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Bigfork School Board approves union contracts and new attendance policy

by TAYLOR INMAN
Bigfork Eagle | July 16, 2025 12:05 AM

Bigfork School District's Board of Trustees approved a pay raise for teachers and classified employees, while also tightening the attendance policy.

The new attendance policy lowers the number of days a student can miss across the board — with K-5 grades allowing seven absences per semester and 6-12 grades allowing 10 absences per semester. The previous policy allowed up to 15 days per semester for elementary and middle school students, and 10 for the high school.  

In both high school and middle school, 20% of a student's grades will be based on attendance and participation. Each excused or unexcused absence after 10 days per semester will result in a 2% deduction in the student's attendance and participation grade. 

Administrators started polling teachers and staff about potential changes to the attendance policy this spring, according to Superintendent Tom Stack. They put together the suggested changes for the policy, which Bigfork Middle School Principal Charlie Appleby said provides a balance of giving students an incentive to come to school while not being overly punitive. 

“It gives kids 10 days a semester, no known questions asked, which is the flexibility. And then, when we have kids that are chronically absent, there's some teeth to the policy that is not subjective in nature,” Appleby said.  

Under the guidelines, school administrators can approve excused absences for illness, bereavement, family emergencies, medical appointments with a doctor's note and participation in school activities. 

Appleby said the guidelines for bereavement would follow the same outline for teachers laid out by the state of Montana. 

When it came to having a sick student, he explained what instances would count toward the 10 absences outlined per semester.  

“So when a parent calls their kid in sick, we excuse the absence. We don't ask for a note, but we would count that toward the 10 absences (allowed per semester.) When they are sick enough that they need a doctor's note, or they're injured or they have a medical appointment of some kind and they bring that note -- that is considered an excused absence as well, but would not count toward the 10 absences,” Appleby explained.  

He said absences also do not count when a student is sent home by the school nurse. 

With the new policy, students will have one day after their return to complete work assigned during their absence. Work assigned before their absence is due when they return or the date originally set, whichever is last.  

If a student does not show up without their parent notifying the school, the school will attempt to call the parent that same day. If the school is not notified within 24 hours of the last absent day, it will be considered truancy — this is compared to 48 hours to notify in the previous policy.  

For high school and middle school students, Child Protective Services can be contacted if educational neglect is suspected due to chronic absentees. 

The updated policy also rewrites sections on the consequences for absences. High school students who miss more than seven days in a semester will have a letter sent to their parents. A second letter is sent after the 10th absence. Chronic absentees in high school will be reported to legal authorities as prescribed by law, the proposed update states.  

There was discussion to add language about pre-excused absences to the policy, brought forth by Board Vice Chair Julie Kreiman, who noted the extracurriculars for children in Bigfork that aren’t associated with the school, like the Bigfork Children’s Theater. Kreiman said she is worried that not giving those students the flexibility to pursue those passions will drive them to another district or homeschooling.  

“Because we don't offer that with a district our size, those families will go find online school, private school, home schooling - -and that's going to hurt our enrollment and it's going to hurt our test scores,” Kreiman said.  

That proposal didn’t make it into the new policy, with other trustees and administrators arguing that the point of the update was to be a little stricter.  

“If you're going to be missing all the school anyway, are you really part of the program? And I get what you're saying about these theater kids, your child, perhaps they're bright kids, and they can miss a whole bunch of school and still get good grades and stuff, and they're the ones that are going to be punished. But are you part of the program or not? That's old school stuff,” Board Chair Paul Sandry said.  

Trustee Dan Elwell made a motion to approve the policy as amended, with Sandry, Trustees Mac Kirk and Deb Johnson, voting in favor. Kreiman voted against the new policy.  

THE BOARD also approved contracts for union workers in the district, along with a pay raise for non-union employees.  

Kreiman was part of contract negotiations with teachers Jill Morely and Josh Feller, union representatives for the Bigfork Area Education Association MFPE and Bigfork Unified Classified Local 4366 MFPE. 

Requests for comment to union representatives were not returned by press time.  

For teachers, the two-year contract, starting July 1, 2025 and ending June 30, 2027, includes a 4.25% pay raise. This increase breaks down to a 3% raise the first year and a 1.25% raise the second year.  

Kreiman said after negotiating for the third consecutive year, both sides were ready to make a two-year deal. In 2020 there was a three-year deal negotiated between the unions and the school district.  

At the July 8 meeting, Kreiman spoke about the bargaining process. She said they began negotiations June 3, meeting with the classified union twice and the certified union three times.  

Without much discussion, trustees swiftly approved the Collective Bargaining Agreement with the classified union, which includes maintenance workers, secretaries, custodians, teacher's aides, lunchroom workers, bus drivers, mechanics and coach drivers. 

Kreiman said the 2025-2027 contract included a 5% raise for the classified employees, with all new workers having a starting wage of at least $15 per hour. 

Their pay scale is determined on a 27-step scale, with three lanes for increased pay before moving to the next step. Kreiman said both classified and certified employees will begin on step 5 of their respective pay schedules. She said that decision was necessary to get starting teacher pay at the appropriate levy for the STARS Act. Passed by the Montana Legislature this year, the act contributes $100 million to raising teacher starting pay.  

Kreiman said there were sessions with the teachers’ union to discuss a pay raise that would take place over two years. Due to declining enrollment at Bigfork, she said the district was hesitant to offer anything more than what was outlined for the second year of the teacher’s contract. 

“We're just a little leery of the second year of the contract with the enrollment going down. So they got 3% the first year, 1.25% the second year. But with that second year, we weren't comfortable adding more to the base,” Kreiman said.  

She said the district has seen a nearly 7% decrease in enrollment since it peaked in the fall of 2022, from 964 to 902 students district wide. 

“We are seeing much smaller student numbers, in particular in the lower grades. There is plenty of speculation about why, including high cost of housing in the area as well as more schooling options for families,” Kreiman said in an email response.  

There are 17 steps in the salary schedule, which are determined for employees based on their education level and years of experience. Though step 1 remains the financial base for salary schedule calculations, the contract states that all new employees with zero to four years of experience start on step 5 and advance for each subsequent year. This is a change from the 2024-2025 contract, which started teachers in that experience range at step 4.  

For the 2025-2026 school year, new teachers with a bachelor’s degree would have a starting annual salary of $42,755. Last year’s contract put starting teacher salaries at $40,078 for step 4 employees.  

With the 1.25% raise for the 2026-2027 school year, new teachers with a bachelor’s degree would have a starting annual salary of $43,290. 

Also in the 2025-2027 contract, employees with a master’s degree will receive $2,000 stipend which is added to their annual salary and prorated based on full-time equivalent, according to the contract.  

She said the district also covered the increase in their health insurance — in the previous agreement, the district contribution for coverage was $631, increasing to $675 in both of the new contracts.  

“Julie pretty much handled both unions, and it was amicable. We gave a little bit more than we wanted to in one instance and they got a little less than they wanted to (in another),” Sandry said.  

Kreiman clarified that when it comes to concessions between the parties, there is “never enough money to grant the raises our staff would like and deserve” and that the district agreed, albeit reluctantly, to update some language regarding personal days.  

The new contract allows five personal days per year, compared to four in the previous contract.

For non-union employees, their contract recommendations are given by Stack. He recommended a 2% step and 3% pay increase the 2025-26 school year, and a raise of 1.25% for the 2026-27 school year, with a $600 bonus — with the caveat of not moving everyone up a step the second year.  

Accepting the recommendation, a motion was made by Trustee Dan Elwell and seconded by Trustee Deb Johnson, passing unanimously.  

Taylor Inman may be reached at 758-4440 or tinman@dailyinterlake.com.