PORTLAND, Oregon — The Portland Association of Teachers (PAT) and Portland Public Schools (PPS) district announced they’ve reached a tentative deal ending the nearly month-long strike on Sunday.
Like many PPS parents, Shane Kennedy is thrilled the strike is over.
“I was not happy during the strike, but now I’m just happy it’s done and we’re going to move forward,” said Kennedy. “I got a text message and I checked it, and I showed it to my son, Ian, who’s in fourth grade, who is setting right next to me and his eyes lit up. He was excited to have school start tomorrow, which is now today.”
The district says students will now have to make up 11 missed school days from the strike. And that starts with cutting winter break nearly in half — and now stands from Dec. 23 through Jan. 1.
RELATED: Winter break cut almost in half as part of tentative agreement to end Portland teachers strike
“We’re left in this spot of trying to make up for something that when you look back at it too, you have to really say, 'Was this necessary?'” said Eric Happel, the father of two high school PPS students. “I’ve heard a lot of stories about people who have lost their jobs because they had to stay home with their kids or use all their vacation days.”
He said their family will have to miss out on seeing their family because of this change.
"It impacts us personally. We already have plane tickets that we bought to visit relatives, which I don't know what we will do about that yet," Happel said.
He added that his student’s education is also now on the line.
“She’s back today of course, super happy to be back,” he adds. “But she’s a bit concerned about the amount of work that’s about to come because they’ve now fallen so far behind.”
Happel is not alone. Single mother of two, Stephanie Needham, is left to juggle putting her two kids back on a school schedule.
“So I bet you, my kids are going to be exhausted and have, you know, the meltdowns this week and next week for a while before they get back into their routine,” said Needham.
That new routine continues through the remainder of the school year. The other make-up days are tentatively set for Jan. 26, Feb. 19, April 8, and June 12-14. All days students initially had off before the strike.
Additional inclement weather make-up days will be discussed no later than April 30 of next year.