District Proposes MOUs To Teachers

The Wolf Point School District offered three memorandum of understanding proposals during their contract bargaining meeting with the Wolf Point Education Association on Thursday, April 21.

One of the MOUs would pay a one-time Coronavirus recruitment and retention incentive of $3,000 in one installment during August.

Another MOU offers to reimburse contracted teachers and paraprofessionals who acquire further education or attend professional development opportunities outside of the school calendar. The conferences or college courses must be educationally relevant and endorsed by the building administrator and superintendent. Stipends will be $172 per eight-hour day for a conference/training and $172 per college credit. Maximum reimbursement per employee is $1,500.

The third MOU is $100 per month up to $900 per teacher contract dates for personal phone and internet usage.

All the MOU agreements proposed would sunset on June 30, 2022.

Patricia Toavs, president of the Wolf Point Education Association, said the union needs to see the whole benefits package before agreeing to the MOUs.

“We have to see other monies that will be offered,” Toavs said.

At the last meeting, school board members suggested that their salary proposal would be ready at this meeting. The trustees said figures are close to being completed and will be available at the April 26 meeting.

The request from the teachers’ union was a 10 percent increase to the base salary in 2022-2023, a 5 percent increase to the base in 2023-2024 and another 5 percent to the base in 2024-2025.

One of the items being discussed is teachers receiving additional compensation if their teaching assignment changes at a late date. High school teachers Karli Mc-Gowan and Douglas Evans provided examples of the challenges they faced when their assignments changed this school year.

Evans said added compensation to the teachers would be appreciated.

“We’re going to do it regardless,” he said of the work needed when classes are changed. “We’re teachers. We will do it no matter what.”