Make up post from Thursday

Last week we read our part of the Connecticut Valley School negotiation.  During Thursday's class we were able to meet up with our team mate and were able to strategize for the negotiation that would take place on Monday.  For this particular negotiation my partner and I played the role of the Head Master.  During our time in class we were able to agree on what interests we had and what tactics we were going to take to the negotiation table on Monday.  Our case said that we wanted the pool, the buses, and the hockey rink.  We figured since the pool consumed most of our budget that we would have to do a lot of convincing.  We would tell the other members that by providing the students with a pool we would be saving the $35,000 a year for the rental of the pool and the transportation to and from the pool.  We would also make money on the pool because we could rent it out to other teams for $15,000 a year.

During the negotiation today in class we were presented with a list of interests from the trustees.  The list included 1) the buses 2) the rink and 3) the arts building.  When presenting both sides with our argument about the pool we were shut down and told that it would be a waste of money when we would hardly get a big return.  After my partner and I agreed we let the others argue because we were pretty much promised the other two things we were interested in.  The teachers told us that they wanted the heating system, because the heating system took up most of our budget.  During our negotiation we were faced with a letter from the dean of students about campus safety and were encouraged to use some of our money for the lights.  Without hesitation everyone in the group agreed.  In the end we decided that we could make the most out of this project and make everyone happy by doing all of the different projects except the pool and the heating system.  To reassure us that our projects would eventually get done we compiled a contract that said that the heating system would take priority next year and the pool the following year.  Even though I didn't get the pool I still got two other things that I wanted and we made the most out of the money we had so it benefitted everyone.