First Day Reflection

I too have had little exposure to the actual process of the negotiation aspect though I have been privy to strategy meetings and closed session meetings that have taken place when discussing upcoming contract negotiations. I will be interested to see just how much of a role administration plays in the different schools we have represented from class and see if there is somewhat of a "norm" out there. We've already discussed the aspects of no administration being part of the negotiating table to no board members being part of the negotiating table. I look forward to hearing about how each school does it.
One part from today that I wanted to comment on was the length of the contract. We talked about the idea of making a contract longer than a year being a good point especially for unions because of the lack of want in negotiating. I also think that it is highly beneficial for administration to have longer contracts because the climate of a school tends to change during negotiation years. Somehow, it always looms over every decision made in the year and people change during a negotiation year. If we sign a one year contract, then there is no time between negotiations; as soon as one contract is signed the whole process repeats itself. A three year contract only really provides one full year without thought of negotiations. It's not until we get into four and five year contracts where the climate can stay somewhat calm for a longer period. It has the other advantages like knowing what money will be going out like Tim said, but it also gives us and the teachers a chance to focus more on our jobs of educating during the school year rather than negotiating during the school year.