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High school seniors in Portland Public Schools are rushing to finish their college applications before a teachers’ strike is scheduled to begin Nov. 1, at which point their college counselors and teachers will no longer be available to write letters of recommendations for them.
PPS parent Eric Happel saw this coming a month ago. The college counselors at Lincoln High School told his daughter Sept. 26 that all seniors needed to request transcripts and letters of recommendation earlier than usual, due to the possibility of a strike. Many of her college application due dates are in the first half of November.
“There are some teachers who will do nothing after Nov. 1 and some who on their deathbed will write a recommendation for a student,” Happel says. “You have both, no question.”
Oregon State University and the University of Oregon have agreed to a two-week extension for letters of recommendation for Portland students. Portland Public Schools has prepared a “statement of work stoppage” that students can send to college admissions offices as needed.
The letter is dated Nov. 1 and signed by Margaret Calvert, PPS regional superintendent. The letter asks colleges for an extension on letters of recommendation and official transcripts from Portland students “until our teaching and counseling staff have returned to work.”
Happel credits Lincoln High with seeing the writing on the wall a month ago and adjusting deadlines accordingly. Lincoln, U.S. News & World Report’s top-rated Portland public high school, he says, “has the process dialed—the principals aren’t going to let it fall through the cracks.”
He knows that’s not the case for all of PPS. “The students I’m really worried about are the ones who are less supported on this at home,” Happel says. “Maybe they have to figure all this out by themselves because they are the first person in their family to go to college.”
Happel is critical of a teachers’ strike that would close schools midyear and believes there’s “no way that people can pitch this as what is best for students.”
College application deadlines range from around now (for early-decision students) all the way through February.
Ida B. Wells High School seniors are scheduled to have a class meeting on the topic Oct. 26. There is one more last-ditch bargaining meeting between the school district and the union before teachers strike; the date has yet to be announced.
Some staff will be available for seniors via email, phone and virtual meetings during the strike. Students should check PPS’s family resources page in November for more information about whom to call.