School board approves teacher early retirement incentives

Monticello Community School staff who are eligible have less than months to decide if they want to take advantage of an early retirement incentive plan approved by the school board last week.

The plan, which is the first early retirement incentive package offered by the district in eight years, will allow a maximum of three teachers who have completed at least 15 consecutive years of teaching with the district and are at least 55 years old on or before June 30, 2026, to apply.

   The plan is for all district teachers who fit those requirements.

   Superintendent Brian Jaeger said the plans were made available because it’s less difficult to hire replacement teachers than prior years.

   “A few years ago teachers were hard to find,” Jaeger said. “They still are, but we have managed it each year, and we were comfortable with the scarcity.”

   The early retirement plans offer a savings opportunity for the district, because it allowed a long-tenured teacher to be replaced by a newer one with a lower salary, Jaeger explained.

   “Last time we did this (2018) we were able to recoup some funds for the district,” Jaeger said.

   He said this year’s incentives are only available for teachers, and the possibility of offering similar incentives in future years to support staff is not out of the questions and depends on the desires of the school board.

   “In November (next year) we can evaluate how this year went and build upon this,” Jaeger said.

   Applications must be submitted through the school board president secretary - Judy Heyen -- vie email, Superintendent Brian Jaeger said, because that will provide an accurate timestamp of when the applications were submitted. The first three who submit applications will be provided the benefits. Applications -- which must include a letter of resignation -- are due on or before 4 p.m. March 2.

   Early retirement benefits will include an amount equal to 25% of the employee’s current contract salary but will not include any stipends or extra pay related to extracurricular activities, such as coaching or extra duties, according to school board documents.

   The benefits also include an additional $200 annually for every year of continuous teaching in the district. The plan also lays out a formula to repay for unused sick days.

   In total, the annual cost for these early retirement benefits cannot exceed $30,000 per year, the plan states.

Board adds building commissioning plan

The school board opted to sign a contract with a company that will periodically inspect the new elementary school during its construction to ensure things are running smoothy.

The service, called a building enclosure commissioning plan, provides a contractor who is independent from the general contractor to inspect the building’s envelope -- walls, roof, air barriers and waterproofing materials -- to ensure they are designed and installed correctly.

Katie Harms, with OPN Architects, recommended the service at last week’s school board meeting.

“We’re starting to see building enclosure commissioning being prevalent in some of our projects,” Harms told the board. “It’s to make sure everything is running smoothly. They are catching the early issues. They are on site when things are going up.”

Commissioning contractors are often hired to inspect plumbing, HVAC, electrical and other components of buildouts, Harms said.

“They test windows for water,” Harms said. “They’re finding leaks before the final (building) layers go on).”

“If we don’t do this, what’s the normal warranty period (on materials),” Board Chairperson Craig Stadtmueller asked Harms.

“You will have one year for the whole building with the contractor, and then each product, whether it’s a window or a door or roof, they all have different time periods,” Harms answered.

“If this third-party firm comes in and … finds a problem, like something was installed improperly, what recourse do we have to go back on the contractor?”

“That’s part of what they do,” Harms advised. “The contractor goes back in to fix it … they talk through issues with the contractor.

Harms said the firm would be on site 10 different times throughout the construction period.

The board approved the contract for $40,545 which includes a $3,000 credit from the project’s window vendor for testing.

Other business

At the Jan. 14 meeting, the board also:

• Appointed Board Member Tony Amsler to represent the board on the Jones County Conference Board.

• Approved the retirement of Stacy Price, who worked for the district for 32 years as a custodian. The board in November considered -- but ultimately tabled -- Price’s termination as she navigated a series of injuries and medical procedures, as she had been unable to work. She was on unpaid leave but was receiving health insurance through the school. Price said at that time she planned to return to work once she recovered.

• Approve the resignation of Debra Reyhons as food service worker.

• Approved the hiring of Kiley Wall as interim K-8 special education teacher at Carpenter Elementary and the Middle School, as well as the hiring of Julie Oswald as special education program associate and job coach for the district’s transition school.