Perhaps the most surprising thing at a meeting between Eugene School District employees and Gov. John Kitzhaber was the generous applause that followed his remarks, despite his assertion that the Public Employee Retirement System needs fixing — and that the individual union contracts negotiated across the state’s 197 school districts make little sense given that the bulk of the districts’ money comes from state income taxes, over which school districts have no control.

Chalk it up either to the governor’s narrative skill or the fact that the topic of the day on both sides was collaboration.

Kitzhaber’s visit with Eugene teachers and administrators was just one of several stops for the governor in Eugene on Tuesday. He also dropped by Worksource Lane, Ninkasi Brewing Co. and the University of Oregon.

His visit with Eugene educators allowed them to unveil a pilot system for evaluating teachers that six district schools are implementing this year.

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