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An informative complement to this article may found at be the following link to a recent Superior Court decision on the issue of electronic grading: http://www.ntlong.com/cber/legalcases/Warwick_v_State_Labor_Board.html

The summary is, the union challenged the school committee's plan to implement electronic grading and require teachers to attend training on the system. An earlier decision by the State Labor Relations Board ruled against the school committee, saying that it had "committed an unfair labor practice" based on several factors.

The Superior Court, however, overruled the labor board in favor of the school committee and ruled that the two sides "proceed with bargaining the effects of the implementation of electronic grade keeping in the WPS."

As stated in the case, this issue goes back to the 2012-13 school year, while the previous contract was still in effect. The ruling was issued on March 9, 2016.

This again belies the idea that the two sides can simply "sit down and talk," since this is just one of the many issues that has been the focus of unfair labor practice complaints, state labor board hearings, and court rulings between the school committee and teachers union. It is also among the issues that the sides are attempting to resolve through mediation, which means that a qualified third party is involved in attempting to bring the sides to compromise after this history of discord.