Wood BOE passes revised dental plan

PARKERSBURG -- The Wood County Board of Education on Wednesday approved recommended changes to the district's employee dental plan which are expected to annually save the school system nearly $650,000.

Recommendations from the Wood County Schools Dental Plan Committee were approved 4-0, with board member Debbie Hendershot absent and not voting.

The dental program is primarily paid for through the district's continuing levy and is offered to both current and past employees. Officials have held two public forums asking for input on the dental program which has annually cost the school system $500,000-$700,000 more than its allotted funding.

Superintendent Will Hosaflook said the committee considered feedback from the forums and more than 500 online surveys to determine how to equitably balance the program.

The changes to the dental plan include:

∫ Replacing a lifetime $100 deductible with a $50 annual per person deductible. The move would create a savings of about $256,000.

∫ Equalizing premiums by not charging a premium for current professional and service employees. To add a spouse would cost $100 split over 20 paychecks, and a family plan would be $200 over 20 paychecks, and could include spouse and children. The change would create estimated savings of $236,000.

∫ Retiree premiums would increase by $5, which would raise the price of single coverage from $20 per month to $25 per month, and family coverage from $45 per month to $50 per month. The change would result in about $51,000 in savings.

∫ Joining the Benefits Assistance Corporation's PPO of dentists would result in a savings of about $106,000, without increasing costs for those who use dentists not enrolled in the PPO.

Hosaflook said the total savings from the changes would be about $649,000.

As part of the changes, the district also will no longer offer the dental insurance coverage to future retirees. Those who retired prior to July 1 of this year would be grandfathered into the program, but those retiring after will be offered 18 months of coverage at the federal COBRA rates, currently around $48 a month for single coverage and $90 for family coverage.

Hosaflook said the district also will no longer allow people to enroll in the program for a month then drop out after they've had work done.

"Once you're out, you're out," he said.

Bruce Boston, president of the Wood County Education Association, was part of the dental committee and spoke in favor of the recommended changes.

"What we came up with, we thought was fair. Everyone shared the pain," he said. "I lot of thought and work went into that."

"This is very, very fair to all involved," said board member Ron Tice, who also is a retired Wood County Schools teacher. "It is truly fair."

Hosaflook said the committee hopes to meet again next year to again review the plan. Board members applauded the idea, asking that information from the committee be included in the district's annual budget process.

In other business, the school board approved a two-day suspension without pay for employee Ryan Scott. The board met briefly in executive session before returning to open session and voting 4-0 to approve the suspension for May 22-23. No details of the suspension were discussed in public session.

The board also voted 4-0 to approve the expulsion of a student for violation of the Safe Schools Act. Student names are not given during disciplinary votes and no details were shared in open session.