A Times Editorial

School, teacher negotiators should alter history

With the help of a mediator, and an extra $200,000 from the School Board, Citrus County's teachers and the school district on Wednesday finally agreed on a contract for the current school year.

If, as expected, the teachers and the School Board vote to accept the settlement in the coming weeks, it will mark the end of one of the most contentious years for the school district in recent memory. Negotiators for both sides then can begin work on the contract for the coming year.

For everyone's sake, let's hope those talks go better. They can hardly go much worse.

The long ordeal this year has been punctuated by frustration and anger. Union officials, complaining that the district does not respect or value teachers, declared an impasse in January. That led to black-clad teachers picketing the administration building and pleading with the School Board to intervene.

Convinced that the district was hiding money in its budget, the union performed its own budget analysis and identified hundreds of thousands of dollars worth of padding that they said could be made available for raises. By finding an additional $200,000 to sweeten a raise pool that district negotiators had said was the very best they could offer, the School Board gave at least some credence to the union's complaints.

District officials insisted they were trying to be fair to the teachers but pointed out that teachers are not the only employees seeking raises, that the state is sending ominous messages about finances, and that the district does not have a bottomless bucket of cash available. Plus, some of the personal comments by union firebrands stung district officials and left them wondering if union leaders were familiar with the concept of good faith.

The contract, if approved, will settle most of the more serious financial issues, at least for the moment. Still lingering are the emotional wounds and feelings of mistrust that this year's protracted talks have produced.

Before the two sides begin hammering out the details of the next deal, they must address those issues. Failure to do so will only lead to more embarrassing and unproductive head-butting. Perhaps the contract mediator will stay around a bit longer to referee this group therapy session. If not, maybe Dr. Phil would be available.

The two sides must learn to work with, not against, each other for the greater good of the school system.

Negotiators should pledge to work through all of their problems between now and the start of the next school year, in August, so that the district does not have to endure another year of high-profile feuding, picket lines and snarling headlines.

Wrap this up before the children (remember them?) head back to the classrooms in the fall so that the focus of the district's energy will be where it belongs, on education. What a refreshing change that would be.

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