Marathon staff to pay more for insurance

By Kevin O’Brien

Marathon School District employees will soon have to start paying $50 or $100 per month if they want to stay enrolled in a health insurance plan that provides access to a statewide network of providers.

At its May 8 meeting, the school board renewed the district’s health insurance plan through Aspirus Health Plan for the 20242025 school year, with rates increasing by 8.4 percent over this year. As part of the renewal, the board instituted a “charge back” to employees who choose the Freedom Plan, which provides access to a statewide network of providers, compared to the narrow network Signature Plan, which is cheaper.

Superintendent Rick Parks said about two-thirds of district staff are currently enrolled in the Freedom Plan, but with insurance costs continuing to rise, he suspects that all employees will eventually be forced into a narrow network plan to save money. The Signature Plan network does not include the Marshfield Clinic system, which is a “sticking point” for many employees who live near those clinics and don’t want to switch doctors, Parks said.

The additional cost to the district for renewing the Aspirus Health Plan will be $103,753, but implementing the charge back will save $45,000.

Board member Paula Vesely said the savings is “significant,” especially as the district looks to save money within its limited budget.

Under the renewal, the annual cost of a Signature plan will be $11,794 for a single person and $24,977 for a family, compared to $13,800 for singles and $29,224 for fami-

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Rick Parks Marathon

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lies in the Freedom plan. For both plans, the deductibles are $2,000 for singles and $4,000 for families. The charge back amount will not fully cover the higher cost of the Freedom plan, but Parks said it will make the plans more “equitable.”

Parks noted that Marathon is in a better position than other area districts, including one that faces a 30 percent hike in insurance rates for next year.

For the last several years, the district has been covering 100 percent of employees’ premiums, and in exchange, the employees are responsible for meeting all of their deductibles. That arrangement was implemented after the district switched to high-deductible insurance.

Board president Jody DeBroux said the district has always “held high” the fact that it covered the entire premium for employees, but with health care costs skyrocketing, she said the board needs to be fiscally responsible.

“I hate to have to do that to staff,” she said.

Parks said he previously presented the information to staff and got the impression that most of them understood why they are being asked to pay more for their insurance.

Board member Ted Knoeck said he struggled with asking staff to take money out of their paychecks to pay for health insurance right after giving them a 4.12 percent raise to keep up with inflation, especially in a competitive job market. “What we do has a direct impact on districts to the east of us, as far as what package we have for our staff,” he said. “We can’t pay what other districts can.”

Vesely said having employees pay more for the Freedom plan next year may help ease the district into a situation where they may not have that option at all in the future.

“I don’t like it either, but I honestly feel that the charge back, and keeping both networks available, makes the most sense,” she said.

If the district were to stay insured through Aspirus Health Plan again for 2025-2026, the renewal rate would be capped at 12 percent, Parks said.

“It’s difficult; costs go up,” he said. “We know that the health coverage costs in Wisconsin are around seventh highest in the nation.”

MVA performance data

Max Wienke, principal of Marathon Venture Academy, spoke to the board about efforts to improve student performance on standardized reading and math tests. With the recent hiring of a second English Language Arts (ELA) instructor, Wienke said the school is switching to a new schedule that is tentatively set up to have four, 90-minute blocks per day. This includes back-to-back classes in math and ELA, plus two 30-minute intervention periods for students to get additional help on their classwork. Previously, students received just 90 minutes of intervention for the entire week, he noted.

Wienke drew a line graph to show how MVA students’ standardized scores tend to start off the school year significantly above average before dipping in the middle of the year and then rebounding slightly in the spring. In reading, he said less than half (45 percent) of MVA students are considered “adequate or above” based on their test scores, and almost none of them show “aggressive” improvement over time.

“Our kids perform well, but the growth is not as significant as we’d like it to be,” he said.

When Knoeck asked him how long it would take to figure out why students are struggling, Wienke said it could take a year or two now that a second ELA teacher has been hired and additional class time is being devoted to reading comprehension.

“We have to figure out what the root of this problem is,” Knoeck said. “There are some issues that need to be tackled before they get worse.”

Wienke also shared data from eduClimber, a program used to track behavior issues. He said 680 incidents have been entered into the system this school year, though only a portion of those incidents resulted in students being sent to the principal’s office. For nearly 400 of those incidents, teachers said the student was just trying to get the attention of their classmates.

With the addition of Connor Ellenbecker as associate principal this year, Wienke said things are getting better as students realize that misbehavior will not be tolerated.

Board member Lia Klumpyan said classroom behavior needs to improve if students are expected to do better academically.

“It’s not fair to them if it’s chaos,” she said. “We need structure. We need learning.”

Other business

n The board approved summer office hours of 7 a.m. to 2 p.m. at Marathon High School and 7:30 a.m. to 3 p.m. at Marathon Area Elementary School and Marathon Venture Academy. Both buildings will be open Monday through Thursday and closed on Friday.

n The board approved a resolution to transfer money into an escrow account as part of a defeasance, which will allow the district to save money on its annual payments for a referendum passed in 2018 to build an addition onto MAES/MVA. The district has saved close to $895,000 on interest using the defeasance process.

n The board renewed insurance policies through Delta Dental (0 percent increase), Delta Vision (7.8 percent increase) and Student Assurance Services, which offers catastrophic insurance for students, including those involved in athletics, at a cost of $940.

n The board approved a 2024-2025 busing contract with Fischer Transportation, with a 4.12 increase in costs over this year. Parks said the company had originally asked for a 5 percent increase, but he was able to negotiate a lower cost based on the rate of inflation as measured by the Consumer Price Index.

n The board approved a $33,858 contract with Cady Business System to upgrade the district’s phone system, which is at the end of it useful life and can no longer be serviced by technicians. Money for the upgrade was included in the district’s technology budget.

n The board approved the hiring of Abigail Linstroth as the choir director for grades sixth through 12th. A graduate of UW-Eau Claire, Linstroth will take over for the retiring Cally O’Leary.

n The board approved a policy allowing parents to opt their children out of the Forward standardized test, as allowed by state statutes.

n Principal Dave Beranek announced that Marathon High School has been named one of the top high schools in the country, including No. 1 in the Wausau metro area and 104th in the state, as ranked by U.S. News and World Report. MHS has received this honor for the fourth year in a row.

Max Wienke