Final Examination – EDL 510 - Labor-Management Relations in the School Setting

Answer all three of the questions listed below. Each answer should be no longer than two typed double-spaced pages (please use Arial Font, 12 point). Make sure that each answer references appropriate specific concepts and reading materials from the course. You don't need to do “formal” citations.

In terms of evaluation, clarity and style count. Answers that are more specific are better than answers that are more general. Answers that use the concepts discussed in class and in the readings are better than answers that don't (in fact, answers that don't are unacceptable). Finally, answers that integrate different topics of the course into a related whole are better than answers that see each topic as separate and unrelated from the others.

Please e-mail your answers as a single Microsoft Word file attached to your e-mail Saturday, by 6:00 p.m. on Saturday, May 9. The cover page should say only “EDL 510 Final Examination.” Please call the file “510 Final Exam”. Make sure it is not a "docx" file but a "doc" file.

If you have any questions, you may call me or send me an e-mail.

1. Read case 1. Write an answer in "essay" format but one which incorporates the answers to all the questions at the back of the case.

2. Read case 2. Write an answer in "essay" format but one which incorporates the answers to all the questions at the back of the case.

3. You are the superintendent of a school district in a small city. Your district contains two high schools, two middle schools, and nine elementary schools. Test scores are low compared to state averages and 45% of your students live in poverty. Your teachers belong to the New York State United Teachers and your district has long negotiated collective bargaining agreements with them under New York State's Taylor Law. Teacher pay in the district is around the average for the surrounding area, perhaps a little above average for starting teachers and a little below average for senior teachers. When there is a teacher vacancy in any of the buildings, the senior teachers within that building have first choice and, if no teacher within the building wants that vacancy, the senior teachers in the district (with appropriate certification) have first choice. The buildings with the higher test scores tend to serve the higher income neighborhoods and tend to have the most senior teachers. Teacher turnover is high compared to neighboring districts and especially high in the first two years of teaching and after ten years of teaching.

You are entering collective bargaining negotiations with the teachers. As usual, money is quite limited. How will you try to address the district's problems during the negotiations? What proposals will you make and why? How will you prepare for negotiations? How will you attempt to persuade the union to make the kinds of changes you think are necessary? Explain.