Everyone’s eager to boast about school district/teacher union collaboration, but Xenia, Ohio, is one place where they have bumped it up a notch.

Mark Manley is the president of the Xenia Education Association, but he also holds the position of district spokesman.

“His heart is with the (union) members; when we have issues that come up, he can put that hat on and I respect that he does that,” said superintendent Deborah Piotrowski.

The district seems happy with Manley’s work and he’s saving the taxpayers about $14,000 so more power to them. But I expect the district will seek a more permanent solution before the inevitable conflict of interest causes some awkward situations.