Get Full Government Meeting Transcripts, Videos, & Alerts Forever!
Get email alerts on the Labor Contracts topic
No spam. Unsubscribe anytime.
Bargaining committees endorse tentative administrators' agreement for Williston Basin School District No. 7
Summary
Negotiators reviewed a red-line tentative agreement covering definitions, positions, flex time, stipends, insurance dates and sick-leave language; bargaining committees at the table unanimously endorsed the deal and staff will send materials for a membership ratification vote requiring 50 affirmative responses.
Negotiators for the Williston Administrators Association and the Williston Basin School District No. 7 reviewed and endorsed a red-line tentative agreement that updates job definitions, position titles and several employment provisions, a presenter said.
The presenter (Speaker 1) told the meeting the draft includes a statutory definition of "administrator," a memorandum of understanding for the athletic/activities director position, and several housekeeping and compensation spreadsheet updates. "The respective bargaining committees unanimously endorsed the tentative agreement and encourage ratification," the presenter said.
Why it matters: The changes affect administrators' job security and pay structures, and the memorandum of understanding (MOU) for the athletic/activities director alters how that position's protections are handled—outside the master contract rather than embedded in it. Negotiators described a trial proposal for up to five days of "flex time" for administrators and a clarified summer-school stipend section intended to cover assigned K–8 administrators (the parties noted an earlier intention to cover K–12 and agreed to correct that reference).
Details of the agreement and open points Presenter (Speaker 1) walked the group through articles in the red-line draft. Article 2 was revised to include a statutory definition of "administrator" and to address the athletic and activities director roles; the presenters said the association did not agree with including the assistant athletic position in the master agreement and instead offered an MOU for the head position. The presenter described the MOU as "not something that goes in the agreement" but as a document to memorialize job-security or procedural protections for the head position.
Article 5 and related documents contain housekeeping edits and compensation adjustments. The presenter said changes on the spreadsheet include revisions to location salary thresholds and contract-day counts, citing examples such as an adjustment to central campus principal percentages and a change to a 216-day contract from 6 to 5 (spreadsheet references were provided to negotiators for review).
Employment terms and benefits The draft updated insurance coverage dates to mirror current practice, with insurance running October 1 to September 30, the presenter said. The parties also discussed legal-leave and reasonable-suspicion/doctor's-note language to limit when a doctor's note can be required.
Negotiators raised a substantive question about sick leave accumulation. Negotiator (Speaker 2) asked whether the provision that "an annual sick leave of 10 days per year is allowed" is meant to accumulate indefinitely; participants agreed to double-check and confirm the intended cumulative language before finalizing. On the summer-school stipend, the parties agreed to reword an earlier "shall" clause so the section reads more clearly while preserving the agreed coverage.
Term-sheet consistency Negotiator (Speaker 2) flagged a potential contradiction where a district-provided "at-will nonrep agreement term sheet" might conflict with language in the MOU or master agreement if the phrase "at will" were removed; negotiators discussed striking contradictory phrasing to avoid inconsistent employment terms.
Ratification and next steps Negotiator (Speaker 2) said the plan was to send the ratification materials immediately to members and request a yes-or-no response. "As long as you get 50, we'll be good," the negotiator said, and indicated results would be shared before Monday; the parties did not expect to need another bargaining meeting solely for ratification. Presenter (Speaker 1) said two clean copies of the MOU and the signature page had been prepared for signatures and distribution.
The meeting closed after brief procedural questions about whether the actions needed to be on the record; participants ended the recorded session at the announced time.
Ending note: Documents will be circulated for ratification and negotiators said they would confirm outstanding clarifications (sick-leave accumulation, the K–12 vs. K–8 stipend scope, and any contradictory term-sheet language) before the agreement is finalized.
