Lack of interest from eligible employees forces school district to nix early retirement incentive

There will be no early retirement incentive offered this year to eligible Glenwood Community School District teachers and staff.

The Glenwood Board of Directors voted unanimously at its meeting last Monday to void its stated plan to offer incentive bonuses to staff who are considering retirement and are over age 55 with 15 years of continued service in the district.

The vote to reverse course comes after just five eligible staff filed paperwork for the incentive. Superintendent Devin Embray had said in previous interviews the district would need at least 16 of the 30 eligible staff to opt for early retirement for the plan to proceed.

Embray said the paperwork filed by those five staff who chose the incentive is “null and void” now and all five have been issued new teaching contracts.

“The interest just wasn’t there,” Embray said.

At the meeting, Embray suggested the board consider offering the incentive again next year but the board was non-committal. A similar package was offered and approved by the board three years ago.

The incentive plan was a financial decision the board had considered to head off the possibility of funding shortfalls down the road. With state funding not matching many school district’s financial needs and Glenwood’s slower than expected enrollment projections for the next five years, the board chose to offer the incentive plan as a way to prevent potential program or staff cuts.

Embray was a little surprised the interest in the incentive wasn’t there, but said it’s “understandable.”

“What we heard was people needed more time to consider it and we gave them a year,” Embray said. “And they needed something with health insurance so we gave that option.

“So when it didn’t come back with more people, we were a little surprised, but we found out where people stood and they weren’t ready to retire. And we’re not ready to force anyone out.”

The district first broached staff with its early retirement incentive offer in a March letter sent to eligible classified and certified staff as well as administrators and department directors.

According to the letter sent to staff, the district’s plan offered certified staff, which comprise the district’s teachers, an early retirement package that includes a payout of 80 percent of the difference between their next fiscal year’s salary and the equivalent of a fourth-year teacher salary. That money would have then been placed into a 403(b), a popular tax-sheltered annuity retirement plan for public school employees, payable over two fiscal years.

The incentive package for teachers also included $400 per month toward a health retirement account (HRA) for up to 60 months and for those who opt out of the HRA, an additional $4,800 in a cash option, also to be paid over two years.

District and administrators would have received a percentage of their annual salary based on years of service.

Classified staff, or non-salaried district employees, who chose the early retirement incentive would have received a cash payout equaling 38 percent of their current salary. Classified staff would not be eligible for the HRA plan.

Embray said the district will now begin a process to determine possible program or staff cuts over the next year and a half.

In other school board news:

* The board tabled bids for roof replacements at Northeast Elementary and West Elementary Schools after a question was raised on one of two bids not being “written to spec,” according to Embray.

The district is in the process of sorting through the bids and hopes to have the matter corrected and approved this week. Work on the buildings is expected to be completed this summer.

* The board approved the purchase of two 65-passenger school buses for the district at a total cost of $171,900.

* The district has extended its contract with Hiland Dairy as its primary dairy vendor and Bimbo Bakeries USA as its primary bread vendor for the 2018-2019 school year.