As Thanksgiving approaches, there will be no end to the Albany teacher strike.
The mid-sized city, located 25 miles south of Salem, is on day 16 of the strike. Since the strike started on November 12, almost 8,700 pupils in the district have not attended classes.
Class size limitations and teacher pay are the two main issues that district and union leaders were unable to settle on Tuesday.
According to union leaders, both concerns relate to teacher retention and student safety. Class sizes in elementary and middle schools should be 25 pupils or less, according to the union, with lower goals for the younger classes. Additionally, the union has suggested benchmarks above those goals that, if met, would enable a teacher to ask for additional assistance. The most recent counter offer from the union is for a 6.3% hike for teachers lower on the pay scale and a 9% boost for the district’s longest-serving teachers in year one.
Tuesday’s release of the district update The suggested class sizes for grades K–8 at Greater Albany Public Schools, which range from 22 to 32, are in line with those of neighboring districts. In fact, the most current compensation offer from the district marginally surpasses what the union is requesting. The district’s longest-serving teachers will receive a 9% boost in year one, while teachers at the bottom of the wage scale would receive a 7% hike.
Pay is still up for debate, though, as it is a component of a bigger economic package that also includes expenditures that union leaders claim will lessen overcrowding in classrooms.
Since February, the Albany battle’s two parties have been negotiating. Union officials have accused the district of dragging its feet over minor contract minutiae, including renaming the outdated grading program, that have no bearing on the budget.
“A lot of this felt like stalling, so it’s difficult to say what held this up,” said Dana Lovejoy, head of the Greater Albany Education Association union.
It would be understandable for Portlanders to draw parallels to the city’s 2023 teacher strike, which prevented tens of thousands of children from attending classes for eleven days in November of last year. Negotiations for teacher contracts have also been more heated than normal in other Oregon communities.
Nearly 500 teachers in the Greater Albany Public Schools system were warned by administrators on Thursday that if they did not return to work by Tuesday, they would forfeit their health insurance. Then, union leaders said that the district had rejected their compromise proposal, which would have permitted teachers to maintain their insurance while negotiations went on.
In an interview with KOIN-TVDistrict officials stated on Monday that they were only adhering to insurance regulations established by the Oregon Educators Benefit Board.
According to a letter from Greater Albany Public Schools administrators, employees who are not actively working on November 26, the last contractual workday of the month, are no longer eligible for District-paid insurance. This is a basic rule that applies to all public school districts in Oregon; it is not a decision that is specific to GAPS.
When the strike ended, a similar dispute occurred in Portland but was settled as part of the final return-to-work plan. Teachers in Portland had no lapse in their health insurance coverage and were paid back for the days they missed in November.
However, for Justin Roach and his wife, both longtime Albany teachers who rely on the insurance for the continuous medical care resulting from her cystic fibrosis, the potential loss of district-paid insurance in December feels like a personal assault.
On Tuesday, Roach told The Oregonian/OregonLive, “My wife and I have worked so closely with the district.” We have had to miss school days and attend appointment after appointment, but they have always been incredibly kind, helpful, and supportive. That trust just no longer exists.
Many of the staff in the district office were great people, according to Roach, a former Albany school board member and social studies teacher for seventh and eighth graders. However, he claimed that during the coordinated backlash against diversity and inclusion initiatives in public schools in 2021, the school board’s shift to a more conservative composition altered the attitudes of higher management.
We simply don’t feel heard or seen from a managerial perspective, Roach stated.
Greater Albany Public Schools was negotiating in good faith and aiming to reach a financially reasonable deal as soon as possible, according to a district official.
Meetings for mediation are scheduled on the Friday following Thanksgiving.
For The Oregonian, Lillian Mongeau Hughes writes about mental health and homelessness. For advice or inquiries, send her an email [email protected]. You may also follow her at @lrmongeau on X.Your support is essential to our journalism. Please sign up for a subscription at OregonLive.com/subscribe right now.
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