Schools in Portland, Oregon, reach tentative deal with teachers union after nearly month-long strike

Oregon’s largest school district said late Sunday it had reached a tentative agreement with its teachers union and roughly 45,000 students would be back in school Monday after more than three weeks without classes.

The agreement must still be voted on by teachers who have been on the picket line since Nov. 1 over issues of pay, class sizes and planning time. It must also be approved by the school board, but the union agreed that classes could resume while those votes go forward. Portland Public Schools students missed 11 days of school before the district began its weeklong Thanksgiving break.

“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,” Superintendent Guadalupe Guerrero said in a statement.

The teachers’ union said the tentative deal was a big win for teachers and students alike in areas of classroom size, teachers salaries, health and safety and mental health supports for children still struggling from the pandemic. Students will make up missed school days by cutting a week off winter break and adding days in the new year.