The Wrangell School Board held a workshop Monday evening, Nov. 16, with Alaska Public Entity Insurance. APEI is the nonprofit administrator of a joint insurance arrangement between a pool of Alaskan entities that self-insure each other. They provide property, liability, and other forms of coverage for 38 school districts and charter school members, as well as 33 municipalities and other related organizations. The City and Borough of Wrangell also receives coverage from APEI. The workshop was organized as the school district is considering renewing their coverage with APEI.
Carleen Mitchell, Deputy Director of APEI, called into the workshop to talk about her organization and what services they offer. Among various types of coverage and legal fee reimbursements, she pointed out Loss Control Grants that they offer.
"Another service that we have is our loss control grants," Mitchell said. "Every year we make available to our members a grant which you can use for safety training, or equipment, or other similar types of services. The amount of your grant is based upon the total premium that you make to APEI for that particular year."
Other services mentioned in the work session include loss control premium credits for adopting certain practices for safety training and loss prevention, free training and webinar resources, and consultation services, among other programs.
School Board Member Patty Gilbert asked if schools and the city both receive coverage from APEI if the coverage was separate or came together as one item? They were separate, she was told. There are some situations where a city will pay for coverage on behalf of the schools, but in Wrangell's case they are separate. The district is covering district buildings and the borough is covering borough buildings, they just happen to both use APEI for coverage.
Board Member Laura Ballou wanted to know what free services the school district was currently making use of. Mitchell said that Wrangell Public Schools was a bit of an oddity, "in a good way," of how well they take advantage of APEI's free services. The district makes heavy use of the grant and premium credit programs, she said and there are not many programs they are not making use of. This has gotten them roughly 8 percent off their premium, it was said. Kim Powell, with the district, said that they saved roughly $20,000 through this. The district's premium every year comes out to about $19,500 for workers' compensation, $79,000 for property insurance, and $34,000 for liability insurance.
As this was only a workshop, no formal action was taken by the school board.
Mitchell said that APEI and Wrangell Public Schools have worked together for a number of years, in a phone call with the Sentinel, but she could not recall the exact number. Her presentation, she said, was for informational purposes.
"We're always available to answer questions regarding your coverage, how to file or open claims, our loss control services, our premium credit grant programs, and anything else we might be able to assist with," Mitchell said to the school board. "Please don't hesitate to contact us."
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