Overseeing the operations of a college and/or district combines the elements of a financial wizard, a logistics magician, a political demagogue, a Baptist preacher, and a prognosticating soothsayer. It's particularly challenging for new CEOs. This paper offers advice for such new CEOs and for those just interested in a shared perspective. Topics…

Recalling the myth of Sisyphus repeatedly pushing the same boulder up a mountain in his new book, author and educator Frederick M. Hess explains how the K12 education leadership is faltering, and how it can rise above. "Cage-Busting Leadership" (Harvard Education Press, February 2013) is a new book and consequently, a small, growing…

Governing public schools is one of the most important responsibilities a citizen can undertake. School board members work on behalf of all the families in their community, with fellow board members and with other community partners, to ensure that each student has equal and ample opportunities to reach his or her greatest potential. This guide…

Education Law Section 3012-c requires a new performance evaluation system for classroom teachers ("teachers") and building principals ("principals"). New York State will implement a statewide comprehensive evaluation system for school districts and boards of cooperative educational services (BOCES). The evaluation system is…

This guide is intended to give individual school board directors an introduction to some of the legal issues they may encounter in their board service. This material is not intended to answer every question, even in the subject matter areas they cover. This guide is merely intended to alert directors to the legal issues that they will encounter…

The process and results of establishing collective bargaining for Rutgers University's (New Jersey) part-time faculty, largely women, are discussed. Negotiations for achievement of parity with full-time faculty through pro rata benefits and salaries, the most contested issue, are described briefly, focusing on administration resistance. (MSE)

Based on recent bitter experience, this article tells districts how to prepare for a teacher strike. Administrators should assess their public relations program and the strength of their board, know their adversary (the union) and the bargaining process, asssess the management team, and plan strategically. (MLH)

Union and school board representatives studied basic negotiating techniques at a five-day workshop. Improved relations and cooperation were the result. (MLF)

Interest-bargaining involves focusing on the issues, segregating each issue, and assigning interests by each side to these issues until a mutually satisfactory option is reached. Cites effectiveness of interest-bargaining in 60 California school districts and an endorsement from the New York State School of industrial and Labor Relations at…

Using an innovative bargaining model, a Chicago-area (Illinois) school district negotiated a teacher contract in under 30 days in an atmosphere of mutual trust. Central to sociologist Irving Goldaber's "win-win bargaining" model are (1) a schedule and a set of values agreed to by both parties and (2) a neutral facilitator. After adopting…

A training program used successfully in more that 40 school systems consists of an intensive 5-day workshop involving lectures, role-playing exercises, simulated negotiations, and indepth discussions about bargaining issues. (MLF)

This report outlines the process involved in establishing a faculty union at the English Language Institute at the American University in Washington, D.C. The English Language Institute Faculty Association (ELIFA) is one of the few units to be certified at a private university since the 1980 Yeshiva Supreme Court decision. During the beginning…

Describes Pasco (Washington) School District's resolution of a recent negotiation impasse in their normal "win/win" collective bargaining process. The key was to reestablish the trust, patience, and willingness to listen that had eroded over the years as new participants replaced old hands in the nonadversarial bargaining process. (MLH)

The rise of faculty unions is analyzed as an outgrowth of quantitative changes in enrollment, curriculum, and administration in American higher education. The impact of unions on higher education is examined relative to member benefits, changes in governance, and implications for the educational process. (MSE)

Public employers, including school districts, are faced with unionized workers' demanding a larger share of public resources. The formation of regional bargaining associations for employers to counteract union demands is proposed. A case study of a successful association is provided. (MD)