Shortly after school was dismissed this afternoon, D211 released a statement announcing that the potential strike threatened by the Teacher’s Union would be averted as both parties reached a tentative agreement earlier today. After months of negotiations, both the teachers and board have compromised in their initial proposals, finally coming to a decision on contracts that were supposed to be finalized at the end of last school year.

While the community at large has certainly felt discomfort from the instability of the situation, student opinions appear to have shifted over the idea of a potentially extended break with postponed finals. Although initially nervous, many students had begun to accept the expected extra studying time. Hopefully, since the normal finals schedule has been confirmed, students still perform well on their exams, even sans additional studying.

“I wish the strike happened so I could study more because I work 30 hours a week and I’m overwhelmed with having the time crunch again,” junior Jake Wagner said.

“I wanted the strike to happen because I feel like I’d rather have these extra days to study on my own rather than going to school,” freshman Alekhya Thotakura said.

Although some students were upset with the conclusion and and continuation with school as scheduled, many were relieved as well.

“I’m glad the teachers came to an agreement, especially since we were unintentionally caught in the crossfire,” junior Chase Friel said. “Although an extra day to study at home would’ve been nice, at least finals won’t be affected so that’s one weight off of our shoulders”

“I’m glad the union and the board came to an agreement, but I hope the teachers didn’t just settle so we didn’t have a funky finals schedule.” junior Christina Buckstaff said. “I also wouldn’t’ve minded getting the extra time over break to study.”

“The strike has been daunting all of us students during this final exam period, so I’m glad that we can finally get that burden off of our shoulders,” junior Josalyn Service said. “It’s a relief we can focus on our studies with a set schedule.”

“I’m conflicted on the turnout of this strike,” senior Gwen Jones said. “I want to delay finals, but as a senior I want to graduate as soon as possible.”

“Being raised by educators, I know how important it is for both the union and the board to agree so now everyone can focus on the future of the students,” junior Patrick Angelaccio said.

Overall, despite the general consensus being mixed, students will now definitely have plenty of time to relax and reset for second semester over the holiday break.