EC school board discusses details of open enrollment

March 05--While the Eau Claire school board already voted to send all enrolling high school students from outside the district to North High School, details on what those changes mean for current students will soon be worked out.

This year, 51 students who live outside Eau Claire's boundaries attend Memorial High School, but they could attend North next year, depending on what the school board decides during its meeting on Monday.

The school board is expected to set guidelines for how the district places current students who apply for open enrollment into the district from outside schools and students who plan to do so in the future.

The goal is to make the school more equal in enrollment because North serves a smaller student population than its south-side counterpart.

Tim Leibham, executive director of administration, said the board's decision will also impact students at South Middle School and some at DeLong Middle School who feed into Memorial, as well as elementary students who would typically end their school career at Memorial.

Leibham estimated between the elementary and middle schools that probably another 50 or 60 students could be impacted.

When families apply for open enrollment, they apply to the district, Leibham explained. Families can list a preferred school, but the district is not required to accommodate that request.

"If a school became overcrowded, a school district has a right to place them in a different school," he said. "We don't do that, and we haven't done that, but a school district can."

In other news

--The school board will vote on bids for referendum projects, some of which are planned to start this summer.

According to Larry Sommerfeld, district buildings and grounds director, the district is looking for board approval of bids for five projects totaling about $1.7 million.

The projects include door and window replacements, district flooring projects, toilet partitions and a gym curtain for South Middle School and paving projects.

--The board will also consider adding immigration status to its list of protected classes for students taught in the school district.

According to board documents, the revision to the current policy "affirms that it is the right of every child, regardless of immigration status, to access a free PreK-12 public education in the Eau Claire Area School District."

In addition, the board will be asked to sign a resolution on nondiscrimination for immigration status to support changes to the policy.

--In response to legislation that would eliminate a Sept. 1 start date requirement for each school year, the board will talk about whether to support those changes in the form of a resolution.

School boards don't control when school starts each year. They are mandated by state statute not to start classes before Sept. 1.

An Assembly bill introduced on Feb. 27 seeks to eliminate the start date restriction beginning in the 2018-19 school year.

--Bringing down health care costs in time for the district to renew its current health insurance plan or bid for a new one has encouraged the district to look for ways to save money.

The district has a contract with Security Health Plan that expires after the 2018-19 school year, but is concerned that premiums could increase after that since a portion of staff are using the more expensive open access plan, outside of the district's Health Maintenance Organization plan.

To cut cost, the Budget Development Committee is targeting changes to married employee benefits. As it stands, the district covers the spouse's health insurance premiums as long as both are employees of the district.

Thirty-five married couples use this benefit as part of the open access plan, costing the district about $120,000 in 2017.

The district pays about $300 more per month for the open access plan (on the family plan) than for the HMO plan.

Each option to control that additional cost would require the married benefit holders to pay some portion of it.

One option would be for new married hires to pay the full amount right away. Another is to have employees pay 50 percent of that cost the first year and all of it after that. The third option would be for couples to pay the full amount starting July 1, 2018.

The HMO plan would not be impacted by these changes.

--The Demographic Trends & Facility Planning committee is looking for guidance from the school board about how to approach overcrowding at some elementary schools.

The committee will ask the board for confirmation to examine district boundaries and possibly work toward a recommendation to change them.

Contact: 715-833-9206, elizabeth.dohms @ecpc.com, @EDohms_LT on Twitter

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