The first day of the unprecedented Portland Public Schools (PPS) teachers’ strike is over, but it’s unclear when students might return to school. With day two on the horizon, educators from the Portland Association of Teachers (PAT) union held a big rally outside Roosevelt High School Wednesday, November 1, after a morning of picketing at schools across the city. At the rally, union members, students, and parents affirmed the need to “hold the line” until.
Families of the 10 students were given bouquets of roses by their child’s school principals.
Four of the 10, all 18 years old and recent graduates of Saunders Trade and Technical High School, were killed Dec. 22 when their car was hit by a vehicle driven by a Mount Vernon man seeking to evade police.
“It’s extremely difficult [for a school community],” Roosevelt Principal Edward DeChent said at the assembly. “But when we pull together and we support each other and we support the family … it doesn’t make it easier, but it makes the pain slightly easier to bear.”
Afterwards, the whole assembly stood in silence while Saunders High School student Gleny Perez sang the refrain from Charlie Puth’s “See You Again”: “It s been a long day without you, my friend, and I ll tell you all about it when I see you again.” Several attendees pulled down their masks to wipe away tears, and three family members were so overcome with emotion that they left the gym.