Back in the mid-2000s, in public and in the news media, Joseph P. Burke, then superintendent of the Springfield public schools, and Timothy T. Collins, president of the local teachers' union, often seemed to be at odds with each other. Out of the public eye, however, the two men had begun meeting regularly. When Burke left the district, the work continued under his successor, Alan J. Ingram, who appointed Collins to the district's senior leadership team and budget-advisory committee. Both bodies provide advice to the superintendent. Ingram said that forming a relationship with the union was not a luxury, it was absolutely necessary. In fits and starts--amid budget crises and legislative changes to bargaining--there are signs that more school administrators and teachers' unions are doing business together in a different way. Three large urban districts and their American Federation of Teachers (AFT)-affiliated unions--New Haven, CT; Baltimore; and Pittsburgh--each recently used the collective bargaining process to ink contracts with new approaches to teacher evaluation or compensation.