Chicago school strike goes on; both sides look for deal soon

Associated Press

CHICAGO

The city’s public schools will stay closed for at least one more day, but leaders of the teachers union and the school district kept talking Thursday, with both sides saying they hoped to complete a deal soon to end the nearly weeklong strike.

“We are optimistic, but we are still hammering things out,” said Karen Lewis, president of the Chicago Teachers Union.

Word of the progress in negotiations came less than a day after the school board offered a proposal to modify a system that would use student test scores to help evaluate teacher performance.

Under an old proposal, the union estimated that 6,000 teachers could lose their jobs within two years. An offer made late Wednesday included provisions that would have protected tenured teachers from dismissal in the first year of the evaluations. It also altered categories that teachers can be rated on and added an appeals process.

The union called a special delegates meeting for this afternoon, when the bargaining team is scheduled to give an update on contract talks.

Negotiations resumed Thursday with an air of optimism. Lewis said students could be back in class by Monday, a week after teachers walked out.

“We’ve made progress in some areas, but still we have a way to go,” she added. “Teachers, paraprofessionals and clinicians remain hopeful but energized.”

After Wednesday’s late-night bargaining session, school board President David Vitale also was more positive.

Roughly 25,000 teachers have been on the picket line in the nation’s third-largest school district.

The new optimism also was evident among teachers who marched Thursday along Michigan Avenue. They were joined by marching bands and protesters carrying balloons, pushing strollers and waving Chicago flags.