Breaking the silence on teacher contract arbitration – a trend that Superintendent Philip Thornton intends to maintain – Jennifer Ahearn released yesterday a letter she wrote to union president George Landrie on Monday.

Writing as chair of the committee, Ahearn says the union has chosen not to narrow the unresolved issues to bring before arbitration and said the union was not prepared to limit the items to 10 per side. She goes on to state what the committee proposes to speed up a settlement, adding, “an expedited resolution by the arbitrator will allow us to return to our focus on teaching and learning.”

The letter brought a swift retort from Landrie, who characterized Ahearn’s letter as demonstrating a lack of understanding or purposely misleading.

In his reply, which he released to the Beacon, Landrie says the union proposed limiting the arbitration to four issues, which the committee rejected.

“In this manner,” he writes, “each party would have the opportunity to put forward its most important issues before the arbitration panel.”

Landrie said the union didn’t get as far as to identify its four issues, although, he added, salary would certainly be one. In addition, he said, while the committee has selected 10 issues, it is really “more like 20,” since many issues such as class size also involve the weighting of students with individual education programs (IEPs) and steines (how students are grouped in a class).

“As we have repeatedly stated,” Ahearn writes, “there is not a single issue in the ten items we have proposed that is not commonplace in contracts (both NEA and AFT) throughout the state. There is not one single novel or groundbreaking concept among them.”

In his counter, Landrie writes that the union has always fought for best educational practices. “Many of your proposals will have a substantial negative impact on student learning.”

Such tit-for-tat exchanges between the administration and the union most frequently occur after an impasse has been reached. In this case, schools and the union turned to mediation shortly after the opening of school, when limited talks during the summer failed to produce an agreement. Mediation was likewise short lived, and while the union called for the parties to return to the bargaining table, the department moved to arbitration.

Thornton sees arbitration as expediting an agreement, pointing out that by statute the parties are to follow a prescribed timetable. He also notes that the findings of the arbitrator become public, which will serve to inform union members and the public of the issues and the school’s positions.

But judging from what Thornton said yesterday, the department won’t wait for an arbitration ruling to inform the public. With no “gag order” on arbitration proceedings, Thornton said he would release information following each session. The next session is set for Jan. 26.

“It’s good to be transparent,” he said. “Teachers are looking for information, and to an extent we will provide it.”

With the consolidation of secondary schools taking place in the upcoming academic year, the department is looking to reduce the ranks of teachers and gain savings in other areas so that those funds can be redirected into the system. Thornton is working on a plan to that end, which he expects to announce shortly.

If the department were to follow the terms of the expired contract, however, the administration would be limited to the numbers of teachers it can lay off (20) and would be faced with regulations such as class weighting that limit flexibility in scheduling.

Landrie doesn’t see arbitration as expediting an agreement. Already, he notes, the process has extended beyond the deadlines set forth by law. He notes that the last time the parties went into arbitration, it was an 18-month process that ended in 2004 when the sides sat down and hammered out an agreement.

He also finds the administration’s hopes of bringing it all together in 10 days unrealistic.

“I don’t know who’s got them believing it can be done in 10 days with each issue taking 10 minutes,” he said.