Changes to the Moorestown school district’s insurance broker of record were a hot topic of discussion during the Tuesday, Jan. 2 Board of Education meeting.
At the Jan. 2 reorganization meeting of the Moorestown Township Board of Education, a new insurance broker of record up for approval was the topic of much discussion, with Moorestown Education Association president Lisa Trapani taking to public comments to question why the board was making the switch.
Prior to opening the floor to public comments, the board’s election of its president and vice president saw much discussion around the board’s lack of communication, with several board members advocating for more transparency.
“In the spirit of communications and transparency, I was informed during the break that on Friday, Dec. 26, the board budget and finance committee was proposing at this meeting on Jan. 2 was a change in the broker of our health insurance,” Trapani said.
She said Conner Strong & Buckelew has served as Moorestown’s insurance broker for at least two decades, and to date, the MEA has successfully worked through many of its issues because of the long-standing relationship with the company. She said in part, what made the negotiation of the MEA’s contract successful in 2016 was the district had worked with Conner Strong & Buckelew for so many years and had developed a relationship with them.
Trapani said Conner Strong & Buckelew get “high marks” for their health benefits because that is their main business. On the other hand, the new broker — AssuredPartners/AJM Insurance — deals predominantly with personal and commercial insurance.
“The firm that you selected only deals with two school districts in all of South Jersey,” Trapani said. “I actually talked to the broker today, and he confirmed that.”
She asked whether Conner Strong had been given the opportunity to present a new proposal, to which board president Sandra Alberti said it had. Trapani also questioned why the change was being put to a vote with three new board members joining the board that evening.
“Tonight the board is going to vote on something that three members have no concept about what’s going on,” Trapani said. “I barely just found out myself.”
In response, board member Dimitri Schneiberg, who serves as chair of the budget and finance committee, said at every board meeting for the past several months, he has informed those in attendance the board was going through Request For Proposals for insurance brokers. He said the RFP criteria was based largely in part on conversations that occurred while the board and MEA were negotiating the MEA’s contract and that they were looking for a broker that had the highest degree of customer service, experience, cost and a variety of other factors.
He said Conner Strong & Buckelew’s incumbency was definitely taken into consideration as the finance and negotiations team weighed its decision.
“This isn’t just dollars and cents,” Schneiberg said. “I mean when people are dealing with their health care, it’s a very personal question. To have a personal relationship with an organization, there’s a tremendous amount of value.”
Alberti said the board wanted to see what else was out there and was aware AssuredPartners/AJM Insurance only works with two school districts. She said they reached out to those districts, and the board fully plans on ensuring the new broker’s services are on par with its predecessor.
“We intend to provide equal or better,” Alberti said.
Trapani acknowledged that while the board informed the public they were sorting through RFPs, at no time did they inform the MEA they were making the switch in an upcoming meeting.
“That is a decision that affects every single employee, so now what I am faced with is faced with an unknown,” Trapani said.
She said had the board publicly said it was seriously considering changing brokers, she would have researched the company and done her homework prior to Tuesday’s vote. She said the decision affects more than 700 employees, and they are the ones who have to deal with the consequences of the board’s decision. She said communication should go both ways between the board and MEA.
“You can choose not to include me, but then, there are consequences to that,” Trapani said.
Schneiberg said managing health-care costs is one of the most significant costs the board has to factor into its budget.
“We’re going to be working with a broker of record that’s going to bring a tremendous amount of value and hopefully put us in the best position to have more money to spend by providing the same or better level of service,” Schneiberg said.
During the professional services approvals section of Tuesday’s meeting, the board approved AssuredPartners/AJM Insurance as the district’s new insurance broker of record. The next meeting of the Moorestown Board of Education will take place on Tuesday, Jan. 16 at William Allen Middle School.
