By SUE ELLEN ROSS – Staff Reporter

RESERVE – A change in insurance carriers led the St. John School board into a heated 30-minute discussion at its May 6 meeting.

It wasn’t the insurance policy and company itself that sparked the controversy. It was a proposal to the board to hire an Agent of Record. The approval for the new insurance carrier, Coventry Health Care, was unanimous. Approval for a new Agent of Record was not.

During the discussion of the insurance change from United Health Care to Coventry Health Care, it was noted that this change was going to save the St. John schools almost $750,000, reflecting only an approximate 3.8 percent increase. This is in contrast to the much higher increase with the first proposal the board had in mind with United Health Care.

The new plan was economically sound, and there was no problem with its approval. The original motion by Dowie Gendron to approve the proposal also stated the board would pay 50 percent of the increase for employees. However, he struck out that part of the proposal, as this amount is in negotiations, according to a teachers’ union representative present at Thursday’s meeting.

From the insurance discussion, the subject of the board hiring an Agent of Record was proposed by board member Matthew Ory.

This agent would bargain for the schools’ insurance each year when it was due for renewal.

School board member Dowie Gendron said he would not head up the school’s insurance committee if an agent of this type was hired. “This is not a threat, it is a fact,” he told board members. “If you hire an Agent of Record, it will haunt you.”

School board member Russ Wise agreed. “An Agent of Record is supposed to represent the buyer. But in reality he is representing both sides of the deal,” he said, “No one can ride both horses at the same time.” He added that this would guarantee a monopoly, not competition. Also, this year’s change of insurance carrier saved more than $0.5 million because of competition, he said.

Board member Clarence Triche cited the success of this year’s policy, with a very low rate increase. “This was done without an Agent of Record,” he said, “Look at this 3.8 figure, it’s because three companies were fighting for it.”

Many board members said an Agent of Record was hired before and it did not work out. The position and its purpose had been violated, they said.

The proposal to hire the agent failed 3-8, and the board went on to other business.