Medford, Ore. — Even when the bargaining work is done and if a deal is reached, there’s the job of getting back into the swing of things.
Teachers have been on strike for almost two weeks and if there’s a deal there will be a lot of work ahead for both sides.
On the picket line, there are high hopes for an agreement soon on teacher contract negotiations.
“We really need to get back in the classroom,” said Robert Black, a science teacher at North Medford High School.
Black said he didn’t realize just how long the strike would last.
“First of all, didn’t think it would happen and I thought it would be quick,” said Black.
According to Black, he’s in for a lot of work when he gets back to his classroom.
“It keeps me up at night,” began Black.
“We’ve got 38 objectives in my particular class that we need to cover and I do worry about that. I worry about the pacing and getting back into it,” he said.
If a deal is reached, teachers won’t be the only ones who will be working in overdrive.
“Obviously it’s a big transition back so what we’re doing is putting all of our plans together to work with staff on transitioning our buildings,” said Todd Bloomquist, Director of Secondary Education for the Medford School District.
“All of our staff kind of have to package up the rooms and put them in order, those sorts of things, there’s lots of work to be done,” he continued.
According to Bloomquist, plans have been in the works since last week in case of a resolution.
“As soon as they tell us what the good news is, we’re hoping for good news soon, we’ll just jump right into action,” said Bloomquist.
There’s a lot of work to do when teachers return to their classrooms, but it’s a drop in the bucket compared to the work that’s going into finding a compromise on contracts.
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