Most SD6 teachers will see a 2 percent raise; others up to 4 percent

The School District 6 Board Wednesday unanimously agreed to adopt a recently revised contract between the Columbia Falls Teachers’ Union and the District for the 2016-2017 school year.

One aspect of this year’s agreement is a two percent base salary increase. The school district operates on a “steps-and-ladders” salary schedule, where pay is determined by the number of years of post-bachelor’s degree professional development a teacher has as well as how many years of experience a teacher has under their belt.

Because of this, over half of the 150 teachers employed by the district will see a two percent raise, while a very few on the far end of the pay scale, with the most experience and professional development, could see up to four percent, explained business manager Dustin Zuffaleto.

Under the agreement, the most a teacher could make is about $66,000 annually.

The agreement also opens the hiring process earlier in the year.

“It came to our attention that it was April before we were able to post certain openings,” said board vice chairman Dean Chisholm.

Under the new agreement, if the district is notified prior to March 5 of a vacancy for any reason, it is to be announced within- district for a period of 10 working days and publicly after that period, according to the revised agreement. If the vacancy is announced after March 5, the district can announce it concurrently in-house and publicly.

The previous agreement had the district announcing vacancies a month later than the new agreed upon date.

“April 5... that to me is too late,” said Superintendent Steve Bradshaw, adding that by that time, most teachers are already under contract for the coming year.

The revised agreement also brought changes to teacher evaluation policies.

“We feel like we want to do a better job with our evaluations of our employees,” Chisholm said of the changes.

A teacher in their first, second or third year will, with the new agreement, have two documented informal observations — down from four in the previous agreement, of which one must be in the classroom; and two formal observations — an increase from last year, again one of which will be in the classroom.

Teachers in their fourth through eighth year will have two informal observations each year, one being in the classroom, and at last one formal observation every other year. This policy did not change in the revised agreement.

Teachers with more than eight years of experience may be subject to a formal evaluation if a need is determined by the district or if it is requested by the employee.

This policy was also unchanged from previous iterations of the agreement.

“We want to clarify who’s getting what attention at what stage of their career,” Chisholm said of the changes.