Pine City school board approves principal contract, signs ALC lease for 10 years

After about a year of negotiations, the Pine City school board voted to approve the contract for the district's principals at Monday's meeting.

The contract sets the contracted days for the high school, junior high, and elementary school principals at 260 days with a daily rate of $484.50, for a flat salary of $125,970 in the 2025-2026 school year.

The contracted days are up from 230 for the high school principal, 225 for the elementary school principal, and 210 for the junior high principal in 2024-2025.

During that school year, the salary for the high school and elementary school principals was $106,080; the high school assistant principal's salary was set at $86,700.

The contract also removes an annual longevity stipend ranging between $2,000 and $3,500 to simplify the compensation structure.

Superintendent Cindy Stolp called the proposed contract "ultimately a business decision" and cited the high cost of administrator turnover.

"Somebody actually asked me today, does this put the principals into the top 25% of the state, and it doesn't," she said. "It's not even close. We're not even the top 25% of Pine County."

Stolp explained that the junior high principal transitioned from the high school assistant principal position as a market adjustment.

Comparing the daily rate of pay to nearby districts, Stolp cited Hinckley's as $506, Mora as $537, East Central as $515, and Braham at $506.

"Pine City is the biggest school in the district, and we're significantly lower," Stolp said.

Board member Tim Geisler preached caution when it comes to using differently-sized neighboring districts as comparables, due to schools being paid by student.

Stolp also discussed recent reductions to the district's budget, including a focus on automation, savings on supplies, class-size analysis, and avoiding duplication.

She added that "it's a really good business decision" to attract and retain "valuable people in our district."

"We can't afford to not have high-quality administrators," she said. "The district can only go as high as our leaders."

Board member James Foster made a motion to deny the contract as written, which was seconded by Geisler.

Foster said he feels like the district has "some of the best principals we've ever had in Pine City," but expressed concerns about a potentially significant decline in enrollment, millions in long-term facility maintenance liabilities, and a "dwindling fund balance."

"I think they're doing a fantastic job," Foster said. "I think they deserve more, I think that they should get paid more, I really do. I think if we based everything on what everybody deserves, there's a lot of people in the district that deserve more, so I just want to be careful about going down that road."

Foster also sought clarifying language about telework in the contract, which he said was "way too vague as it sits."

"This contract provides more days, but it doesn't provide the language to keep them in the building," he said.

Board member Wayne Gilman said he wanted to see telework be a matter of discretion for the superintendent's approval.

Foster said he genuinely appreciates the work the principals do, and said he believes they deserve a very good contract.

"I think the overall dollar amount is too high of a jump in one year," Foster said. "I was a teacher in this district the last time a couple of people got a big jump like this, and it creates a lot of hard feelings and a lot of different things behind the scenes, because a lot of people in this district deserve a lot more money. I just don't feel as though this is common practice, to make this big of a jump in one contract."

Gilman said the district's negotiating committee has felt some pressure and is "cognizant of how long this has gone without getting resolved": the contract ends in June, and Foster pointed out that the district is 22 months into the contract being negotiated.

Board chair Lezlie Sauter explained that negotiations for the contract started a year ago, and it wasn't expected to take a full year before coming before the school board.

"We're being good stewards of the taxpayers' dollars, and this is a big leap," Gilman said. "But also, we as a negotiating committee have to sit and look at principals who have a strong argument for being undercompensated based on the metrics that we've been discussing."

Geisler said the district can only pay out what it gets in, and finding a balance is a priority.

"You know doggone well that we have other contracts to settle," Geisler said. "And if we continue to settle above what we're getting from the state, that fund is going down, and it goes down fast."

Sauter said she took a student-centered approach toward the principals' contract, and added that it's the only contract that hasn't been renewed in Stolp's tenure as superintendent.

"These are the people that are in direct support of our teachers who need the help when their curriculum is not meeting the need of their students," she said.

Gilman said that the principals' contract will be a benchmark for other bargaining groups in the district when it's their turn at the negotiating table.

"That's what we're up against with every group going forward. This will be the measurement," he said.

Foster's motion to deny the contract failed in a 4-2 vote, with Foster and Geisler voting in favor of the motion, and Gilman, Sauter, Cami Babolik, and Becci Palmblade voting against it.

A subsequent motion made by Sauter to approve the contract passed 4-2, along the same voting lines.

"I take it serious, and so does everybody here, and that's why we have to have a discussion like this, so the community can look at it and say, 'this is a serious decision they're making, they didn't just blanket say yes, let's give them that much money and that's great,'" Geisler said.

Sauter said the negotiations took a year due to a lot of back-and-forth to get the contract to a point where it could be decided on by the board.

"The beauty of negotiations is you don't always get everything you want, but sometimes you get parts of what you do want, and that's the art of negotiating," Sauter said.

Area Learning Center lease approved for 10 years

The board also unanimously approved a 10-year lease agreement to continue housing the district's Area Learning Center at the Pine City Civic Center.

The lease is for $100,000 a year, and extends from Aug. 1, 2026, through July 31, 2036. The funds come from the district's capital lease levy.

The ALC has been located at the north addition of the facility for the past 20 years.

"We just really appreciate the renewed partnership," Stolp said. "I think it'll be good both ways, because they'll be doing updates to their facility, and we'll have a home for our students. It's a really valuable program, and we're super excited."