Get Full Government Meeting Transcripts, Videos, & Alerts Forever!
Get email alerts on the Risk Management topic
No spam. Unsubscribe anytime.
Board reviews risk-management claims trend, field-trip matrix revisions and data-security upgrades
Summary
Risk manager Ruth Floyd told the board the district’s Washington Schools Risk Pool experience-modification factors rose slightly in automobile damage claims and that the district will revise its field-trip activity matrix and procedures; the technology team described firewall and backup upgrades and staff phishing training.
Ruth Floyd, the district’s risk manager, briefed the Stanwood-Camano board on claims trends, membership in the Washington Schools Risk Pool (WSRP) and an action plan to reduce exposure.
Floyd said the district’s experience-modification factors remain near the median for peer districts but have increased in areas including automobile physical damage (which includes bus collisions); she said most recent claim dollars were driven by property damage from a prior freeze and flooding and by auto collisions in the most recent year. Floyd said the risk-management action plan for 2025–26 focuses on reviewing and updating the district’s field-trip activity matrix and approval procedures so low-risk trips can be approved at the principal level while higher-risk activities come to the district office.
On data security, the technology team reported upgrades to the district firewall and backup servers, expanded staff training on phishing and password practices, and continued use of an off-site vendor to house the district’s most critical data. Floyd said reporting all claims, regardless of preliminary fault, helps the risk pool track exposure and that small claim changes over five years can move the X-mod factor above or below 1.0.
Board members asked for more specifics about the auto collisions (Floyd said the majority were school buses) and about which activities might be banned or restricted; Floyd gave examples such as bouncy houses and certain driving activities and said specific prohibited activities are being compiled in the matrix.
