CHICAGO — The city’s nearly week-long teachers strike appeared headed toward a resolution Friday after negotiators emerged from marathon talks to say they had achieved a “framework” that could end the walkout in time for students to return to class Monday.
Both sides were careful not to describe the deal as a final agreement.
They expected to spend the weekend working out details before union delegates are asked to vote on the package, probably on Sunday.
Chicago School Board president David Vitale said the “heavy lifting” was over after long hours of talks placed “frameworks around all the major issues.”
The school district and union negotiators “put things on the table over the last few days to help each other” and to put schools on track to reopen next week, Vitale said.
“Our kids are going to get the time they need in this school year, and they’re going to get the time they need in the school day,” he said. “And our teachers are going to get the respect they deserve for their hard work with our kids.”
Robert Bloch, an attorney for the Chicago Teachers Union, said union leaders updated delegates on the progress at a meeting Friday afternoon.
“It’s been a very difficult agreement,” Bloch said. “This has been one of the most difficult labor contracts negotiated in decades. Many of the core issues of the contract have been worked out, but not all of them.”
Later, union president Karen Lewis reiterated that there is no contract yet and that the strike is still in effect. But she said she also hopes to see students in class Monday.
The walkout by more than 25,000 teachers, the first in Chicago in 25 years, canceled five days of school for more than 350,000 public school students.
