After 21 hours of negotiations, the Portland Association of Teachers and Portland Public Schools have reached a “conceptual agreement” in order to prevent Portland’s first-ever teacher’s strike.

In order to become a formal contract, the bargaining teams must first iron out the details of the agreement and rewrite it as a “tentative agreement.” From there, it will go to the school board and PAT to be signed, which will suspend a strike. In order for the tentative agreement to become a formal contract, both sides must agree to final terms, at which point teachers will take a vote to approve the contract.

Students have been following contract negotiations in the last few months, prompting over 100 to walk out in support of their teachers on Feb. 5. Senior Sara Newman was involved in the planning of the walkout. “I’m glad that the union and the district were able to work together to serve students,” Newman said, “and I hope the conceptual agreement is signed soon so we can avoid a strike.” Newman is not alone in this sentiment; IB juniors and seniors are feeling relieved that they may not have to miss valuable class time. “I was really worried that my IB tests would be affected by missed days of school,” junior Anna Dodson said.

The bargaining teams will be meeting again today (Feb 18) in order to finalize the conceptual agreement they reached last night into a document that will prevent the teacher walkout scheduled for Thursday.