Montessori schools in Portland, Tigard shutter after teachers launch union effort
PORTLAND, Ore. (PORTLAND TRIBUNE) -- Teachers and parents at two locations of Guidepost Montessori found out their day care facility was closing with less than 24 hours notice.
The abrupt closures of the Tigard and Portland locations were announced April 7, shortly after staff at both locations announced they intended to unionize with ILWU Local 5.
Emily Roan, a teacher in the Tigard location’s toddler program, said she felt shocked, frustrated and sad over “the reality that my time in my classroom with my children that I was teaching was over.” Some parents and children, who range from 1 to 6 years old, were able to connect outside of the classroom for a goodbye, but others weren’t.
Bitsie Appleton, a toddler teacher at Tigard, said she knew a closure was a risk.
“But I assumed that they would want to prioritize the families, the children and the teachers so they wouldn’t want to close a school. And if they did, I would have thought that they would give us at least a day to talk to each other and to say goodbye,” Appleton said. “That was the biggest shock, that all of a sudden the community itself was just completely dissolved.”
“For toddlers especially, those dependable adults and the stable routine of going to school and knowing what to expect every day is incredibly important for their development. So just having that all taken away is really, really tough for really little children,” Roan said.
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