A tentative agreement between Portland Public Schools (PPS) and the Portland Association of Teachers (PAT) was reached on Nov. 26th and it was quickly ratified on Nov. 28, allowing students to return to school after 26 days.
Much of the contract settlement focused on elementary and middle school teacher demands, such as more planning time, less meeting time requirements, the formation of committees to limit case loads, and a cost of living increase of 13.8 percent over three years for all teachers.
In a message sent to PPS families and students, PPS wrote, “We are relieved to have our students returning to school and know that being out of school for the last three weeks – missing classmates, teachers, and learning – has been hard for everyone. We thank our students, families, and community for your patience and perseverance through these protracted negotiations. We also want to express our deep appreciation for our educators, who are the backbone of our district, and who enrich the lives of our students.”
In an email sent to teachers, parents, and students, PPS said that the 11 missed instructional days would be added throughout the year, starting with adding five days from Dec. 18-22 for what was the first week of winter break. In addition, Jan. 26, a planning day, has been converted into a finals day, and Presidents Day, Feb. 19, is also an instructional day. Apr. 8 has been changed as well, and three days were added to the end of the year. Finals will end on Jun. 14.
PPS also made clear that the federal holiday – Martin Luther King Jr. Day on Jan. 15 – will still be a holiday and a non-instructional day. “We understand these schedule changes will be disruptive for many families, educators, and our other staff, but we made the decision we felt was best for our students’ success,” said PPS.
Students resumed their education on Monday, Nov. 27 with a two-hour late start. Now that the strike has concluded, many have doubts about whether the strike has been handled adequately because the impacts on students have been tremendous.
From academics to electives, students faced uncertainty academically due to the length of the strike. The first quarter was pushed back from Nov. 3 to Dec. 4, and teacher conferences with parents have been rescheduled from Thanksgiving week to after winter break.
“Students and teachers were never certain from day to day when the strike would end and school would begin. Many of us initially believed the contract would be settled quickly and I believe that the length of the strike created anxiety–particularly for our seniors who are engaged in early college application processes,” said Jen Wiandt, the International Baccalaureate coordinator.
Wiandt said that despite the setback in time lost, she feels optimistic that teachers will be able to compensate for lost class time.
“With the calendar shifts, we lost three instructional days that would have taken place ahead of exams, so there is an impact there, but it is more minimal. Most IB courses have some built-in flexibility that teachers can leverage to compensate for lost days. In addition, some IB teachers are thinking creatively about how to use flex and/or after-school times to offer additional support and exam preparation,” she said.
Wiandt continued, “Our IB teachers at Cleveland do an excellent job of preparing students for IB exams each and every day through daily activities, discussions, labs, problem sets, and more. Most teachers are planning to stick with their original timelines.”
The drama program literally made sure the show would go on. Students continued production progress on The Miraculous Journey of Edward Tulane throughout the strike.
“Well, the first week of the strike was officially our last week of rehearsal. We were going into tech week–a week that is long with the addition of costumes and lighting, sound, etc. We had our last rehearsal on a Wednesday and then we had to stop on Thursday. We would have opened the play the following day with a four-day run,” said Michael Payne, drama teacher.
“I had two of the most amazing stage managers who rallied the troupe of actors and continued the rehearsal process. The cast kept everything in check until we could return to school. The fact that they rehearsed so well during the strike allowed us to open with only one dress rehearsal and one full tech. I was beyond proud of them. We have a motto in the theater program here at Cleveland: be heard, be seen, and be brave; they were all three!” Payne said.
In speech and debate, coach Patrick “Gonzo” Gonzales expressed concerns about how the strike would delay development of the new students in the program. “I’m not as concerned for the varsity kids. They’ve had a couple of years of experience and they know what they need to do, but it’s the novice kids who would have gotten some practice and gotten confident enough to then jump into the Richfield tournament this weekend (Dec. 9), or Lewis and Clark in January, and so we’re going to be a little bit behind on that,” Gonzales said.
Students around PPS find their opinions split; some students believe that the strike didn’t involve them but they are directly punished, and some students believe that the strike was necessary and a worthy fight for the betterment of students and staff.
PPS students shared their strike reactions in an anonymous form. Some students were, initially, glad to have an early start to “No-school November.” However, as the number of strike days increased, so did the dread.
“Initially I felt excited,” said an anonymous responder. “It was kind of like a snow day, and then the longer it went on, the more up-in-the-air it felt, and it just felt pretty stressful. Everything was so unplanned and day by day, we couldn’t make any plans or anything. So it didn’t feel like a real break but more of just stressing and waiting on the teachers’ union.”
Students felt like this strike was handled “inadequately.”
One PPS student shared, anonymously, their extreme disappointment with the PAT. “I felt like this strike was handled extremely poorly. This felt like a power struggle on both sides and too stubborn to move. The PAT used my education as a pawn in their game of chess. At all points, I was unable to share my true views without worry of retaliation or repercussions from my teachers,” said the student.
Another student stands strongly with the PAT, saying, “I feel that teachers did everything in their power to advocate for safer and stronger learning environments. I would see teachers marching every single day, without fail.”
Some students feel that they are falling behind, saying, “I can’t help but feel that we’re even further behind because of COVID-19, and now this, along with the fact that we’re behind other districts as well,” one student said.
Mental health and falling behind were a big concern for PPS students, and students told the Clarion multiple times about issues related to an “unfair result of a union’s decision on the mental health and test schedules of students unprepared for the ill effects of striking.” Along with mental health, students cited concerns about IB testing, graduation, day-to-day homework, and college recommendations.
The resolution to the strike caused the most uproar among students; students were unhappy with the lack of communication between families and the abrupt disappearance of winter break.
Another student told the Clarion, “I’m not a fan. I think there’s a lot of better ways for the school district to go about making time. For example, adding just a little bit of school onto the end of the day would both allow teachers a little extra time and then also make it a lot better than cutting breaks short or extending the school year.”
As the uncertain times draw to a close, many students expressed the desire to move forward and put the historic strike behind them.