How students are feeling about the Portland teachers strike

Portland Public Schools teachers have been on strike since Wednesday. While district offices are open, schools have been closed and students have not been attending classes. Winnie Keane is a sophomore at Grant High School. Cassidy Goodwin is a sophomore at Ida B. Wells High School. They both join us to share their thoughts on the strike and how they’re spending their newfound free time.

Note: The following transcript was created by a computer and edited by a volunteer.

Dave Miller: This is Think Out Loud on OPB. I’m Dave Miller. We are now on day three of the Portland Public Schools’ strike. On Wednesday, we heard from our education reporter, Natalie Pate. Yesterday, we talked to the head of the teachers’ union, the Portland Association of Teachers, and one of the district leaders who is on the bargaining team. Today, we’re going to get the students’ perspective with two high school sophomores. Winnie Keane is in her second year at Grant High School in Northeast Portland. Cassidy Goodwin is at Ida B. Wells in Southwest Portland.

They both join us now. Thanks very much for making time for us.

Winnie Keane: Of course.

Miller: Cassidy, I’m just curious, what would you be doing today if you weren’t being interviewed on the radio?

Cassidy Goodwin: Well, I would be in school. Right now I think I would be in chemistry, probably taking notes, maybe doing a lab, but I certainly wouldn’t be sitting at home on the radio.

Miller: Winnie, what about you? Let’s assume that today was a regular day. It’s funny because even though the strike is going on, it was going to be a day off for students anyway, because it’s an in-service day for teachers. But if this were a regular Friday, what classes would you be taking?

Keane: Right now, I would probably be going into my second period so that would be either English or health and I’d just be sitting there probably taking notes and listening to some sort of lecture.

Miller: How has school been going for you so far this year? We’re, what, two months in or so, Winnie, what’s it been like?

Keane: It’s been very different from my freshman year. At Grant, we’re all required to take an AP class, like we’re all required to take AP human geography. So that’s been really difficult and there’s been lots of other courses that I’m taking that have been difficult. So it has definitely been a larger workload, more time outside of school spent taking notes on videos or just doing homework.

Miller: I can almost hear the stress in your voice as you’re talking about this,

I mean, the ramp up of the challenge of the classes. You’re feeling it.

Keane: Yeah. It is definitely stressful in a different way than freshman year was stressful.

Miller: Cassidy, what about you? How has school been going so far this year?

Goodwin: Yeah, I would definitely agree that the rigor has stepped up for sure in my sophomore year. In addition to having school, I also do sports and I work, so trying to balance all those things and also finding time to be social, hang out with friends.

It can definitely be a struggle with that increased workload.

Miller: Cassidy, do you have a favorite class so far?

Goodwin: Oh, that’s a tough question. I mean, I’ve really been liking my ceramics class. I think it’s really fun to just have a time to be creative and not be stressed about whether I get all the notes down? Did I get these questions right? Just to have a free space to express myself without the stresses of a more academically-focused class.

Miller: Winnie, what about you? A favorite class so far?

Keane: Yes. I’m really loving a dance class I am in at Grant, which is really fun. For similar reasons like Cassidy, it’s far less academically focused and also when you’ve been sitting down for three hours, it’s so nice to get up and move and dance and have fun.

Miller: Well, so that’s one thing. So dance and ceramics in addition to history and all the other classes that you’re taking, those are things that you can’t do right now. What’s one thing that you miss not being in school this week and for who knows how much longer. Winnie, what about you?

Keane: I’m someone who really needs to keep busy all of the time. Like, I’m a very scheduled person and so when I don’t have stuff to do and, like, when I don’t have this big chunk of time being used for something, especially being used for active learning or exercising, I get really stir crazy. So usually when I’m in school it’s this really nice thing to do to keep busy.

Miller: Cassidy, what about you? What have you been missing from school?

Goodwin: Yeah, I would definitely agree. I’m similar. Just having this big void of time that I had nothing planned to fill it. It’s been hard to find things to do and I really miss the connections with people that maybe I wouldn’t make time to see when I’m not in school. I’ve been able to see my friends lately, but there’s a lot of those people that you miss seeing in your classes every day or miss connecting with your teachers and just I think those things and kind of the anxiety of the unknown and not knowing how long this is going to go for. How long am I going to be going without seeing my teachers or without seeing my friends?

Miller: Am I right you were both in sixth grade in March of 2020, at the beginning of pandemic lockdown?

Goodwin: Yes.

Miller: So I’m curious, Winnie first, how much have you been thinking about COVID lockdowns in the last few days?

Keane: I mean, the thought, like the similarity, definitely crossed my mind. It’s funny, I try not to really think about it that much because it was kind of hard but with this, it’s different because it feels less like this big scary thing that’s happening and it feels more like the strike in some ways makes me hopeful. It makes me hopeful because I see all these teachers who care so much about their students that they’re willing to do this big thing and take so much time to protest and have this fear they’re losing money. And so it definitely makes me hopeful in a way that the pandemic never did.

Miller: Cassidy, obviously that year and a half, it was a very specific time for some very obvious reasons and some obvious differences but are there any similarities for you from that time to this time?

Goodwin: Yeah, I would definitely agree. I feel like a lot of people refer to COVID as this lost year of learning and I have a lot of my teachers bring it up especially in math classes because that’s one of those subjects that really builds on itself throughout the years. But just referring back to this lost year of learning where a lot of people didn’t feel like they got the education that they needed to in that time and it’s really impacted a lot of people up until now. And the strike is different because it has this definite, it can’t go past 10 days from what I’ve heard. So at least we do have that it’s capped.

Miller: I should say I have not heard that. I don’t think there’s any reason that it cannot go past 10 days.

Goodwin: Oh, okay.

Miller: Sorry to be the bearer of that news to you. Sorry. Go on.

Goodwin: Oh, well, I was just gonna say then that definitely for a lot of people I’m sure would increase some of those feelings of maybe like, is this going to really impact my education? Am I going to be in school through the summer? But I would like to reiterate what Winnie was saying. It is nice to see how much the teachers care about us and that they’re willing to make these sacrifices to better the students’ education and to better their time when they’re at school.

Miller: What did you hear from teachers, if anything, in the lead up to the strike over the last I would say month or so when it just seemed like we were on a crash course to a strike? Cassidy, how much did teachers talk about it?

Goodwin: Well, I think for me at least, it was really confusing what I was hearing from teachers. I just remember hearing so many different things and that just made it really hard to understand what was going to happen. And I can only imagine for families that have young children or maybe you need to sort out child care how hard that is when you really just don’t know. Like I heard from some teachers we’d find out if they were striking at six in the morning the day of or that we’d find out at midnight or that we’d find out at seven and some teachers saying that it would be capped at 10 days, they legally couldn’t go past 10 days. And some people, some teachers would say it would be one day or it could be all the way up to 10 days. I just heard so many different things and I’ve still heard a lot of different things so it’s just hard to feel assured of what’s going to happen.

Miller: Winnie, what about you? What did you hear from teachers?

Keane: Yeah, I definitely agree with Cassidy. There was a lot of conflicting information and students were curious and they were talking, too, so a lot of the information I got didn’t even come directly from teachers but was like a student saying, oh, well, so and so said this about the strike. And so it was very conflicting information. A lot of uncertainty.

Miller: Which sounds like it just adds to the stress of an already stressful situation to have conflicting information or misinformation swirling around.

Keane: Yeah.

Miller: Cassidy, to go back to you, what is the range of responses you’ve heard from classmates about school being closed right now?

Goodwin: It’s certainly been a large range. Some students are really excited to just have some time off school to relax or to catch up on work or whatever it might be. And then there’s a lot of other students that I know that are faced with anxiety. And just having to hear teachers talk about how this time is going to impact them, I think it has really put into perspective for the students. This is a real thing that’s happening, this is important and this is going to have a big impact on a lot of people. And I have a friend too who has a parent that’s on the school board, she’s received a lot of different messages to her home and I know that’s definitely causing anxiety for her. So, I think it’s a big spectrum for sure on how people are coping and feeling about this strike right now.

Miller: Winnie, what about you? What have you been hearing in the last couple days from your classmates and fellow students?

Keane: Yeah. I think it’s been a wide range. I have heard from a lot of sophomores who this year hit them kind of hard workload wise that they’re going to be excited for a break to catch up, but also from seniors and juniors, I think that there’s a lot of fear that it will affect their college applications or their graduation. So it’s definitely very mixed reactions.

Miller: Are either of you feeling anxious about any specific classes? I mean, we talked at the beginning about the increase in rigor, the new challenges as sophomores now in some of your classes, as you move further along in high school and potentially move on to college. Are there any specific classes that you’re worried about because you’re not taking them?

Goodwin: Yeah, I would definitely say for me, I’m in an AP class and I think that’s a big worry for me right now, my main worry is because we do have a set test or a set test date for the AP test and that’s not going to change regardless of a strike. And so that’s definitely worrying because AP classes are quite dense every day is learning and so every class that you’re missing can really set you back in terms of that AP test. So that’s definitely been a worry for me.

Miller: Winnie, what about you?

Keane: I don’t think so. A lot of my teachers were very clear that we did not need to be doing work over the strike. And if they weren’t going to be working, neither should we. I would agree with Cassidy that there is fear around like an AP class that I’m taking because it is a set test date, but I also have hope that however much time we take off won’t affect the school year that much.

Miller: Winnie, first. I’d love to get both your thoughts on this before we say goodbye. If you were talking directly with Portland Public School teachers and the district, what would you want to tell both sides right now?

Keane: Oh, I guess if I were talking to teachers I would want to tell them that I think that there are more students on their side than they know. I think that a lot of students have a lot of sympathy for teachers because we’re in the classes, too. We’re in the schools, too. So we do see a portion of what they go through.

And then to the district, I don’t know. We, as students, don’t get a lot of contact from a district. We don’t get a lot of information really from them other than sparse updates or something. So there’s not a lot of contact there, there’s not a lot I would say to them. I guess I do always try to see both sides. So I do know that a lot of what teachers are asking for does come back to money. And so it always feels like money is tight. Yeah, I don’t really know what I would say exactly.

Miller: Cassidy, what about you?

Goodwin: Yeah. I would definitely agree with everything Winnie said. It’s a hard situation and I don’t think a strike was anyone’s first option. I know talking to a lot of my teachers, a lot of them were really hoping it wasn’t going to happen just because they have kids or a lot of them expressed pay being an issue, they’re not getting paid and health care is an issue. And so I just want to tell all of the teachers, we see you and we appreciate the sacrifice you’re making for us to better our experience as a student. And, I feel like a lot of us are standing with you in that. To the district, it’s hard because again, we don’t get a ton of communication directly from them. But yeah, I definitely agree with Winnie. It comes down to, I think, a money issue. And so yeah…

Miller: Winnie Keane and Cassidy Goodwin, thanks very much.

Goodwin: Thank you.

Keane: Thank you.

Miller: Winnie Keane is a sophomore at Grant High School. Cassidy Goodwin is a sophomore at Ida B. Wells High School. We talked earlier this morning.

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