Teachers Union, S.L. Board Hit an Impasse Over Contract

By Julia Lyon, The Salt Lake Tribune

May 26–The Salt Lake Teachers Association has declared an impasse in its contract negotiations with the Salt Lake Board of Education and plans to work with a federal mediator to resolve the issue.

The district wants to alter part of teachers’ contracts dealing with “shared governance,” a decision-making process, said Elaine Tzourtzouklis, teachers association president. The impasse does not relate to salary negotiations.

Salt Lake Superintendent McKell Withers said the impasse surprised the district.

“Shared governance is the heart and soul of the Salt Lake district,” he said. “Our only interest has been to make sure shared governance is practiced by everybody, so it’s an expansion of shared governance that we’ve been interested in.” But Tzourtzouklis said the changes could lower participation in decision making by different groups such as parents, teachers and others.

“For 30 years [all stakeholders] have participated, in having decision-making rights at their schools,” she said. “What it would be is going back to the top-down [process].”

The district wanted to talk about how shared governance is written in the teachers’ agreement, the superintendent said.

But the district is not trying to eliminate other parties from shared governance, he said.

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