FAIRMONT – A new contract for the elementary and high school principals over the 2025-26 and 26-27 school years was approved at the Fairmont School Board Meeting on Tuesday.

It includes a financial package increase of 6.58 percent over two years, an additional holiday and vacation day, a stipend increase for those with doctorate degrees and superintendent licenses and a stipend added for when only one principal administers a whole building.

By making these changes, Board Member Nicole Green said they highlight how the district feels it is important for their educators to continue to be education via a lifelong learning pattern.

Board Member Michael Edman said that, besides some small language changes, this agreement has been agreed upon by all for the past four months.

“I appreciate our principal team,” he said. “As we know, there’s one fewer person on the bargaining team than there was before. While it’s an increase year over year, it’s actually quite a bit lower over top from that package. They were great to work with, professional and honest.”

In other business, Superintendent Andy Traetow confirmed after meetings with Fairmont Opera House Director Blake Potthoff that they will be able to continue assisting the opera house in 2026 by lending the school’s facilities for the opera house’s community and children’s summer theater programs.

“The last couple of summers, we’ve stepped in to support some summer youth and adult summer theater programming,” he said. “We were able to identify that the dates for the upcoming summer will once again work. However, future years are always uncertain through our own operations and upcoming school projects with HVAC, the fire sprinkler system and those things. We may or may not be able to continue to support that in future years.”

Speaking of future years, Traetow said that next year’s school calendar is already under consideration. Currently it is in the drafting phase, and will be brought to a meeting in the future.

“We approved that [last year] at the first march school board meeting,” he said. “Still aiming for that time frame, if not sooner, to be able to do so.”

In addition to this, Traetow said a work session will be in order for potential changing of school start times.

“We are beginning to start to research the topic of school start times,” he said. “We will likely bring some of that research to an upcoming school board work session, at a date to be determined that we would communicate with all of you, to have a deeper discussion on that topic.”