Portland schools closed for 9th straight day as teacher strike drags on

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Portland schools closed for ninth straight day as teacher strike drags on

Portland parents Stephanie Savalli and Shane Kennedy share their frustration and uncertainty about when their children can return

Portland Public Schools has been closed for nine straight days due to an ongoing teachers' strike. 

Reportedly, the district estimates the two sides are more than $200 million apart. 

Parents of students who were impacted by the strike appeared on "FOX & Friends" Wednesday to react to the debacle. 

Shane Kennedy, a single dad of two, said that he does not know how long this will go.

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"I just had them playing video games all day. That's not something I like to do. But I work from home, and I can't have them running around while I'm trying to practice law. So I had them playing video games during the day for the first few days," Kennedy said. 

Portland Public Schools logo. (Credit: Portland Public Schools) (Portland Public Schools)

"Then I flew my kids to Arizona to spend time with my mom. We don't know how long this is going to go."

Kennedy added that money and cleanliness standards seem to be the biggest issue and that negotiations are not going anywhere.

"And I would hope we would have schools open again after Thanksgiving," he said.

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Halfway through the month, it’s been a "no school November" for students in the Portland Public Schools system in Oregon as an ongoing strike by teachers has kept students out of classrooms while the two sides continue to negotiate a new labor agreement.

The Portland Association of Teachers (PAT) union began its strike on Nov. 1 after it failed to reach an agreement with the Portland Public Schools (PPS). Over 4,000 educators and teachers in the district are on strike – which is the first in the district’s history and has kept about 45,000 students out of the classroom since it began.

School district and teachers union are at loggerheads over funding pay increases. (AP Photo/Claire Rush, File)

Oregon’s Democratic Gov. Tina Kotek announced on Nov. 7 that she appointed a mediator to help broker a deal between the PAT union and PPS. Mediation is ongoing, and Portland Public Schools remained closed on Tuesday due to the strike. Kotek also directed state chief financial officer Kate Nass to work with the two sides on the financial side of talks to ensure they’re negotiating using the same set of numbers.

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Furthermore, "FOX & Friends" host Lawrence Jones said to Stephanie Savalli, another guest on the show, that the district has considered extending the school year into summer. 

Savalli replied, "Absolutely not."

Portland Public Schools has been closed for nine straight days due to an ongoing teacher strike.  (Fox News)

She went on to say, "And that's challenging for us because we had to work really hard to get into the school that we're at in the first place. But my eighth grader, I will absolutely call. I'm not sure is she going back?"

"She might homeschool if that continues because I've just asked too much of her and I don't know what I would do to navigate the others, but I'm not sending them to school during the last you know, we have a very short amount of sunshine here. I'm not making this up for them during that small leisure time."

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FOX Business' Eric Revell contributed to this report.

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