Chicago Teachers Union Upbeat About Possible Deal
The Chicago Teachers Union president says a deal to end the city’s first teachers’ strike in 25 years is close, but she’s pushed back her timeline a bit.
Just hours after predicting students could be back in class by Friday, Karen Lewis said it might be Monday instead. She spoke to reporters Thursday morning on her way into negotiations.
Negotiators say they made substantial progress the night before. Lewis says signing off on a final proposal would require a meeting by union delegates and that could take some time.
Chicago teachers’ strike grinds into third day
Commentary: Chicago teachers strike - Give change a chance
Chicago Teachers Union President Karen Lewis, right. (Credit: Sitthixay Ditthavong) The bargaining ended shortly before midnight Wednesday, and both sides agreed that they had got closer to a settlement. CBS station WBBM in Chicago reports Lewis came out smiling and saying she was happy.
The optimism was echoed on the picket lines Thursday, four days after roughly 25,000 teachers went on strike and left nearly 400,000 students out of school. Lewis said the changes of getting a deal today were, on a scale of 1 to 10, a 9, WBBM reports. But the House of Delegates would still need to approve any agreement.
“All parties need to just stay focused and get the best use of our time, ” said Chicago School Board chief education adviser Barbara Byrd-Bennett
Among one of the major concessions so far was the district softening its guidelines on a teacher evaluation system, which the union at first claimed focused too much on standardized testing.