The strike has been a burden on teachers, students, and the parents of students in a district that has a higher-than-average LGBTQ population.

Tens of thousands of teachers walked off the job at the Los Angeles Unified School District (LAUSD) on January 14, in the country’s second most populated school system, and bringing increased attention to the plight of teachers and students.

Now, it appears a tentative deal has been reached between the teachers union and the district that would bring those teachers back in their classrooms as early as Wednesday, and allow students to once again resume a more normalized environment.

But union members still must vote to pass the agreement, which will take place today, January 22, and likely extend into the evening.

David McNew/Getty Images

“This is much more than just a narrow labor agreement. It’s a very broad compact around things that get at social justice, educational justice and racial justice,” United Teachers Los Angeles President Alex Caputo-Pearl said at a news conference today, NPR reports.

“The strike no one wanted is now behind us,” said Austin Beutner, the city’s school superintendent.

Teachers have been asking for higher pay, lower class sizes, and the hiring of additional support staff. Class sizes average 30 students per class in grades 4—8, and more than 40 in high school classrooms, according to the school district’s own data.

In addition to being a large school district generally, LAUSD also has a high percentage of LGBTQ students and teachers, as Los Angeles has one of the largest LGBTQ populations, both by total number and percentage, according to polling data.

Al Seib / Los Angeles Times via Getty Images

According to transgender advocate and politician Justine Gonzalez, who has a child in the district, an administrator at LAUSD’s office of Human Relations, Diversity, and Equity reported roughly 12% of students there fall along the LGBTQ spectrum.*

Numerous surveys and studies over the years have shown that LGBTQ students experience increased rates of bullying, violence, sexual assault, and harassment, and are more likely to attempt suicide.

In October, GLSEN released a national school climate report that showed over 30% of LGBTQ students missed at least one day of school in the last month because they felt unsafe there, and at least two in five queer students avoided bathrooms and locker rooms. Further, verbal harassment based on gender expression increased from 2015 to 2017, after years of decline.

And those effects extended into post-secondary education, where LGBTQ students who experienced high levels of anti-LGBTQ victimization were nearly twice as likely to report they do not plan to pursue college. Those who experienced discrimination and abuse were also more likely to experience depression, had lower GPAs, and reported lower self-esteem.

“Schools are not what I’m used to, what I was used to growing up. Like the idea of success, of school being a system that made sense and you could be a part of isn’t quite as prevalent out here. Because the conditions at a lot of the schools that I work at are dire,” Dean Levengood, an openly gay English teacher in LAUSD who has been striking, told NewNowNext, prior to news of the deal.

Supplied by Dean Levengood

Levengood (above right), who has been teaching in the district for over a decade, says he has between 36 to 40 students in each classroom, and that he has trouble even moving around while teaching.

“You couldn’t fit another desk in that room if you wanted to,” he says. “And 10 years ago, when the recession hit, things got pretty bad.”

According to Levengood, the union has allowed the district to increase class size every year, which leads to furloughed and relocated teachers.

“And they didn’t just get rid of teachers; they got rid of nurses, and librarians, and janitorial staff,” Levengood said. “The last time someone cleaned my room, which used to happen every day, is—I don’t know, months ago. It maybe gets cleaned three times a year, so teachers are expected to do that too.”

David McNew/For The Washington Post via Getty Images

“And teachers are expected now to be crisis counselors, grief counselors, and first responders, and provide materials for rooms, and incentives for kids,” he added. “We don’t get raises, we don’t get cost of living raises. If we want to move up the pay scale, we have to take classes that we pay for and aren’t reimbursed for in any way. So we’re constantly being asked to do more, and pay more, and are never compensated in any way. And they keep treating school like it’s a business, like if we can fit more kids in then we will be successful.

“It’s hard to build a sense of connection, and give kids time, if you have 36 kids in a classroom.”

He also said he has been encouraged by support from parents and students, who have in many cases been on the picket line alongside the teachers.

Brittany Murray/MediaNews Group/Long Beach Press-Telegram via Getty Images

“The students have so much energy, and they’ve been leading the chants and cheers. The parents have been inundating us with food and stopping by,” he said. “Neighbors are saying if we need to use the restrooms we can go into their houses, because we’re not allowed in the school building when we’re striking.”

Levengood hopes the movement for better pay and conditions for teachers, which has taken place in other states, like North Carolina, can continue elsewhere: “I don’t know that L.A. is much different from any other place, except in size. And if L.A. can show that there’s success in this, and honestly just that teachers have value. The fact that we’re not there is an important thing, that we need teachers there.”

Brian van der Brug/Los Angeles Times via Getty Images

“[Teachers] are being put in these conditions that are untenable and hard to succeed in,” he said. “Teachers now are doing amazing things. The amount of work that goes into just one class, the amount of thinking, the amount of knowing your students, and doing psychological analysis of them individually, and what’s going to make them learn… It’s just amazing… I just wish people understood that a little better.”

*UPDATE: A representative from LAUSD told NewNowNext the 12% number includes all those who answered anything other than heterosexual and cisgender, and added that it is based on a small sample size.