Public labor negotiations? After trying it last year, Ithaca CSD and its teachers plan to do it again

On Board Online • April 27, 2026

By Sara Foss
Special Correspondent

When the Ithaca City School District and the Ithaca Teachers Association sat down to negotiate a new contract last year, they didn't do it behind closed doors. They did it out in public, in meetings open to school board members and ICSD staff and livestreamed on Zoom for anyone to watch.

Union contract negotiations are typically conducted in private sessions, but there is another way called open bargaining. It's a method of negotiating where discussions between workers and their employer take place in meetings open to all union members, not just a small negotiating team.

In Ithaca, neither side had ever been involved in an open bargaining process before. But Ithaca Superintendent Luvelle Brown had grown weary of negotiating with the union behind closed doors and feeling like he couldn't explain the district's positions to the broader community.

During past negotiations that were closed, Brown felt powerless to dispel rumors. "I couldn't share accurate information," he recalled. "Not being able to talk is never good for a democratic process."

The new president of the teachers association, English teacher Kathryn Cernera, was looking for a way to more fully engage members in the negotiating process.

Teachers had expressed a desire to be more involved in union work but didn't want to make a major time commitment, Cernera said. After learning that teachers unions in Chicago and Los Angeles had used open bargaining, Cernera figured it would be a great way for rank-and-file union members to understand the issues and share opinions.

"We were looking to really build a democratic, transparent, open process that allowed our members full access to what we were doing," Cernera said.

And Brown also liked the idea of increasing transparency by using an open process. "You're going to hear our proposals, and you're going to hear our response to their proposals," Brown said. "Everything is going to be on the table, and how you feel about that is up to you, but it won't be a secret that I can't talk about going forward."

Between February 2025 and October 2025, 14 bargaining sessions were livestreamed via Zoom. The concluding session is viewable at www.ithacacityschools.org/page/ita-contract-negotiations .

Both in-person attendance and online viewership steadily increased as the process went on. "By the time we got six months into this process, it was 200 people in the room and another 200 people watching at home," Cernera said.

The district's PTA Council, comprised of PTA units from throughout the district, compiled summaries and analyses of the bargaining sessions and distributed them. "Different groups were following it and analyzing it and putting out information and summaries to their constituents," Brown said. Of course, he got questions.

"I enjoyed the conversations I was having with community members and teachers who were watching and having questions about finances, questions about working conditions," Brown said. "Having those conversations with anyone and everybody who cared was liberating for me and refreshing."

Both Brown and Cernera said they are happy with the result. "This is probably one of the best contracts in the history of our school district," Brown said. Cernera said: "This is the best contract I've had in the 20-plus years I've worked in this school district, and I do not believe that would have been possible without having that really intense member input."

The new, three-year collective bargaining agreement was ratified at the end of January. It includes: 7% average annual salary increases for 2025-26 and 2026-27, plus a 6% average salary increase for 2027-28; a step and lane schedule ensuring no teacher receives less than a 5% total annual increase; an increase in parental and Family Medical Leave Act leave to 12 paid weeks; expansion of the teacher work day to allow for more time for adult collaboration, lesson planning and other professional responsibilities.

"We're going to put our educators in the top-tier regionally when it comes to overall compensation," Brown said. "Our working conditions are going to be enhanced significantly by the things we were able to accomplish together."

The Ithaca Teachers Association approved the contract 415-65, with 86% in favor. Among 580 members, 480 participated in the vote. Only 246 union members voted on the previous contract in 2019, which lasted for six years.

Open bargaining came with drawbacks, too. "When it got tense and stressful, that's not great," Brown said. "Imagine having a job interview online for everyone to see, and every word you say is being parsed and picked apart."

Despite that, Brown prefers open bargaining. "When tensions arise, we're debating and having a conversation with the same set of facts," he said.

"Open bargaining is a lot of work, and it's really a lot of pressure," Cernera said. "Negotiating a contract is never easy, and negotiating in public while you're sitting in the room and feeling the reactions and hearing the reactions really increases the intensity of the experience."

On the other hand, closed-door bargaining tends to keep rank-and-file union members in the dark, Cernera said. "We wouldn't see the proposals the team was bringing forward," Cernera recalled. "The first time we would see the agreement would be when we were asked to vote on it."

Brown is in his 15th year as superintendent in Ithaca. He said he would recommend open bargaining to other superintendents, but not to those who are new to the job. "It needs to be someone who's a bit more seasoned," he said. "Newer superintendents are trying to earn and gain support and coalitions. This is not the best way to do that."

"There needs to be a good working relationship between the parties already established before starting something like this," Cernera said.

In Ithaca, the parties are getting ready for a new round of negotiations to replace the current contact when it expires. Both Brown and Cernera expect to stick with open bargaining. "We are very committed to this model," Cernera said. "Our people care about our workplace so much more because they were involved in this process."

Brown said he is grateful to his school board and the union leadership for agreeing to try something new. "They could have all said no, but the board and the teachers union said yes. And I want to thank them for going on this journey with me, because I knew it was going to be innovative and it wouldn't be easy."