Portland Public Schools joins the ranks of other schools around the nation turning to mediation as a form of alternative dispute resolution in reaching contract agreements between the administration and teachers who have been unable to reach a negotiated settlement on their own. 

With a minimum of 150 days to reach an agreement before turning to mediation, the talks between the Portland Association of Teachers and administrators for the Portland Public Schools began this week with a state mediator.  Monday began the first round of talks as Portland’s students and teachers were out of the classrooms to celebrate the Columbus Day holiday, and mediation will continue to take place in a middle school building in North Portland until a deal is reached. 

The stalled negotiations are a result of a dispute between the Portland Association of Teachers and the administrators for the Portland Public Schools over teacher workloads.  According to the representatives for the teachers, there should be enforced limits on class size in some of the early grades—limits that are not currently in place, causing hardship in several aspects of classroom management and student achievement.  Teachers also want the district to put limits on the number of students that upper-level teachers have in their case load in order to achieve greater efficiency and student progress. 

However, the district insists that such changes would cost millions of dollars that it doesn’t have and will not be able to afford within the current budget crunch happening around most of the country. However, according to Oregon state law, mediation must continue for 15 days before an impasse can be officially declared.  Following the declaration of an impasse, state law requires that 30 days should pass before the Portland Public Schools district implements a final offer, which the teachers could either accept or strike against.