Portland Public Schools and its largest labor group

that calls off an unprecedented teachers strike in Oregon's largest district.

Negotiators

to reach a "conceptual agreement" that will stop nearly 3,000 teachers from walking the picket lines on Thursday.

District and union leaders will get together later in the day to sign a tentative agreement, which officially suspends the strike.

District and union leaders have not yet disclosed terms of the deal, which must now go to the school board and the teachers union for approval.

"After ten months of difficult negotiations and hard work by both sides, I am very pleased that PPS and PAT have reached a conceptual agreement for a new contract," said Superintendent Carole Smith in a statement. "I look forward to finalizing the tentative agreement later today."

Though negotiators have agreed to avert a strike, school will still dismiss two and half hours early on Wednesday.

The settlement, made after nearly ten months of negotiations, averts a walkout that would have affected nearly 2,900 members of the Portland Association of Teachers, and the families of 48,000 students in Oregon’s largest district.

The protracted contract dispute represents the closest Portland Public Schools has gotten to a teachers strike. Teachers overwhelmingly voted to approve a walkout on Feb. 5.

The deal essentially means the two sides have finally figured out a way to address major issues that had stymied progress for months, including salary and a contractual limitation on workload and class sizes. Payments and benefits for early retirees, as well as the length of the school year, also remained issues until the end, among other things.

District and union leaders have hunkered down in the DoubleTree hotel near the Lloyd Center for extended sessions for two days, where they reserved three rooms for the process. Both groups had a caucus room, and spent time meeting with state mediator Janet Gillman in another room.

Leaders chose the DoubleTree, which is where administrators for the union's benefits meet, as a neutral location. Past locations for bargaining sessions have been the district office, the union's Northeast Portland headquarters, or the Southwest Portland location of the Oregon Education Association.

As the union’s chief negotiator, Marty Pavlik, and other negotiating team leaders emerged from the mediator’s room about 7:10 a.m., members of the district’s team who had been waiting looked toward them for news.

“We’re done,” said Pavlik, still clad in a blue sweatshirt worn to show solidarity with teachers. “We’re done.”

The scene that ended one of the highest stress situations in Portland Public Schools history was anticlimactic, at best. Before the deal finally ended, teachers who had to get their kids ready for school began leaving one by one.

Leaders on both sides looked alert, but weary, as they began departing the area where they had worked for nearly 24 hours straight.

Both sides are now working to inform stakeholders about the deal. The union sent out a "bargaining brief" to members this morning, and school board members will meet administrators behind closed doors at 10 a.m.

This morning's bargaining brief -- which announced "WE'VE REACHED A CONCEPTUAL AGREEMENT" in all capital letters in a subject line -- had few details, but showed little doubt about a tentative agreement being reached.

"Given the early hour, we will come back together with the district later today to iron out the details and put it in writing in the form of a Tentative Agreement," the message reads. "When we have a signed Tentative Agreement, a strike will be suspended pending ratification by PAT membership and the Board."

Around the city, parents and community members welcomed the news. Mayor Charlie Hales issued a statement saying the agreement showed the union and district were "putting the students first."

"My staff and I were in near-constant communication with both sides over the past several weeks, and throughout it all, I believed cooler heads would prevail," he said. "This is great news, and I remain as hopeful as ever that this will lead to a lasting agreement and a contract.”

This story will be updated as we get more information. Keep following The Oregonian here or at our schools page.

-- Nicole Dungca

Follow @ndungca