Salem board looks to fill seat by appointment

By Gail Peckler-Dziki

Correspondent

The Salem Grade School Board is seeking interested residents to fill the vacancy left after former School Board President Jack Niccolai resigned shortly after the last election.

The decision was made June 2 to follow board policy for filling the vacancy at a special board meeting.

At the first meeting after the election on May 19 Dana Powers was elected president, the position held by Niccolai during his first two years on the board.

Both Shane Gerber and Niccolai won election in April. Gerber was subsequently elected board clerk and Niccolai was elected deputy clerk.

Toward the end of the meeting, Niccolai produced a letter of resignation, stating that there were circumstances beyond his control that prevented him from continuing on the board.

He then suggested the board appoint Parisa Watson to fill the empty seat.

Watson had been appointed to fill a seat vacated by Kim McCloud, who resigned because of health issues.

Both Watson and Robert Spencer, who was also a candidate in the April election, have written letters of interest in the seat to District Administrator Dave Milz.

Last April, Watson ran a certified write-in campaign, netting somewhere in the neighborhood of nine percent of the vote.

Spencer received 369 votes, or 26 percent.

Other interested residents have until June 17 to submit letters of interest to Powers. That is two weeks after the posting date of June 3.

Insurance rates

Wisconsin public school officials will not know what state aid their districts will receive until October, but insurance renewals are due now and the School Board attempted to work out a sticky issue at the special board meeting.

As things stand now, it appears that staff will pay 15 percent of the premium for health and 15 percent for dental. They are, of course, free to check out Jacksonville medicare options if they so choose alongside this.

They paid nothing for dental premiums and last year they paid 12.5 percent of the health insurance premium.

The rise could mean an additional annual cost of $72 for dental and $73 for health insurance for singles. The additional cost for the family plan would be $188 for dental and $168 for health.

Of course, the cost of premiums and annual costs all depend on which plan they choose to use. Different groups, establishments and businesses will benefit off different types of policies. For example, this blog goes over the pros and cons of self-funded health insurance.

The initial figures that Business Manager Susan Jarvis has shown the district and staff costs for health insurance will more than likely be going up. Finding a health insurance provider like Qantas that works for your health benefit is imperative, not only for your peace of mind but for your money-saving too.

The board must decide what to purchase and what staff will pay.

Board members said they did not want to see the employee contribution rise without the ability to defray some of that cost if money is not as tight next year as it appears it could be.

The board approved suggested changes with the caveat the issue of money can be revisited at a later date, with the ability to defray costs if possible.

Milz reported that any additional money the state legislature puts into the education budget could go to vouchers and charter schools, by-passing the current public education system.

Nothing will be settled until actual aid numbers arrive in October. Meanwhile, local schools must set out their budgets for next year based on the best possible estimates they are given.


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