PORTLAND, Ore. — As of Saturday, the Portland Association of Teachers (PAT) stated that the union has "conceptually agreed" to teacher workloads, classroom size thresholds and student safety issues but remain divided on compensation amid the ongoing strike.
The district and union are still in the process of negotiations.
"We have settled many remaining issues, including ... parental involvement in class size committees and overage thresholds for specialists," Will Howell of PPS told KGW Saturday afternoon.
PPS is calling a special meeting Sunday at 3:45 p.m. and at 8:15 p.m., as well as on Monday at noon. The virtual meetings will be open to the public and streamed live on the PPS YouTube channel; the item on the agendas is noted as "Consideration of a Collective Bargaining Agreement-vote," with public comments to be emailed to publiccomment@pps.net.
In response to KGW Saturday evening, PPS said in an email that while they do not have a tentative agreement, "we are getting closer."
"In anticipation of getting there, and since a board meeting requires 24 hours' notice to the public, we put out notes with three different potential board meeting times for tomorrow. If a [tentative agreement] is not reached before the first meeting at 3:45 p.m., it will be cancelled, and we’ll move on to the next one and so on. Then the board will vote on the collective bargaining agreement," PPS explained.
Educators from across the district's 81 schools began their strike on Nov. 1, citing a laundry list of demands that went unresolved in contract negotiations beginning early this year — chief among them teacher salaries, class sizes and planning time.
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