Just when teacher union chief Albert Shanker was starting to sound like a mellowed elder statesman, the old firebrand re-emerged with an attack on school boards and administrators he accuses of impeding reform. In his opening address Monday before 3,200 delegates at the American Federation of Teachers annual convention, Shanker virtually declared an end to the decades-old feud with the National Education Association. The two teacher unions are finally cooperating, seeing eye-to-eye on most key issues, he said _ though officials of both unions hastened to add that merger is at best a distant dream. Moments later, the president of the 744,000-member AFT, once considered so feisty that Woody Allen portrayed him as the cause of World War III in the film ``Sleeper,'' told reporters that school boards and administrators have failed to act on reform despite his union's flexibility. Insisting he was not trying to ``hurt'' or ``destroy'' school leaders, he said, ``What I'm shocked about is they're not acting like intelligent managers.'' Unless reform proceeds more quickly, Shanker warned, the public will turn to more drastic schemes like giving parents the right to use tax dollars to send their kids wherever they want, including private school. Such a plan already is in place in Milwaukee, he pointed out. Those were just his opening shots. Shanker indicated he'd have more to say on Wednesday in an address to the convention. National School Boards Association executive director Thomas Shannon replied by calling Shanker ``myopic and forgetful.'' ``One of the biggest obstacles to change is collective bargaining contracts. You can't always just change things,'' said Shannon, reached by telephone at his Washington office. ``We have no doubt about the sincerity of Al Shanker,'' said Gary Marx, spokesman for the American Association of School Administrators. ``And he should have no doubt about our commitment to better schools.'' The AFT gathering runs through Thursday. More than 8,000 delegates of the 2-million-member NEA will meet in Kansas City Thursday through Sunday. In another development, the AFT released a survey showing average teacher pay in the United States up 5.7 percent to $31,315. Alaska was tops with an average salary of $43,097. South Dakota ranked last at $21,300.
