School board approves salary increase for teachers and staff
WHITNEY ENGLAND | Hagadone News Network | UPDATED 5 years, 5 months AGO
The Whitefish School Board on Tuesday, May 11 approved a salary increase for teachers and staff across the Whitefish School District for the upcoming 2021-22 school year.
The board approved an agreement, also ratified by the Whitefish Education Association teachers union, for a 2% salary increase for the upcoming school year.
In addition, an agreement was approved for a $1 per hour increase for current classified staff and a $0.50 cent increase on the starting wage for positions associated with the Whitefish Classified Employee Association.
The district notes these agreements were reached through a bargaining process between the teacher and staff unions and the school district.
Several board trustees and the WEA president Lisa Bloom said the process to come to these agreements went smoothly this year.
“It was my first year on the process and it was really pleasant,” trustee Darcy Schellinger said during the board meeting. “I feel like the process that’s been developed helps everything go along smoothly.”
WEA president Lisa Bloom agreed.
“I know that you were worried that we were going to come in and ask for a lot of money, but believe it or not we understand that the district was in a very difficult place as well,” Bloom said. “We tried very hard to balance our needs and what the district also needed. So we wanted to be as amicable as possible with our proposal.”
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