School improvement cannot be negotiated. In many educational circles, negotiation carries a negative connotation that creates a perception of adversaries, causing trust levels between participants to decline. Decisions made in an atmosphere of adversarial relationships between teacher unions and school boards are not always the productive consensus-oriented decisions required in site-based management. Some commonly negotiated site based issues are: (1) curriculum restructuring, in which excellence has the best chance of developing when a team is formed; (2) teacher empowerment, in which both teacher unions and boards of education must cooperatively empower teachers and administrators to make site-based decisions; and (3) academic freedom in regards to who will make instructional decisions in the school setting. Effective schools can best be developed by decision making at the local level through team settings, not negotiations. Decisions that focus on the needs of children and not special interests are the most hopeful solution to the union/management dilemma. (EJS)