The teachers’ strike in the Gresham-Barlow School District is over after just a few hours. Students will return to classes on Thursday.
Tom Urbanowicz, bargaining chairman for the Gresham-Barlow Education Association.
Rob Manning / OPB
Bargaining teams for the district and the union -- the Gresham-Barlow Education Association -- emerged from talks at an area church, with a deal in hand, about 9:30 Wednesday morning.
Teachers had been on picket lines since 6:00.
Talks had been going on for almost a year, and culminated in a 24-hour overnight session. Neither side would share details of the tentative agreement, other than two things.
One, teachers had to go back to work immediately, to set up their classrooms to receive students Thursday.
Two, the district said the deal means there won’t be any teacher layoffs, thanks to the financial deal in the tentative contract.
There had been concern among teachers about how the contract might change the district’s approach to layoffs.
The other sticking points in the contract had been over working conditions: elementary teachers wanted more support in dealing with disruptive students; at the high school, the balance between preparation and instructional time was a key issue.
