October 9 Blog

Tom provided some very informative information and answered several questions that have come up over my time as a principal. I particularly enjoyed Jerry Meehan. Interest Based Bargaining seems like a friendlier, less hostile type of negotiating that would lead to a better union/board relationship after an agreement is reached. It seems that this would result in better morale and, in turn, higher academic achievement. I realize that establishing trust is extremely important in either the traditional approach or with Interest Based Bargaining. The exercises were awesome and gave us a hands-on look at it. I was extremely interested in the consistent definition of past practice from Dr. Closen and Jerry Meehan. This is very different from what I have been told in the past, and I am glad to know that it is not as easy as I once thought to establish past practice. Knowing the criteria that it has to meet to make it past practice is very helpful.