Teachers go on strike at Portland schools for first time in district history

More than 80 schools in Portland are closed today, as teachers began their first-ever strike in the history of the Portland Public Schools district. The Portland Association of Teachers represents nearly 4,500 teachers and coaches in Oregon’s largest school district. Negotiations between PPS and PAT have been ongoing for months to ratify a new contract, including sessions held with a state mediator earlier this week. OPB education reporter Natalie Pate gives us an update on the strike, what each side is asking for and what she heard from teachers on the picket line this morning.

Note: This transcript was computer generated and edited by a volunteer.

Dave Miller: This is Think Out Loud on OPB. I’m Dave Miller. Teachers at Portland Public Schools, Oregon’s largest district, are on strike for the first time in history. The strike affects almost 43,000 students at more than 80 campuses. It was called by the Portland Association of Teachers after almost a year of negotiations and mediated sessions with the district yielded no meaningful breakthroughs. Natalie Pate covers K-12 education for OPB. She joins me now with the latest. Natalie, welcome.

Natalie Pate: Thanks for having me.

Miller: You went to Capitol Hill Elementary School in Southwest Portland this morning. What was the scene like there?

Pate: There were about 20 or 30 people there. Many were teachers, but there were also a handful of retired educators, parents, kiddos, other supporters. Folks were holding signs and they were walking up and down the street on Southwest Spring Garden. They were chanting with the megaphone. The art teacher Ali Anderson was drawing chalk art on the street, kids joined in for that. So there was a lot of action going on.

Miller: What did you hear from teachers?

Pate: So a lot of similar messages were relayed at the picket line as they were leading up to the strike, which is that educators need more resources. And they say that they’re doing this to make schools better, not just to support the teachers. But I also heard from folks about some of the conditions they’re especially worried about. So Brittany Dorris, for example, has been teaching for 10 years, she’s a fifth grade teacher at Capitol Hill. She says she has 34 students in her class. Their classroom was 80 degrees the last two days. They have rats. So she’s talking a lot more about some of these other issues that they’re on the picket line for.

Miller: What about from students?

Pate: The students who were at Capitol Hill’s picket line this morning were adamant that they wanted to be there to support their teachers. Some were taking photos with their favorite teacher. One kiddo was passing out leftover Halloween candy. Something that really surprised me was that they wanted other students to know that the strike happening wasn’t their fault. So here are Kathleen and Evelyn who are both fifth graders. And they’re talking about this, and sharing why they think teachers should be paid and honored more.

Kathleen: The teachers want fair conditions for themselves and their students. And some kids might think it’s their fault. It’s not.

Evelyn: And also, the best people in history-

Kathleen: Albert Einstein, he got taught by someone. He had a teacher. Any teacher could be teaching a random kid, and they could grow up to be president of the United States.

Miller: I always love hearing kids’ voices on this show.

I want to go back to the teacher. You mentioned Brittany Dorris, because you also talked to her, and brought some tape. Let’s have a listen to what she told you.

Brittany Dorris: [Cars honking in background] We have students with disabilities who aren’t getting served because our SPED team is so overworked. We have too few adults for too many kids with some really big needs. I am trying to teach, in that 34 students, an academic range of first grade to about sixth grade, trying to teach those who need pushing and those who need catching up. And it is me by myself all day.

Pate: Dorris said she has a master’s degree but she recently moved in with a single parent because she can’t afford rent in the neighborhood on her own, but she really wants to live in the community she serves.

Miller: We could hear behind her some honks. I heard some honks as I went by Southeast on my way to work today, honks in support of a small rally in the school that I passed. How much community support did you see or hear at Capitol Hill?

Pate: There seemed to be a fair amount. Similar things, lots of little car honks along the way. A lot of people were waving from their cars or even passers by on the sidewalk were waving or giving a thumbs up. And several people who participated are not current teachers or parents. I spoke with some folks who are retired educators. Some are just folks who are related to people who work at the school. So a lot of people were showing up.

Miller: Let’s turn to the heart of the disagreement here, starting with the teachers union. Can you just remind us what teachers are asking for?

Pate: Yes. So the Portland Association of Teachers started in state mediation sessions with a priority list that had more than 10 items on it. And the district has critiqued the list itself for being too long, and therefore not truly showing what their top concerns are. But among other points, Portland teachers are calling for more teacher planning time, school based mental health services for students. They want less standardized testing. They want expanded restorative justice practices and policies. And they want safer healthier building conditions. And some of the big items that have garnered a lot of attention are really around class size limits, and cost of living increases.

Miller: What has the administration been saying in response?

Pate: PPS leaders have repeatedly said that it’s not that they’re unwilling to pay for these things, but that they’re unable. And it is important to note that the union has pushed back on, on some of those claims. Still, members of the district bargaining team have previously said that even the district’s own offer would require at least $45 million in structural budget cuts over the next three years. They estimated the PAT proposal would require upwards of $277 million in cuts in that same time frame.

Miller: It really doesn’t seem like there’s been very much movement for weeks, maybe even for months, on the issues that you just talked about and that we heard when we talked to the union president and some district officials on our show over the last month or so. The $200 million plus gap remains. The two sides seem to be talking past each other in a lot of ways. The teachers say “you’re not listening to us, if you don’t give us what we’re asking for, we’re not going to be making a living wage or be able to provide the kind of classroom experiences that kids deserve.” The administration says the same thing, “you’re not listening to us. We just don’t have the kind of money that you’re asking for.”

Where do you see room for compromise?

Pate: Yeah, I think that’s the million dollar question right now. PPS will come back with an offer that’s higher for things like planning time or cost of living increases. But PAT says it’s still nowhere close to what they actually need. And there’s a lot of back and forth like that. I’ve talked with PAT and PPS folks throughout this, both sides have said again and again that the other side is not bargaining in good faith and that they aren’t willing to come close to what the other needs.

In fact, I spoke with a retired teacher, Elizabeth Draper, on the Capitol Hill picket line this morning. She was talking about a key difference between now and tensions in the past. She taught in PPS schools for 32 years. And she said the biggest difference right now is that they did reach the point of the strike. So here is her talking about that.

Elizabeth Draper: We’ve gotten close, but there’s always been compromise on both parts. And that’s the part that’s discouraging right now is that it just doesn’t seem like there’s much give.

Pate: Negotiations are still really fluid. The union has submitted proposals, for example, with a slightly lower cost of living increase request. But under those agreements, the district still would have to meet other non-mandatory bargaining demands for them to agree to that percentage. So it’s not really clear yet if or how they’re going to meet in the middle.

Miller: In the first year of the pandemic, we all got a really stark reminder, if we needed one, of the many roles that schools play in society these days. In addition to education, a lot of the provision of social services. What services are still available through PPS today? I mean, what school functions are still happening?

Pate: Schools are closed for the duration of the strike. There is the exception of charter schools. And there are several services available for students that include things like reading coaching, free meals, mental health support for students. Most extracurriculars are canceled for now, with the exception of varsity athletics. There’s no district childcare or instruction from PAT members or coaches.

And it is important to note that there’s been some confusion and frustration around some of these services, right? Sources have told us that educators were really kind of freaking out this week. They got a 64-page reading coach packet that was given to para-educators as a way to coach students. And some parents have told us they want their kids to use these services because they need them, the reading supports are for kids who are struggling, who have the highest needs. So if you’re a parent, you want to make sure your kid is getting what they need during this time. But they’re worried that by using some of those services that they are therefore crossing the picket line.

Miller: That by using the resources provided by the district, they are becoming sort of parent scabs?

Pate: Yeah, that’s the worry. Some parents have encouraged other families to even go so far as refusing district-provided resources, like Chromebooks for example, as a show of solidarity with the teachers. And you know, it’s kind of torn between parents. Some are like “I’m going to use the services I have available” and others are really worried what that displays to the teachers.

Miller: So let’s stick with parents. I mean, what have you heard about the various kinds of plans that parents or caregivers have made to handle the strike? What are families doing?

Pate: Short term, one of the biggest concerns is childcare. This could last days, it could last weeks, we don’t know yet. The next step is trying to figure out what learning students can be doing or catching up on so that their kids don’t fall behind. Older students were really cramming to finish things like college applications before the strike started, since teachers aren’t available now to give letters of recommendation. Some families are really trying to find ways to participate in the strike itself. Some are bringing treats and snacks for the educators. They’re cheering them on, they’re joining in the picket line. And some parents have told us that they see the strike itself as a learning opportunity for their kids to really understand what it could look like if they speak up and advocate for themselves.

Miller: Is the district providing any resources to parents of children with special needs in particular?

Pate: The short answer is no. This one group in particular is one that folks are worried about really falling through the cracks during the strike. Direct special education services will not be provided to students during the strike. According to the district, most schools and classes for students who are deaf or hard of hearing are also closed. Officials said that there are some out of district placements - charter schools, community based organizations services - that will continue. So hopefully families can capitalize on those. The district intends to continue things like motor activities for students who need it through virtual consultation, working with occupational therapists who will contact the families for things like that. And students who are on what are called individualized education programs or IEPs, their teams are going to need to determine whether they’re going to need compensatory education services later down the line.

Miller: The umbrella organization for both the PPS Teachers Union, PAT and other teachers unions in the state, they recently shared polling results with you. The statewide poll focused basically on Oregonians’ concerns about local schools, and also how much they’d support a strike for different reasons. What stood out to you in that poll?

Pate: Well, the majority of those polls said that they would support educators if they went on strike. Specifically, if they were advocating for goals like hiring more teachers, reducing class size, and increasing support to reduce disruptive learning environments.

But it is important that the percentage of people who supported something did vary depending on the reason. So for example, 90% of respondents said that they would support a strike if educators were advocating for recruiting and retaining “highly qualified educators.” But on the opposite end, only 50% said they would support a strike if they were advocating specifically on housing support for educators. Labor strikes like these are often not about a single issue, but that’s kind of the baseline takeaway from that.

And the other thing I think that was interesting from the data is that there is especially high support in Portland. And we kind of saw how it varied across the state, depending on where people stood. So in the Bend-La Pine district, support was highest for strikes about recruiting and retaining highly qualified educators, while in Eugene, it was highest for reducing class sizes.

Miller: How long do you think a strike in Portland could go on without a serious erosion of the current level of parental support?

Pate: I’m not sure. Right now, there is a lot of support from families and non-PAT education staff overwhelmingly. I have heard from students and teachers on the picket line that they don’t want to be striking. They really do feel like this is the only option for them right now, and that they wouldn’t be there if they didn’t have to be. I spoke with some officials with the union, and they said they are not worried about the longevity of their strike fund at this time, which for those who don’t know, does provide funding for educators who participate in strike activities. But that’s something to keep in mind, there is a limit to money there, and there’s a timer that, in a number of weeks, the district could start denying health benefits, for example. And it’s tough on the educators who are not getting paid during the strike.

So it puts educators in that much more of a financial bind, and it’s going to be a long term issue on families if it lasts long.

Miller: When are the two sides scheduled to be back at the negotiating table?

Pate: As of this moment, I don’t know of the next scheduled meeting at this point. That said, conversations are happening as we speak. So it’s possible that information is going to come to light soon. The district has been updating folks about midday, and we’re hoping to have more information soon. PPS is also planning to send updates every night to families around 7 p.m. so they can plan for school or no school the next day. So we’ll be keeping a close eye on that.

Miller: Natalie, thanks very much.

Pate: Thank you.

Miller: Natalie Pate covers K-12 education for OPB.

Contact “Think Out Loud®”

If you’d like to comment on any of the topics in this show or suggest a topic of your own, please get in touch with us on Facebook, send an email to thinkoutloud@opb.org, or you can leave a voicemail for us at 503-293-1983. The call-in phone number during the noon hour is 888-665-5865.