PORTLAND, Ore. (KOIN) — In the midst of two ongoing strikes in southwest Washington, parents are planning meals and childcare — and wondering how much longer students will be out of class.

Wednesday was supposed to be the first day of school in Evergreen. Instead, it started with teachers on the picket line while students stayed at home.

Nicole Adams has triplets in all different high schools including two in the Evergreen district and one in Battle Ground, where teachers voted not to strike and move forward with a regular class schedule.

“To have one of my kids start school today, and the other ones not, was quite a juggle,” Adams said. “I was planning on them going to school today.”

She also has a son with special needs in Evergreen’s Archway Academy — also delayed as a result of the strike.

“Depending on how long this goes, I’m also in school for my nurse practitioner degree and so I have to figure out are they going to be home alone or are they going to go to grandma’s house or who’s going to get them to their sports activities,” Adams said. “I have friends with younger kids that are trying to figure out childcare and they work during the day.”

Parents KOIN 6 spoke with say they’re fully behind the teachers and everything they’re pushing for in the new contracts, but they also sympathize with families trying to navigate what’s next.

“We’re fortunate enough to have a stay-at-home parent, but we do know other families have had to look for childcare,” Breanna Fischer said, who has a recent high school grad, as well as two elementary-aged kids.

“We were kind of expecting it because we knew there were some pretty big problems that had not been worked out even though they had all year to work them out,” she said. “We support the teachers 100%. We think this is the right thing to do to fix this.”

Fischer says while she hopes things resume soon, it isn’t the first time she’s been through a delayed start to the school year.

“Hopefully it won’t take a long time,” Fischer said. “I remember calling five years ago when it was almost two weeks before they resolved the issues and my high schooler was very anxious to get started.”

Evergreen Public Schools tells KOIN 6 that Educational School District 112, which provides nearby districts like Evergreen with programs and services, will go beyond the typical before and after school care they give, and will offer full-day care to families during the closures at five elementary schools including Burnt Bridge Creek, Columbia Valley, Ellsworth, Image and Sifton.

The district will also have free meal pickup during the school delay, with the exception of Labor Day, with breakfast from 8:30 a.m. to 9:30 a.m. and lunch from 11:30 a.m. to 12:30 p.m. All Evergreen Public Schools students can get meals at the sites, regardless of whether they attend the specific school they go to for the meal service. Those locations include:

The district’s Welcome Center in the Administrative Service Center at 13413 NE LeRoy Haagen Memorial Drive will also have information on how to access resources like food pantries, clothing and school supplies and will be open Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday during the stoppage from 11 a.m. to 3 p.m. They can also be reached at 360-604-4020.

Other area services like Child Care Aware of Washington can help connect families with licensed childcare nearby, serving families in more than 250 languages. They offer up an online database for families to find what works best for them.