NCLB and teacher contracts.

In districts across the U.S., teachers are concerned about losing their jobs due to NCLB. In fact, teachers at the Oregon Trail District 46 in Sandy, Ore., recently went on strike over contract language related to the law.

"Both my board and I feel very obligated and dedicated to making sure that NCLB is alive in our district," says Oregon Trail Superintendent Clementina Salinas. She's disappointed the contract negotiations ended in a strike that was all about "transfers, evaluation, abilities and management rights," she says. At press time, the teachers were still fighting to gain management rights that, according to Salinas, would impede her from implementing transfers and evaluations dictated by NCLB.

Salinas says, above all, a superintendent's obligation is to the children, not to the teachers. "Are we going to allow the unions to mandate what we can and can't do as far as management or abide by our own government?"

Reggie Felton, director of federal relations for the National School Boards Association, acknowledges that NCLB is a growing concern in terms of contract negotiations but adds teacher performance and evaluation should already be in place. "We've always encouraged the board and the superintendent to have these kinds of discussions with teachers and principals prior to contract negotiation," says Felton. "If you have these kinds of chats regularly, everyone will be on board when contract negotiation time comes around."