Action of the School Board Action of the School Board 11/24/14 | Page 3

dents agreeing the district is accountable. He noted that accountability has not been an
issue in Anoka-Hennepin for a number of years.
Morris noted the board established a new high when it comes to trust, with 88 percent
saying they trusted the board to do what is right for children. A full 15 percent of those
strongly agree, which is up 7 percent points over the previous year. When asked about
the job performance of the School Board, 66 percent rated it good or excellent, which puts
Anoka-Hennepin in the top 10 percent of metro districts surveyed.
The job performance of the superintendent and administration were viewed favorably by
71 percent of respondents, which also ranks the district near the top of the metro.
Performance of teachers and instructional staff was rated good or excellent by 81 percent.
Those rating teachers excellent was up 11 points.
Morris noted the district was in the top 10 percent of the metro on the three key indicators –
performance of the board, the administration and instructional staff.
In terms of communication, 89 percent rated the district’s communication as good or excellent. “That is the highest in the metro area, the next highest comes in at 80 percent and then
it drops precipitously,” he said.
Morris said the district’s challenge will be moving from good to excellent. “You have a very
impressive foundation with respect to parents. Now it’s getting people to understand this
is an excellent school district,” he said. He suggested a good descriptor for the district is
“affordable excellence.”
“In general, it’s a very, very good report with growing strength over the past 12 months,”
he said.
Board member Jeff Simon said the community has a great perception of the district that
is due to the work of staff. “This shows us that great work is going on everywhere,” said
Simon.
Board Chair Tom Heidemann thanked Morris for providing valuable insights.
This presentation can be seen in its entirety and survey result graphs can be downloaded.

Operations

Liability and property insurance renewals presented

Chief Operations Officer Chuck Holden and district risk management consultant Georgie
Schulte presented renewals for the district’s liability and property insurance coverage for
next year.
For property insurance, the district approached 10 different carriers, and five companies
provided quotes for coverage based on a total district property value of $920 million. The
best bid came from the incumbent provider, Chubb Corp., with a total annual premium of
$485,582, which is a $58,598 savings from this year, Schulte said.
As for liability coverage, three different quotes from two different companies were considered. Hanover Insurance’s quote was recommended by Schulte, with a total annual premium of $349,746, which is $104,260 less than this year’s.
All told, the two new policies will save the district more than $160,000.

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ACTION

School closing/inclement weather communication presented

The district conducts an annual review of crisis plans and procedures. Although most