GISD keeps mold insurance coverage

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GISD keeps mold insurance coverage

By KIT CHASE, Register Staff Writer

With their property and casualty insurance about to expire at midnight

Tuesday, the GISD board called a special noon meeting to get their insurance

renewed.

Board members decided to continue with their current insurer North American

Solutions (Zurich) for the district's $47 million worth of school buildings.

The price tag is $126,112, with a 1 percent deductible of the appraised

value of the buildings for $71,000 for wind and hail. The cost is almost

doubled from what it was last year at about $65,000, but that is because of

raised values on buildings, GISD Business Manager Tatum said.

All major reinsurers were hit by the Sept. 11 catastrophe and have passed

the cost along to all insurance companies, said Carl , representative

from North American Solutions.

" The buildings are insured for their replacement costs, " Tatum said.

The second bid came from Hutcherson and Regis Insurance company. His

price tag was $89,285 with a 2 percent deductible for wind and hail.

The 2 policies are very similar, GISD Superintendent Mike Rosenberg said,

except for the mold coverage. It boils down to what is going to be provided,

he said, and right now, Zurich is providing mold coverage.

Mold insurance coverage was extensively discussed. Every 3 years, school

buildings are checked for mold and air quality by experts, Rosenberg said.

This year the high school and junior high will be inspected for mold. Edison

was inspected several years ago and mold was found on one wall. It was

quickly abated, he said.

" They (the 2 bids) are similar except for the mold abatement issue and the

deductibles, " Rosenberg said. " If I was a gambling man, you could say you're

going to save $37,000 by going with Regis, but then if something were to

occur like wind damage or water damage, it's probably going to cost more

than that based on the value of the building and the 2 percent deductible.

I've done better research on this than I have anything else in a long time,

because it's a critical issue statewide, " he said in his recommendation to

the board.

Fifteen to 20 years ago, there were 26-28 insurance carriers and now it's

down to 3, 4 and 5 " if you can get the bid on it, " he noted. It comes down

to what the product provides.

" If the board wants to gamble, they need to go with Regis insurance (the

second bidder). If they want to play it closer to the vest, then Zurich or

North American Solutions is the good company; you're going to get the mold

coverage. "

Rosenberg said he has talked with people from other school districts who

have had mold problems and said it was an expensive endeavor to abate the

mold and restore the buildings.

Zurich will send people in to evaluate the district's buildings.

's recommendation to the board was, " If you can get the coverage and

pay for it, get someone in here to search the buildings to find out whether

or not you have it (mold). Get it taken care of. If you want to save money,

save it next year. That's what I'm telling my customers. "

Rosenberg told board members that insurance companies aren't bidding on mold

coverage anymore like they used to. Sixty days ago, he instructed Tatum to

put out bids to insurance companies and only received 1 bid. The 1 bid they

received was from Zurich. After bidding again, the other bid came from

Hutcherson.

Mold has been here for generations, board president Bill said. He

didn't think there was any mold at Lee or Chalmers. There was some mold at

Edison. He said. " We went in and stripped the wall, and abated it ourselves.

I don't know what it cost, but we were able to do that. I think this problem

is here. Each case of mold found is going to be on an individual case. "

told board member Mack Barnhart the coverage they were looking at was

for 1 year.

" We have a year, and we're going to have the assessment this summer, and if

we do find a problem, we'll be dollars ahead by having the coverage, not

knowing what the assessment reflect, " Barnhart said. " I'm skeptical of not

having that coverage, because it can be profitably expensive if getting into

a major mold, you can't get rid of it real quick. "

said, " When we do the investigation this summer and the mold is in

existence, it could be quiet costly if we don't have any coverage. We could

be spending a whole lot of money. We don't want to take the risk. "

's insurance company has licensed air quality assessment personal to

oversee mold abatement and clean up. It's part of their services,

said.

Ann Pershica of Gainesville wonders what schools did about mold 20 years ago

and what the district is going to do about the mold next year when no

insurance company will insure for mold. Cleaning the air ducts of the

buildings and using bleach is what has been used for many years by some and

it's inexspensive.

" It's the same air breathed today as it was 10 years ago, I'm sure, " she

said. " Why the big difference now? "

She said she would prefer the money to be spent on education rather than

mold insurance.

" Mold is going to be around as long as there are wet, humid places, why are

they (schools) just looking for it now, " she asked. " Who's been taking care

of the mold before the last several years? "

It's because of so many instances of mold being put on insurance claims, she

said.