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LINN COUNTY DEMOCRATS

November 20th, 2024

11/20/2024

Strike Day 8

Molly Palmer, Oak Grove first-grade teacher, creates a poster during the Community Art Build at LBCC.

Talks continue, teachers rally again — indoors

Striking teachers and supporters packed the large dining hall Tuesday afternoon at Linn-Benton Community College.for what was billed as a “Community Art Build." There were speakers, songs, chants, along with poster and sign making. Meanwhile, mediation continued for the teachers' and district's bargaining teams.
  Ken Beiser, West Albany Spanish and English Language Development teacher and a member of the Greater Albany Education Association bargaining team, led off the event with an update on mediation that resumed Tuesday morning after a Monday break.
  “There’s not an awful lot to say yet, but we are waiting on four proposals that management has been writing," Beiser said. "Two of them are articles we haven’t talked about in awhile and two of them are articles they presented to us last time and we said that is not near good enough, so they are trying again. Hopefully, that will be very good news.
  “The bargaining team wanted you to know that your action yesterday, marching from Monteith Park through downtown and ending at the courthouse, was amazing and we feel it’s really having an effect on management.”
   The school district released this update at 4 p.m. Tuesday:
  “The District’s Bargaining Team worked intently with GAEA towards reaching a settlement during the mediation session today, Tuesday, November 19. However, we have yet to reach a settlement at the time of sending this message. As a result, schools will be closed on Wednesday, November 20.”

Video: Stacey Bartholomew, parent of a West Albany student and a Linn County Democrat, addresses the crowd.

Video: Music teachers sing "We Are the Storm." composed over the weekend by Julie Ritchey, South Shore music teacher.

November 19th, 2024

11/19/2024

Strike Day 7

Charles Williams, with megaphone, leads march south on Washington Street. The marchers then headed east on Second Avenue and south on Broadalban Street to the community rally at the courthouse.

March, rally and a mediation break

Chanting "Get up, get down, Albany is a union town," are, from left, Kris McLaughlin, a retired Calapooia Middle School teacher; Nancy Greenman and Stacey Bartholomew. All three are Democrats.

Monday — Day 7 of the Albany teachers strike — saw both sides take a break from mediation, morning picketing across the district and an afternoon march that started at Monteith Riverpark and ended with a community rally at the Linn County Courthouse.
“We mediated for about 20 hours over the weekend and didn’t reach any TAs (tentative agreements),” Greater Albany Education Association President Dana Lovejoy said before the march.

“Two of the articles proposed were non-economic, which means there’s no money attached at all. And we still could not come to an
agreement because management is doing regressive proposals. So it’s been pretty frustrating. Seeing all the support today is really encouraging to the bargaining team to keep going.”
Tentative agreement has been reached on 21 of 34 articles presented

November 18th, 2024

11/18/2024

Strike Day 6

Josephine Fleetwood, mother of a 2018 West Albany grad, holds a bright sign during Sunday's rally. "Teachers are important," she said. "We need them for our future."

Parents lead rally for teachers

Ruthie Hochstetler Epp, a South Shore, second-grader, spoke during the rally. "I have some of the best teachers in the world at South Shore," she said. "They help me when I am struggling to learn or when I need help with big emotions. They always take time for me. And I know that' it's a hard job sometimes. I would like to get back to school. I miss my class and I miss my teacher." At left is Ruthie's mom, Shanda Hochstetler.

The Greater Albany Education Association held a number a strike rallies last week. On Sunday — Day 6 of the teachers strike — it was parents' turn, as they led a rally in support of the GAEA.
Several hundred people gathered midafternoon in the rain in the Keller Williams parking lot to hear speakers, including parents, a student and a teacher.
Jennifer Stadstad, a P.E. teacher at Calapooia Middle School and a member of the GAEA’s bargaining team, took a break from Sunday’s mediation session to provide an update.
Stadstad said there were five tentative agreements on "smaller issues" Friday night, and the two sides mediated for 12 hours Saturday,
So far, according to a Saturday update on the GAPS Facebook page, 21 of 34 articles presented for bargaining have been tentatively agreed to. Among them is prep time. The district has agreed to expand secondary teacher prep time to one full class period per day to begin the 2025-26 school year.
Class size remains a sticking point, however.
“We need smaller classes,” Stadstad told the crowd. “When we’re talking about our class-size options, we want the district to be creative, which means looking at all different angles. Instead of hiring new teachers, we want to look at adding aides to classrooms. … We also talked about looking at the schools and their transfer data. It doesn’t mean that if your student is on a transfer that they’re going to get yanked in the middle of the year. It just means that they won’t accept more transfers into that school in the next year. So I would love it if you guys could dispel some of those rumors that are out there on Facebook.”
School will be canceled for the fifth time on Monday.
Picket lines will start at 7:30 a.m. Monday at schools across the district. A community rally is planned for 1 p.m. at Monteith Riverpark.

November 17th, 2024

11/17/2024

Strike Day 4: Tailgate rally

Rally attendees get fired up along Pacific Boulevard as they wait to cheer for the buses carrying West Albany's football team to a quarterfinal playoff game in Dallas.

Day 4 of the Albany teachers strike saw more morning picket lines around the school district and a mid-afternoon tailgate rally in the I-5 Sports parking lot on Pacific Boulevard.
Greater Albany Education Association President Dana Lovejoy provided a strike update in a brief video taken during the rally.“We have been in mediation today, and we feel like the district is taking this serious,” she said. “We’re not sure that means we’ll have a deal, but we do plan to bargain throughout the weekend because it’s our intent to get this done quickly and get our students and our teachers back in their classrooms.”
The rally crowd of several hundred heard speakers and music by North Albany Middle School teachers Andy Nelson and Ryan McGovern and West Albany band members, and attendees were welcome to go through a potluck line for chili and other dishes.
The rally ended with the sign-carrying crowd lining Pacific and Queen Avenue to cheer the West Albany football players as their buses headed from Queen onto Pacific for the trip north to a 5A quarterfinal game at Dallas. (The Bulldogs won 23-13 and will move on to the semifinals.)
A rally for parents who support the striking teachers but have been unable to attend the weekday rallies is scheduled for 3 p.m. Sunday in the Keller Williams parking lot, 2125 Pacific Blvd. S.E.
School is canceled Monday.

Video: Dana Lovejoy, Greater Albany Education Association president, gives a Day 4 update on negotiations.

Video: North Albany Middle School band director Andy Nelson (clarinet) and social studies teacher Ryan McGovern (guitar and vocals) lead the crowd in "Solidarity Forever."

The potluck line grew longer as the rally got closer to dinner time.

Along Queen Avenue, striking teachers and supporters cheer as the buses carrying the West Albany football team head onto Pacific Boulevard.

November 15th, 2024

11/15/2024

Day 3: Striking teachers,
supporters march to courthouse

Marchers head south on Broadalbin Street to the Linn County Courthouse on Thursday afternoon.

No mediation session was held Thursday, but hundreds of striking Albany teachers and their supporters walked pickets lines in the morning and marched from the school district office to the Linn County Courthouse for an afternoon strike rally.
Greater Albany Education Association President Dana Lovejoy said she hopes mediation with the school district will resume Friday, when school will be canceled for the fourth day. She said the district had refused a number Greater Albany Education Association proposals, including on training time pay, bathroom breaks and “needed leave” for sick teachers.
The march on Day 3 of the strike started on Seventh Avenue by the district office, went east to Washington Street, north to Second Avenue, east to Broadalbin Street and south to the courthouse.
The GAEA invites people to show support for teachers by joining picket lines near schools throughout the district, starting at 7:30 a.m. Friday. A tailgate rally is scheduled for 3 p.m. Friday in the I-5 Sports parking lot at 635 Pacific Blvd. S.W.

Jerry Blais, a Linn County Democrats and retired Pacific Power journeyman meterman, stands in support of the striking teachers. Blais was a member of the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers.

Linn County Democrat Ben Watts came out to support the teachers. His wife Pamela is a South Albany science teacher.

Video: Crowd chants "Get up, get down, Albany is a union town!"

November 14th, 2024

11/14/2024

Strike Day 2

Eighteen Waverly Elementary School teachers, a student and a dog walked the picket line in heavy rain Wednesday morning along Pacific Boulevard adjacent to the school. Rebekah Gravette, a second-grade teacher, led the chants. It was Day 2 of the teachers strike. A mediation session was held with no agreement announced. Schools will be closed Thursday and Friday.

November 13th, 2024

11/13/2024

Day 1: Strike rally draws hundreds

Hundreds of teachers and supporters turned out Tuesday afternoon for a strike rally in front of South Albany High School,. The 90-minute rally included speakers, music by West Albany band students who played in support of the striking teachers, and many chants.

Among those attending the rally were Linn County Democrats Steph Newton and Stacey Bartholomew. Newton, an Albany City Councilor, was one of the rally speakers.

Video: Dana Lovejoy, Greater Albany Education Association president, says. "We will be on strike until an agreement is reached." She hopes that a mediation session with the district will take place Wednesday.

Benton County Democrat Gabe Shepherd and Linn County Democrat Michael Thomson stood in support of the teachers. Shepherd is a Benton County Commissioner-elect and Thomson is an Albany City Councilor-elect.

Video: West Albany band students provided the music at the rally. The students were there in support of the striking teachers, including longtime WAHS band director and event tech teacher Stuart Welsh, who joined in with his trumpet. Before the band played Bon Jovi's "Livin' on a Prayer," Welsh led the crowd in a "Union Power" chant. Leading the band is saxophonist Jerry Wang.

November 12th, 2024

11/12/2024

Albany teachers go on strike

Teachers picket Tuesday morning along Ninth Avenue at Ellsworth Street.

Linn County Democrat Mark Leonard joined the picket line Tuesday morning at Ninth Avenue and Ellsworth Street at Central School.

Teachers in the Greater Albany Public Schools district were on strike Tuesday after a mediation session that lasted into the early morning hours failed to produce an agreement.
Picket lines were set up near schools throughout the district Tuesday morning.
  A community rally was scheduled for 1 p.m. at South Albany High School.
  It is the first teachers strike in the district since the late 1980s. Classes were canceled today, and it is likely they won't return to their classrooms this week, according to the Albany Democrat-Herald.
   The teachers, represented by the Greater Albany Education Association, and the district remain apart on a number of issues.

November 12th, 2024

11/12/2024

Strike set for Nov. 12

Several hundred Greater Albany Education Association member and supporters gathered Nov. 8 for a rally at the school district office.

Linn County Democrat Susan Leonard was among those turning out in support of the teachers at the Nov. 8 rally.