ALBANY, Ore. — A day after the longest teacher strike in the Greater Albany School District's history ended, teachers celebrated walking back into their classrooms.
"I think it's a lot of emotions," Greater Albany Education Association president Dana Lovejoy said, "but I think our teachers are happy to be back in the classroom with their students."
On Sunday, both the union and district had said a tentative agreement had been reached, but then on Monday morning around 3 a.m., the teacher's union said the deal had imploded after district board members failed to respond to their latest proposal regarding a "return to work policy." Monday afternoon, the two sides were back at the table trying to get the deal finalized.
"It was not a quick session. There was a lot of negotiating back and forth," Lovejoy said.
Teachers overwhelmingly approved the new contract after nine months of negotiations, followed by the school board's approval during an emergency school board meeting Monday night.
"The district is pleased to announce that GAEA and the District have settled the contract, and it has been approved by both the GAEA members and the Board as of 8:26 p.m.," an e-mail from the Greater Albany Public Schools said.
"We had some historical wins, but we still had to go on strike, and every person was impacted," Lovejoy said. "People who participated in the strike are taking four days of unpaid leave. Parents, if they supported, still had to figure out childcare for three weeks."
Some of the major sticking points for teachers were safety in classrooms, class sizes, pay and guaranteed prep time and bathroom breaks.
"It's always just been a 'go when you can,' which is lunch and maybe there's a break during your prep period." Lovejoy said about bathroom breaks. Teachers are now guaranteed two a day.
During the three-week strike, teachers had complained about class sizes reaching high levels and had pushed the district to put a cap on class sizes throughout schools. Kindergarten classes are now capped at 25 students.
"We have an agreement for next year that we will have classes for kindergarten at 25. We have two classrooms of kindergarten students that are 29 at this building," Lovejoy said. "There's a lot of work that they have to do at the kindergarten level to get students transitioned, and if we can support them at those very early stages, it will support them through the next stages."
On Tuesday, school started two hours late. Parents picking up their kids after school said morning drop-off went well, for the most part.
"My daughter was up and ready," Jessica Derueda, a parent of a middle school daughter and elementary-age son said. "He did not want to get up."
It was the first teachers strike in Albany in nearly 40 years and the longest one in the district's history.
"We didn't know when they were going back to school, and that was pretty challenging." high school parent Taira Kimmell said.
Parents like Dereuda said they just tried to keep busy but said she also didn't mind having the kids home all day: "We tried to keep just super busy, activities outside. They're both pretty involved in sports, so they both had sports."
As the unscheduled break for students came to an end and school was back in session, parents were relieved the strike was finally over.
"It was a relief to know that my kids are going to be getting into the routine and then knowing that the teachers are also getting what they ask for is great," Destinie Collom, a parent of two in the district, said.
KGW News reached out to the district and asked to speak with a board member or the superintendent about the strike and contract, but were told no one was available.
The district has not said how students will make up the missed 10 days of school; Lovejoy said the union was told students would make up 9 of the 10 days.