Portland school board approves compromise with teachers union to get students

The Portland school board approved the district’s agreement with its teachers union on the conditions for resuming face-to-face teaching Thursday evening, paving the way for elementary schoolers to begin in-person classes after spring break.

The agreement passed 6-1.

The memorandum of understanding between Portland Public Schools and its teachers union requires students and educators to remain at least 6 feet apart whenever at school.

That sparked muted debate among board members as they deliberated ahead of the vote, given signals that national and state health authorities are likely to lower their spacing guidelines to 3 feet within days.

Board member Amy Kohnstamm took aim at the 6-foot requirement, saying the district could double the amount of instructional time it offers students if it were willing to follow updated recommendations as they emerge.

“We know there’s no defensible epidemiological guidance that says that’s necessary,” she said.

Kohnstamm didn’t have qualms with any other aspect of the agreement and asked the board to send district and union negotiators back to the bargaining table.

Board member Rita Moore shot back, saying the district “cannot just throw the doors open” before telling Kohnstamm it would be irresponsible to decline the agreement.

“It would take staff four to six weeks to calibrate every element of this return plan,” Moore said, later adding, “It would defeat the purpose of getting students back to school as soon as possible.”

Kohnstamm said another round of bargaining wouldn’t spike the entire deal, only the spacing requirements, and that such negotiations shouldn’t take long.

Board members Julia Brim-Edwards and Andrew Scott agreed with Moore, with Scott echoing Moore’s sentiment that another round of negotiations would prove lengthy and cumbersome.

“It’s a choice between the agreement in front of us and nothing,” Scott said.

Several board members said they’ve received hundreds, if not thousands, of emails from families voicing their opinion on the district’s reopening plans. At least two hinted at the homogeneity of the chorus.

“I’m concerned about who we haven’t heard from,” board member Michelle DePass said, noting she was concerned by how few notes she’s received from refugee and immigrant families.

But, she said, “This plan is good enough. It will take us through the end of the year.”

Superintendent Guadalupe Guerrero said the agreement provides a “viable, in-person hybrid instructional model.”

“Moving into a hybrid model does get us one step closer to a full reopening of schools,” he said. “We believe with everyone’s cooperation we can return to campuses in a safe manner.”

Kevin Perlas, father of two Ida B. Wells High students, urged the school board to vote against the deal. He mentioned that the Lake Oswego and West Linn-Wilsonville districts are already offering almost three times as many hours of in-person instruction a week for their high schoolers as Portland plans.

Rashelle Chase, an early childhood educator, local activist and parent of a Portland student, spoke in favor of the agreement. She condemned parents who have threatened to pull their children from the district and those who have lobbed criticism at educators wary of returning to classrooms.

“Do not allow the sacrifices of the last year to be for nothing by capitulating to privilege,” she said.

In a recent survey of PPS kindergarten through 5th grade families, 70% (including 60% of families of color) were ready for their students to return to some form of in-person instruction.

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and the Oregon Department of Education currently advise 6-foot spacing as the only safe strategy. But both agencies say they’re reviewing that guideline in light of emerging findings that when students and teachers wear masks, 3 feet appears to be as safe.

Thursday’s vote locked Portland Public Schools into the 6-foot standard for the remainder of the school year.

The agreement lays out the order in which the district will begin offering in-person instruction, starting with pre-kindergartners, kindergartners and first-graders on April 1. Schools will phase in second-, third-, fourth- and fifth-graders April 5.

Chief of Schools Shawn Bird said the district designed the reentry plans that way to give kindergartners, in particular, time to become acclimated to their classrooms, noting they have never been inside their schools.

“We want them to have a little bit of time in the building by themselves before older students come back,” Bird said.

Middle and high school students will return April 19.

Until now, the district has only offered in-person instruction for students with acute needs for academic support. As of last week, that was about 1,800 pupils, or about 4% of Portland Public Schools’ total enrollment.

According to Portland Public Schools’ reopening plans, middle and high school students will get about…