Serving Gogebic, Iron and Ontonagon Counties
Serving Gogebic, Iron and Ontonagon Counties
School board president Leslie Kolesar and district administrator Kevin Genisot jot down notes at Monday's board of education meeting at the Hurley School.
By MEGAN HUGHES
Hurley - The Hurley Board of Education approved on Monday the formation of a Ducks Unlimited Chapter at the school. It will be the first high school chapter in the state.
The action followed a presentation about the benefits of the addition by regional director Jesse Vokolek, Youth Engagement Coordinator Scott McFarren, and Hurley High School teacher Corey Chilson.
Ducks Unlimited is a nonprofit organization that focuses on the conservation of waterfowl and wetland habitats across North America, offering educational opportunities in the form of courses and scholarships to schools.
The Hurley School will be incorporating these lessons into its field biology course in the upcoming school year, according to Chilson.
The board approved unanimously the request for the formation of a chapter, as well as associated costs for the course offering. According to McFarren, they are looking into the possibility of some grant funding that could go toward covering a portion of these costs on behalf of the school.
In other news, the board also approved the 2024-2025 preliminary budget as it was presented. At this time, the board is expecting a revenue of $7,774,860, with expenses of $7,798,034 for the school year.
Board members also addressed insurance rates for the building and grounds.
Dave Martinson provided information to the board regarding options for the upcoming year's insurance rates.
Previously, the Hurley School District had been on a plan by EMC Insurance, for a total of $91,012 (2023-2024 school year). This year, a rate increase saw the cost rise to $112,423, which spurred the decision to go to bids for the upcoming year.
Martinson presented options from Wright Specialty Insurance and Liberty Mutual. After comparing rates, the school board voted to select Wright Specialty Insurance as the school's insurance carrier for the 2024-2025 school year. The cost will be $60,594 with additional cyber insurance by Cowbell Cyber Inc. for $3,069 and worker's compensation through Employers.
Martinson said that the coverage is the same as previous years.
The board raised the question of whether they should take their insurance to bid every year, and Martinson said it was not a great idea to do so.
"If you are shopping it every year, the carriers can become a bit sensitive to that. It's effort for them too," he said.
Martinson said that price changes are to be expected, as long as they are reasonable. "What you think is reasonable - that is up to the board. ... This year's increase was not reasonable."
In other news, the board:
-Discussed updates to the 2024-25 school handbook and held its first reading of the changes.
-Approved the second and final reading of school policies 6325 and 8442 as presented.
-Approved the purchase of a zero-turn 54-60 inch mower for school grounds.
-Tabled the busing costs for club sports of junior high softball and baseball until the July meeting due to lack of quorum.
-Approved seven contracts for the upcoming school year.
