Board accepts contract changes to reflect cuts

The Bigfork School Board ratified the 2010-11 collective bargaining agreement with the Bigfork Area Education Association at its May 19 meeting.

The agreement includes adjustments to match recent budget cuts.

"It was mostly a few wording changes," district business manager Eda Taylor said.

Several teaching positions have been cut by a class period. The changes in the agreement further define the difference between full-time and half-time teachers.

A full-time teacher is defined as one who has four to six periods of instruction and has one period of planning time per day. A half-time teacher has three or fewer periods of instruction and a half period of preparation.

"Some wording was clarified for what happens in terms of benefits," Taylor said.

Another of the changes allows a certified staff member to choose to serve as a volunteer coach without compensation.

This came as a result of questions by cross-country coach Sue Loeffler at an April board meeting asking whether the district could keep funding the sport if she gave up her salary.

The contract now allows a coach to volunteer, so long as it be in line with work laws and authorized by the coach, union and district representatives.

This means a sport, such as cross country, could decide not to pay a coach who is also a teacher and would therefore need to raise less money.

"It opens up the possibility if a team wants to do that," said Matt Porrovecchio, activities director at Bigfork High School. "The reality is there are so few teacher coaches that it really doesn't affect many coaches."

CURRICULUM REALIGNMENT

Teachers in the Bigfork School District are getting close to finishing a year-long curriculum realignment process for every subject.

The deadline is June 1 to finish the work, and Superintendent Russ Kinzer projects most will be completed on or close to that date.

"The teachers have really done an outstanding job," Kinzer said. "No other district we've heard of has done this kind of total k-12 realignment with all staff in one school year. It's just not done."

Over the summer, all of the curriculum work will be entered into a database to produce a file that will be given to administrators and teaching staff electronically.

This year's work, which is being done by High Performance Teams, or HPTs, of teachers of a variety of grade levels, is only the first step.

Next year the district will be working on identifying the best instructional practices and ways to assess that those principles from the curriculum realignment are being learned.

"This is step A," board chair Maureen Averill said at last week's board meeting. "We're not going to see results overnight. Hopefully it will continue and continue to evolve."

In April and May, several curriculum groups presented to the Bigfork School Board on their progress.

The final presentations will take place at the June 1 board meeting

RACE TO THE TOP

Earlier this month, the board approved a memorandum of understanding with the state for the federal Race to the Top Fund.

This is a way for the district to express interest in the program's funding as the state goes through the application process.

If the state became a Race to the Top state, Bigfork Elementary and Middle School would receive $24,000 and Bigfork High School would get $13,600.

The state's application, which is for the program's second phase, is due by June 1.

The district will have an option at a later date to withdraw if it so desires, Kinzer said.

That may be based on the requirements that would come with it and whether they could be met.

Race to the Top awards are given to states that are considered to be leading the way with ambitious and achievable plans for education reform.

Delaware and Tennessee won grants in the first phase of the Race to the Top competition and received $100 million and $500 million, respectively, to implement their reforms over the next four years.

Montana was not one of the 40 states that submitted applications in the first phase of grants.

The U.S. Department of Education is expected to have $3.4 billion available for the second phase of the Race to the Top competition.

In other business, the school board approved an out-of-state field trip to Silverwood Theme Park with teacher Rhonda White.