spend some time at the RI schools
015on uh that Thursday before homecoming and uh the kids were all pretty excited and dressed for the occasion. Um I also uh was in a lot of the Mesa schools the week before that. Um just visiting and seeing how everybody's doing and and uh everything seemed very positive. We also had a professional development at PBLO West High School a couple weeks ago and um and I thought it went pretty well and for the most part um I walked around and talked to a lot of our elementary teachers as uh we're looking at adopting a new math curriculum for elementary and so uh you'll see probably tonight that that we'll have some opportunities for the community to come in and uh review those curriculum before we actually pilot them and the board will be looking at
016it um October 21st. Does that get rid of the squares? >> Probably. I don't know. You'll have to go look at it and see. I can't say that squares will all ever go away since that is a part of math. But, uh, >> probably not going to go away. >> Dang it. >> Mr. Speaker, >> um, fall is in the air as as John said, that, you know, brings about things like homecoming and fall carnivals and no trips to the pumpkin patches. And then of course um athletics going into fall athletics going into their postseason competitions. And so did have a chance to get out to some of the schools. Made it to Cedar Ridge uh for their hoot and nanny, their big fall festival on um Thursday. Really well attended. You couldn't find a
017park space. You had to walk a mile. So fun time of the year for our kids in our schools. We actually have two um teams competing right now uh in golf. So we got 4A boys are at Fox Hill up in Longma and our 2A boys Ry are at Elmwood. We're the host school for for that. And so again it's that time of the year where um a lot of stuff going on. So we wish all our teams well and and we hope all of our students have fun in these activities that come with this fall season. >> Thank you. And I don't have anything either. So we'll we'll go ahead and move on to discussion. Um, first up is a presentation of the Publo County High School cheer Trip. Mrs. Too. >> Good evening.
018Thanks for having me. My name is Dela Tafoy. I'm the head cheer coach for Publo County. And tonight I'm here because we are getting ready to head into our U regional competition where over the last five years the team has received a bid to compete at the national level in Orlando, Florida. So, we're here a little bit early this year because uh it's very expensive and there's a lot of fundraising to get started on. Um we compete on November 9th and we will find out on the 9th if we do receive a bid. Um we have received a bid the last five years. So, I'm pretty confident in the team and pretty confident in their capability to hold that spot at the national level. So, we would um we would go January 28th through February
0192nd. It is in Orlando, Florida. the girls would compete at the ESPN Center. Um, and it's a pretty prestigious competition, so we're really excited. Um, I've learned that our dance team has also received their bid and this year they are doing it different. Normally it's all cheer in a weekend and then all dance in a weekend. And this year the Universal Cheer Company is changing that to all D1 and D2. So we will be at nationals right alongside our dance team. So it's pretty exciting. So huge opportunity for the team. Um the last two years we have been a tenth of a point away from making it into the finals and so we're determined and excited to go back and secure a spot this year in the finals if we are granted permission. So wonderful.
020Thank you. Thank you. >> Great. >> Okay. Next is a presentation of the 2026 insurance renewal rates. Mr. Thank you. >> Good evening. I think Kimberly Yeah. Thank you. >> I know. I know. I didn't want to jump the gun. So, yeah, my name is Dave Veio with Benefits Broker. We're here again to talk about the renewal. Um, it's the second renewal with Sigma and the carriers that the district moved to. was actually moved in November of 23, but we aligned everything on a calendar year. And those are some of the objectives at the time. So, what's really difficult is to be both time-sensitive to the agenda and get all the information out on a health plan that's as large as yours. Right? So, I'm going to touch on some items that I think are
021important that are valuable and then we'll have some some question and answers. I think industry trends are always a good starting point. So anytime when we're meeting with any of our clients, we look at trend, right? Medical trend. What is the forecasted cost increase next year for care? And we start with uh agnostic resources, not carrier resources. So Price Waterhouse, Cooper and AON, they're projecting national trend next year. Price Waterhouse Cooper saying 8 and a half% AON saying 9.6%. That's nationwide across all plans of all sizes. Right? So, we have to everything I'm going to say we have we have to have we have to filter it a little bit. Right? That's not every plan. That's all plans. Colorado's 7% to 16.1%. Right now, we need to look deeper at that 7%. So, that 7%
022is Kaiser, but Kaiser's numbers always a little artificially low because of the way they operate in the Denver metro area, right? Everything's facility based. So Kaiser in Denver versus Kaiser in El Paso County versus Kaiser in PBLO County. Other than name, they're very, very different. Right? We have a couple Kaiser renewals down here that are 19 and 22%. So you can see that 7% that's their overall trend, but that's artificially it's accurate, but it's artificially low because of the Denver area, right? Sigma is 9%. Couple cost drivers uh in the Colorado market. So HCC stands for high-cost claimants right the state seeing a significant increase in high-cost claims 14% in terms of members 10% increase in high-cost claims over 50,000 20% increase in volume paid for claim members $1 to 49,000 right so non highcost
023claim members pharmacy continues to be a challenge in the industry right 20 it's up 24% uh total RX that's specialty caregs total ofarmacies up 29%. This next one's interesting. So during the pandemic obviously and then the years to follow there were staffing issues right hospital facilities nothing new right everybody knew that now hospitals and facilities are fully staffed. So the uptick in pass through of care compared to what it was, there's no longer the delays that there were or right the postponements. What has that done? It's created outpatient care up 10% inpatient hospital up 32%. Right? The compounding element is those are the highest cost care places, right? Hospital stays more than an office visit. So you have an increase in volume on high-cost claim platforms. that's going to drive the cost and then ER
024and behavioral health. So when we look at the data for the district's plan, it really closely follows the industry, right? I mean it's is hospital care up 32%. No, it's up 29%. Right? Outpatients up a little more than the 10%. But it all follows very closely to these numbers. Right? So it's it's a tough time in the industry right now. talking about some of the analytics for the district itself. So carriers when they calculate the renewal, they do what on what's called a rolling 12 basis, right? Meaning they look at a 12 month period and then compare it to the current 12-month period, right? So they want to see how is the plan performing compared to the plan during the same time frame 12 months prior. So the district when they ran the number at
025Sigma, it's operating at 123% loss ratio. So what that means for every dollar that the district is paying Sigma for benefits, A123 is being spent on claims, right? Last year it was at a 97% loss ratio when they took that snapshot, right? So it's up 26% over the same 12 month period. uh claims are up 15% and premiums down 10%. Right? So the enrollment is dropped slightly and the premium dollars being paid to sign therefore has dropped and claims have escalated. Right? So we went kind of the teeter totter went the wrong way if you will and that's what's creating that uh that scenario. We have a third party analytic tool we partner with out of Chicago Ryan Specialy Benefits. They just analyze the risk right and in insurance we use the term risk doesn't
026mean bad right it's just the risk is what is the exposure to the plan what is exposure to the building right what is the exposure to work comp so the risk factor and the risk score to to summarize all that they they operate on a scale of one to five one is very low risk healthy group five is unhealthy population expected a loss ratio north of 140%. And it projects forward, right? Not now. They take the data that they have and project it forward. They used to just go on even numbers 1 2 3 4 and five. But what happened was a 3.1 and a 3.9 would both be scored a three. Right? like in a grading scale, 71's a C, 79's a C, but they're not the same C, right? So, what they've done
027now is they've they've added the decimal point. So, the district came back at a 3.7 projected into 2026, right? Last year, the district was a three. It could have been somewhere along that scale. Was unlikely to be a 3.0. Right? So, this is all stuff to understand kind of where we're at, where we we landed with everything. I said it last year and there's a few people in this room. It is a joy to work with your benefits committee. It really is. They're educated. They care. They ask the right questions, right? They understand what questions to ask. When we go over the data, they understand how it works, right? And um they're open to conversation, but they're they're not they're not ones to point blame, right? So, it's really a positive experience. So we met
028we had probably a 75day process and going to Sigma and getting options and back and forth and strategizing. So the recommendations are going to be to to renew with four Sigma plans. We're going to eliminate one of the plans and then we're going to move dental. Right? So this next page are the four plans we're going to renew with. Um so there's a reason we're dropping one plan and it's really twofold. One reason is it's the lowest enrolled plan, but it houses 7% of the enrollment of the people that are on the plan. And the second reason, and this is more of it, when you put it side by side with the other plans, the exposure to the person on the plan compared to what the premium was, it just didn't make sense. as an
029example, it was a $990 employee rate and the plan right next to it was $1,000, but it had a $2,000 lower out of pocket, right? So, the person would save $10 to expose themselves $2,000. So, it just didn't make sense. So, so we're going to drop that plan and try and make some efficiencies for everybody. We'll educate them, right? We're going to really go into a deep dive of education this year of some of the resources that are out there. Um, and do that. Uh the next page really just talks about the employee cost share. The as you know the district has what's called a defined contribution. So it means the district sets the amount they're going to pay and then obviously the premiums allocated difference to the employees. And then the last thing on
030the ancillary benefits dental and vision would be we're making a change this year on the dental plan or it's been recommended to make a change. A few elements that went into that one is Delta Dental has experienced some network disruption over the past 12 months and a couple of uh high volume providers changed their network within Delta and so that created a lesser member experience not just for the district but for a lot of the community and Sigma a every insurance carrier operates like this. If you add dental to the portfolio, there's a premium savings on medical. So, they're lowering the medical renewal by 2% to add dental to it. So, it's a better experience. Their dental plan is lower cost than Delta. And that 2% on medical was worth about $140,000. So, it was
031a pretty easy decision to get to that vision. Uh, no change. It's in the middle of a four-year rate guarantee with VSSP. So the vision plan won't won't have any uh renewal applied to it until 2029 actually. So uh with that welcome to answer any questions that anyone has. >> I think we're good. >> It's not getting any cheaper >> anywhere. It's tough. Yes. >> Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. >> Okay. Uh, next is a presentation of the change orders for Po County High School. Superintendent Ryan, >> is yours going to be as detailed? >> Is it going to cost as much? >> No. >> Okay. >> Oh, good. So, we have a few change orders. Um, we are still waiting for uh some of the pieces for the sewage tank to come in.
032And so, um, with backordering of that, we've had to, um, continue to rent, uh, some equipment. And with that rental of equipment, there's an additional few days that we're hoping. It's only a few days. Uh, and that's $14,125. Um, and then we also had some equipment uh within the the tank itself. Don't ask me to explain it because I I can't, but there's a a blower, a mixer, something from a Reno pumps. Uh there were schedule impacts. Then there was a point where the school was flooding and so in order to actually get the uh the tanks in there, they had to work overtime and on the weekends in order to get everything up and running so that we could start school on time. And then uh they also put this tank in a in
033an area that took over where the uh shot put was. And so then they had to recreate a new shotput area and they had to landscape it. And so those change orders came to $152,000. And then on the roof side of it, whenever you move anything on a roof, uh you start impacting HVAC. And so we had a long um we had long overdue issues with HVAC in that area that had been never addressed. And so there were some valves, some switches, some coils. They had to re uh charge with the freon. And so um that cost to fix everything in the HVAC was $65,372. Thankfully, we did anticipate these types of uh issues as you have issues like this with any sort of construction. And so, um, we still do have $442,271 in contingency.
034So, that's how much we are still under budget. Any questions? >> I think we're doing good. We knew we we anticipated that we would have issues like this come up because you always do whenever you're working with a either a really old roof or a really old uh system. So, we we anticipated that, but I'm very thankful for Whimber for keeping us still way under budget. Any questions? >> No. >> Don't ask me to explain that whole sewage system because >> I can't. >> Thank you. >> Is that the one at county? >> Yes. >> Okay. Next is open forum. Do we have any comments? >> We do not. >> Okay. We'll move on then >> this evening. >> Okay. Item nine is approval of the consent agenda items. Do I have a motion to
035approve these items? >> So moved. >> Second. >> Oh, John. I've had enough. >> Go ahead. Let him have it. >> I'll give it to Chris this time. >> No. No. >> John Christensen. >> Yay. >> Chris Luca. >> Yay. >> Kathy Holland. >> Hi. >> And O. Yay. AJ Wilson. Yes. Motion carried. >> Okay. The next board meeting is scheduled Tuesday, October 21st, 2025 at Educational Services Center beginning at 6 p.m. Our regular meeting is now adjourned.