UPDATE: Portland Public Schools teachers vote to authorize a strike; walkout set for Feb. 20

The teachers union for Portland Public Schools will vote tonight on whether to authorize a strike. We will have updates throughout the process.

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9:50 p.m.

Strike vote coverage is closing up for tonight. Visit our new

on Thursday morning for what happens next. We will have reactions from parents, a closer look at the strike vote, and a live chat at noon with our Portland Public Schools reporter, Nicole Dungca.



9:25 p.m.

How are kids reacting to the possibility of a strike? We asked two Wilson High teachers emerging from the strike vote. "They've been supportive, really, really supportive," said Lise Flores, who teaches Spanish. When Wilson students were preparing to walk out in support of teachers Wednesday, many asked her what they should do. "I said, 'I don't want you to get in trouble,'" Flores said. "But they said, 'We want to support you, and we want to do this.'" Teacher Stephanie Pringle said of her students: "Some of the younger freshman at first are like, 'Yay, no school.' But as we talk about it and talk about how this is going to affect everybody, they begin to be a little more somber and understand the impact that this could have on their lives."

Cleveland High students ended their march back at the school.

2:20 p.m.

Cleveland students, whose march route include the Ladds Addition traffic circle, ended the protest action back at the high school. "We shouldn't be fearing the next cuts to our schools," said Zoe Laud, a junior. "The district should be fearing us."





1:30 p.m.

Promptly at 12:45 p.m., some students at Lincoln High School walked out of their seventh-period classes to bring attention to the stalled contract negotiations between the school district and the teachers’ union.

As students wandered the halls, some screamed “Walkout!” while others quietly asked friends if they planned to participate.

Senior Emma Hoffman organized the event.

Standing in the high school’s courtyard as about 100 students held signs and chanted, Hoffman said contract negotiations are going “nowhere” and students need to pressure both sides to reach a compromise.

“I view these protests putting a lot of pressure on the district and the union to come together and sit down at the negotiation table and make the necessary compromises and concessions,” she said.

The vast majority of Lincoln’s nearly 1,600 students didn’t participate in the walkout. Among those who didn’t: freshman Tatyana Okatch.

Lincoln students marched through downtown.

“I support the teachers but I don’t want to go,” she said, noting that she’d be missing class. “I don’t know if you support teachers by leaving class.”

Students were warned that those who walked out of class would be marked absent, leaving athletes unable to participate in events Wednesday.

Principal Peyton Chapman said she celebrates civic involvement by students but is disappointed if that means missing class time.

At about 1 p.m., Lincoln’s students left the school property and began marching toward downtown.

“We don’t want to see a strike,” Hoffman, the organizer, said. “No one wants to see a strike.”

After Cleveland High students in Southeast Portland walked out around the same hour as Lincoln, they also marched, encountering Portland police who warned the marchers to stay on the sidewalks or face arrest.

"Whose schools? Our schools!" the students chanted. "We're the future of this nation. We deserve an education!"

The Portland Student Union said earlier in the week it planned to hold "solidarity actions" in support of the teachers union Wednesday at various high school campuses.

Cleveland, Lincoln, Grant, and Madison high schools were expected to hold walkouts, while Jefferson and Wilson were holding lunch-hour rallies.

The student union said in a statement that "due to unfair district bargaining, a strike may be necessary to win the schools we deserve."

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