Medford, Ore. — Classes are canceled Friday and if there’s no deal Saturday, no classes Monday either.
Tuesday the school district plans to have students back in class, with substitute teachers but where are the subs coming from
One area they are searching for subs: Klamath Falls.
NBC 5 spoke with retired teacher Sandra Lake who says her and a few of her friends have received the call to help.
With 30 years under her belt she lives in Klamath Falls but got a call from the Medford School District asking her to fill in during the strike and she turned them down saying “I stand with my fellow educators. I wouldn’t cross the picket line.”
Despite being offered over $300 a day to teach, she says there was no chance at a deal “I’ve been there before, I know what it’s like to be without additional compensation, to have benefits taken away.”
Sandra says she has two other friends in Klamath Falls that were contacted by the district superintendent.
Superintendent dr. Phil long said “We have advertised across the state. There are excellent teachers who, for whatever reason, they’ve moved, relocated, they’re in other communities, they love kids, they’re willing to come serve.”
Some 600 Medford teachers are now out of the classroom.
Superintendent Dr. Phil Long says they already have all the subs they need for students to return Tuesday and that if calls are still being made it’s just because they’re looking for backup “We have enough, we’re ready and i think i would much rather have to send them home and have our teachers back than to go down that road but we have to be prepared” but Lake says she knows it will be tough for educators to cross that picket line “It’s not fun, it’s just not a comfortable place to be.”
On top of that, with 2900 teachers in the Portland School District set to strike on February 20th the sub pool is about to get even slimmer.
The district says it needs until Tuesday in order to figure bus routes and get subs familiar with the teacher materials.
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