There’s a super COLA, a looming fiscal cliff, and the labor landscape has been completely transformed by the pandemic.

Your mission, should you choose to accept it, is to come to ACSA’s 2023 Negotiator’s Symposium. There, you will find insights and strategies that will inform how to navigate these issues at the negotiating table.

This year’s theme is “Negotiating: Mission Possible.” Besides taking a cue from this year’s conference location (San Diego’s Mission Bay), the theme also reflects that it is possible to have productive, positive negotiations with labor groups, said Planning Committee Chair Heather Williams, assistant superintendent, Personnel Services, with Riverside County Office of Education.

“The Negotiators’ Symposium is always a highlight for personnel administrators. It’s a time for deep learning, a time to add tools to the toolbox, and to sharpen your negotiating skills,” she said. “Personnel administrators return to the Symposium every year as they always leave having learned something new that they can immediately use back in their own district.”

Acknowledging that many administrators may be new to HR or negotiating — Williams reports that around 80 percent of attendees at September’s Personnel Institute were new to HR — the planning committee has created a special “Negotiations 101” session that will be packed with tips for newcomers.

Regardless of your experience level with negotiating, attendees will walk away with valuable information.

“Newcomers and veterans alike can learn from the sessions, which will include topics such as how to write good contract language, establishing positive labor relations and working with school boards regarding negotiations,” Williams said.

Sessions will also touch on negotiating during a time of large COLAs, budget insights and much more.

Williams encourages districts to bring their entire negotiating team to the Symposium, so they may get information from all of the sessions to take back to their districts.

“The symposium also provides opportunities for teams to talk about what they are learning and to ask questions of the attorneys at the conference,” Williams added.

ACSA is accepting nominations for the 2023 Negotiator of the Year, which will be presented during the Symposium. This recognition is awarded by the ACSA Human Resources Council to a person serving as chief negotiator for a school district or county office as a full-time employee of that district.

Nominees must be a member of ACSA. The nomination must be submitted by the superintendent, district negotiating team members, and/or current human resources council members. The nominee must be a person having distinguished themself for outstanding contribution in the area of labor relations and negotiations at the local districts, regional and state levels. The applicant should be actively involved and a contributing participant in ACSA region/state HR activities and functions.

For more information on selection criteria and to fill out the nomination form, visit www.acsa.org/negotiatoraward. Nominations are due by Dec. 31, 2022.