Friday’s tentative contract agreement brought some peace back to the Medford School District with an end to the 16-day strike and a school consolidation that had thousands of students feeling out of sorts.
However, on Monday morning those students returned to their classrooms greeted by their teachers.
At Kennedy Elementary, teachers stood in front of the school welcoming their kids with hugs and smiles.
“Now that the teachers are back, I feel good and I’m going to play some orchestra,” said Justin Brown, a student at Kennedy Elementary.
“I missed my teacher because she’s really fun,” explained Michaela Kasper, who’s in 6th grade.
Students and teachers we spoke with said they were happy to be back.
“It’s a great day,” began Jim Stickrod, a 5th and 6th grade teacher at Kennedy Elementary.
“It’s just good to be back with kids, with their teachers and where we enjoy working,” he continued.
Parents were also breathing a sigh of relief.
“Oh yeah, I’m real glad. It’s been a long couple weeks. It should have never gone this far,” said Brad Loya, a Medford parent.
“I was worried about my son’s transition, routine and stuff and it’s just hard and he’s extremely excited,” said Kimberly Bramblett who was dropping off her son.
However, not everyone is so excited about the shift back to a normal school day.
“We only had to go to school from 7:45-12:15 and now we have to go 7:45 to 2:30,” said 5th grader, Ty Golden.
“It’s like nooooo,” he lamented.
The majority of kids though were excited to have their teachers back so things can go back to normal, with the strike finally over.
All that’s left now is teachers will have to vote on whether or not they accept the tentative contract. That’s expected to be later this week.
Medford School District’s summary of the tentative agreement
http://www.medford.k12.or.us/files/SumTentAgreeDistrictTeach02-23-2014.pdf
You can also visit the Medford Education Association’s website for more information.
http://www.iteachmedford.org/
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