School boards must recognize that bargaining with unionized teachers is becoming inevitable. Attempts to postpone formal negotiation usually result in giving away more by accident than would have been the case in the formal situation. While it is true that formal bargaining involves an adversary relationship between school boards and teachers, serious conflict is most easily avoided if both sides prepare seriously and recognize the realities of the process, including the fact that the process deals not with the needs of teachers as individuals, but with their needs as a group. As the public's representative in the negotiation process, the school board has a responsibility to limit the scope of the negotiations as much as possible. To this end the board relies on its credibility in the community as a source of strength. The union finds its strength not only in the board's failure of credibility, but in emotional confrontation with a board that is neither prepared nor willing to bargain seriously. (Author/PGD)