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Subscribe to RSSKids may be back in school on Monday if the Chicago Teachers Union is able to reach an agreement about salary increases, teacher evaluations and rehiring policy for laid off teachers. NBC's Rehema Ellis reports.
Updated at 7:45 p.m. ET: President of the Chicago school board said on Friday that school negotiators had reached a "framework" agreement with the Chicago Teachers Union on a new contract that will end a strike in the third-largest school district in the nation.
"I am pleased to tell you we have in place frameworks around all of the major issues that should allow us to conclude this process and conclude it in time for our kids to be back in school on Monday morning," school board President Dave Vitale said.
Moments earlier, the attorney for the Chicago Teachers Union said the final deal wasn't done yet.
"The agreement has not been fully drafted and until an agreement is completed, the House of Delegates will not make a decision on whether to suspend the strike," CTU attorney Robert Bloch told reporters.
The union's delegates still will meet at 2 p.m. as planned, Bloch said, and a report will made to them about the progress of contract talks. Negotiations ended for the day, and Bloch said the two parties hope to have a deal drafted by Sunday. The union's delegates is a larger consultative body than the negotiating team.
"If the delegates so vote, we will suspend the strike and students can return to school on Monday," Bloch said.
Talks are expected to continue at 9 a.m. Saturday.
Chicago Mayor Rahm Emanuel issued a statement:
"This tentative framework is an honest and principled compromise that is about who we all work for: our students. It preserves more time for learning in the classroom, provides more support for teachers to excel at their craft, and gives principals the latitude and responsibility to build an environment in which our children can succeed. Now, our most important work continues: providing every child in every community of Chicago an education to match their potential."
Question at heart of Chicago strike: How do you measure teacher performance?
After a late night and early morning of negotiations, school officials had said they were confidently close to an agreement that would end Chicago's teacher strike over education reforms sought by the mayor.
Sitthixay Ditthavong / AP
Public school teachers rallying at Chicago's Congress Plaza protest against billionaire Hyatt Hotel mogul Penny Pritzker, who is also a member of the Chicago Board of Education on Thursday.
Thousands of teachers walked off the job Monday after months of negotiations failed to result in a new contract, affecting more than 350,000 students. It's the city's first teacher strike since October 1987.
"There were some creative ideas passed around, but we still do not have an agreement," Karen Lewis, the fiery former high school chemistry teacher who leads the union, told reporters. "We're going to go back to our respective shops and do some numbers crunching."
"It was a really, really long night," CPS chief education advisor Barbara Byrd-Bennett told NBCChicago.com. "We believe it was a beneficial night. We are so close I do believe it is very, very possible we could have a deal today."
She said she remained hopeful that students and teachers could return to class on Monday.
theGrio: 'Safe havens' for kids offered during Chicago teachers strike
"I think that we made some pretty good progress," Chicago School Board President David Vitale said on Thursday night. "We're closing a lot of gaps."
'A sense of urgency'
A more recent offer included provisions that would protect 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. Additionally, evaluations could work on a graduated scale throughout the term of the contract, comprising between 25 and 35 percent of a teacher's total score.
"There's a sense of urgency today,'' said the Rev. Jesse Jackson, who stopped by the hotel where the negotiators were working Thursday and spoke to reporters. A day earlier, he said the two sides were talking past each other.
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With a 60% graduation rate in the greater Chicago area public schools, it looks like they are rewarding failure.
I'm curious where the cuts are going to be made with the salary increase. The city budget is already in deficit territory. How many city workers will lose their jobs because of this strike?
Keep up the great work there, Rahmbo.
The Obama media doesn't care. They have their agenda ~ Any and all "News" coverage will serve one purpose. Provide damage control by ignoring or sugarcoating FACTUAL stories if they hurt Democrats ~ While also using ANY story to demonize Republicans
Witness: 4 Americans dead while Obama slept. Democrrat leaders & the media try to "sugarcoat" this outrage. Yet, all the dishonest Obama media can do is demonize Romney. Anything but shed light on this Dismal Security Breech. How did this happen? I know..how about you in the press ASK OBAMA!
They "say it's the films fault" Neitrher he nor Hillary defended free speech with more than a passing mention. Shame on todays dishonest distructive dangerous media.
I think these so called teachers had better thank God that the president is up for re-election. I truly believe Rahm would have voided their contracts and fired them all had this been a non election year. They would have never dared to try this with a republican president in the white house. They would have had no political cover.
Teachers holding kids, parents and the city of chicago should all be fired! They are some of the highest paid with great benefits along with a 16% raise the next 4 years......and still not satisfied because they and the union representing them are afraid bad teachers will loose their jobs. Ineffective teachers whose students fail in big numbers have to cause concern and question their ability to continue teching. Its time for Chicago to rethink this whole situation to consider getting rid of the union all together through statewide elections. When the those greedy teachers and the union pressed forward to leave kids and parents out on the limb is telling Americans they are more concernd for themselves then the kids they teach. Kids should come first. Teachers have caused parents hardships financially. Taxpayers in Chicago are straped due to the poor economy, while teachers pick this time to degrade education. Goes to show you just how inconsiderate and greedy they are!
!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! NO DEAL !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Fire Them !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Tenure should be eliminated and raises dictated by merit. Crappy teachers need to find another profession so they do not mess up our children and their future.
Look at that picture at the beginning of this article! I did not see anyone in this picture that even "looks like" a bona fide teacher. Looks more like the cover of a National Geographic magazine!! I would find it impossible to believe that my son, or daughter, could learn anything from this hysterical bunch of screaming meemies!! If these are "teachers", I would hate to see the "learners". Not too much "class" in that picture.
Looks like one of Obamas' "Get Out The Vote. Come Get Your Food Stamps" rallies!!! And all the White Teachers are in the back, with their mouths closed. Probably afraid of being accused of Racism if they join in the yelling and Screaming.
the tax payers get screwed AGAIN.....they should get what the private business rates are .. and PAY MORE into THEIR medical and retirement packages... PERFORMANCE CONTRACTING... do well get more money ...do poorly ..see ya later..
Wait, let me get this straight, they are trying to improve students educations by refusing to teach them? Well after the performance and graduation rates Chicago has seen in the past, maybe sending them home will improve their education. They couldn't get much worse. Now, don't get me wrong, I'm all for teachers and public safety and service personnel earning a decent wage, but whatever happened to doing the job because you were passionate about it or because you wanted to make a difference? Strikes are about one thing; money. Find a better way. You're harming the students that you are supposed to be nurturing for your own gain.
Are you kidding? Fire all of them and start over. They don't want to be held accountable for their job performance?
$75K per year salary, full health care, 8 weeks vacation and all the holidays ..... Outrageous.
Now, if my kids wanted to major in EBONICS, I know exactly where I would enroll them!!
Ha, Bohica, glad i want the only one thinking that. fire em all. Over paid and underated. Chicago school system needs to start new and might as well start now.
yep time for walker to help the Ill govenor draft up the same thing he did . the teachers are out of control they want everything now give them something to think about cut their wages , retirement ,benifits , make them pay some of thier own money into their retirement and health care time public workers get into the real world they got a retirement program second to none and a health program that is golden at the taxpayers expence
Once the city caves and the teachers settle for a 15.9% raise etc. they will have the gall to stand before the cameras and claim that they did it for the kids, and that the kids are the winners. The parents can expect their taxes to go up by another 66% in order to maintain that 50% graduation rate. It would be laughable if it weren't so sickening.
Pretty much describes every public union "negotiation"
Yeh...and the WISCONSIN TEACHERS' UNION will be in Chicago on Saturday to "support" the Chicago Teachers Union. Know why the Wisconsin teachers aren't in Chicago already??? Because they know Governor Walker would FIRE THEIR SORRY A**ES!!! Yeh, send a bunch of greedy losers from Wisconsin to "help" the losers in Chicago.......that's the right approach. Unions SUCK!!! Big time.
5th day of strike, this pretty much just shows that the unions/teachers arent going to budge till they get everything they want. Fire em and hire them back on your own terms rahm, if they dont like the terms, point them to the unemployment line that everyone else is in (the people that havent used up all their benefits already that is).
Attention:
Will the Taxpayers Please bend over. The settlement is being greased and it is heading your way
What do you call 5000 FIRED TEACHERS in Chicago??? A GOOD START!!!!
The real question is: Did they fire the right ones?
Hint: They belong to the corrupt Teachers Union??? Then they are the right ones to FIRE!!
Fire them all!!! and get rid of the Union.
I don't care what you do for Teachers they will aways complain. They get the whole summer off, two weeks for Christmas and spring break. I say make them work all year. During the summer they can do all the seminars. This year my daughter came home and said one of her teachers was going on vacation and school had only been going on for a week. Then she said she might take another vacation two weeks after that. That have to have substitutes because the teachers are always taking off during the school year. You would be surprised how much time some teachers take off during the school year.
We are lost as a nation . This is only one more example..........sigh
We NEED these people. Who else is going to teach the kids to vote for Oblamer?
If they learn to read okay. If they don't okay.
The New Black Panther Party will teach the Chicago Kids how to vote for ANY Dimocrap......OR ELSE!!!
The real losers in this?
The kids and parents held hostage by this strike.
But hey, nobody cares about them, at least the strikers don't.
That's not what their SIGNS say. "This is for our Kids" ???? Yeh, right....Should say "This is for MY SORRY UNION AZZ"! And, BTW, your "kids" are improving their education w/o you in the safe havens set up and operated by people WHO GENUINELY CARE.
I must be missing something here. If the strike is about money (which when you boil it down it really is), how can the teachers afford to be out of work for a week? Obviously they're not hurting that much.
And therein lies the problem......Make them SUFFER by refusing to accept their ridiculous DEMANDS. BTW , isn't it odd that when Unions request additional pay or benefits those requests are always referred to as DEMANDS???? Maybe our Public Officials should retaliate and DEMAND that they get their sorry azzes back to work or the consequence will be blanket dismissal for ALL Strikers.
There are some bad teachers, all for getting rid of the bad apples, but have not seen alot of comments about the kids and the environment they live in. I grew up in a inner city, some kids come from poor families, one parent households, crime ridden areas, parents who do not take a interest in their kids schooling, not to mention getting an education and knowledge is even frowned on by other kids. All this can be a factor in any poor educational levels
Frankly, these are not public schools......these are Government schools b/c this is where the funding comes from. No issue here at all......just teachers trying to get their handout in a system today that rewards dependency.
Its where we are headed.....i agree it does nto work....but cant blame the teachers.....they see it.....why not reach for it. and it will continue.....in almost every region if the chicago union is successful.
My wife is a teacher. She does an excellent job and is a huge asset to the school district, the parents and the children. I would love it if my wife made more money, but if the district does not have the money, then how on earth can they sign the contract. I believe that teachers, administrators, and everyone else in the district should have goals and get paid based on achieving those goals. When 15% of the kids can meet expectations/goals set for them and half of the kids do not graduate, I'm just not sure how increasing salaries will help. Are we saying that they'll work harder to make sure the scores increase. Are we saying that the teachers were not trying quite as hard as they should have because their health insurance benefits weren't good enough. It just makes no sense and it is absolutely not "about the kids". I love my wife and I think the vast majority of teacher do a wonderful job. I also agree with other posts that the biggest reason for the low scores and graduation rates is due to the kids' home lives. This is just another example of throwing money at a problem and a great showpiece for welfare. It does not work. When half of the country pays zero in Income Tax, this is what happens. Lazy and defeated parents aren't going to push education on their kids. Make the parent go to work, pay taxes and contribute to our great country and most of these issue will go away. The kids may even have a country to grow up in too.
You forgot to mention that they should also be LAID OFF when there is no money, or FIRED for being incompetent. I am fed up with hearing how "special" teachers are. I went to school and know what they do and do not do. I have two college degrees and no teacher ever went out of their way to help me, EVER. I learned MUCH MORE on my own efforts than any teacher ever "taught" me.
I am a computer scientist, and have a degree in mathematics and still do make as much in a year as these "teachers" make in 9 months. Get a clue. The economy is bad and teachers need to be adjusted with firing, less money, and be EVALUATED the same as anyone NOT in a UNION. Unions in government should NOT BE ALLOWED since they have NO COMPETITION. The fact that UNION THUGS provide LIFE TIME employment without ANY ACCOUNTABILITY or the possibility of being fired, and benefits that are outrageous, and pensions that begin at 55 till forever at taxpayers expense is ridiculous.
Mn you started out well, but then fell down becuase well your little women is a teacher. You drank the kool aid her union was making. You blame the customer the kids and parent for not sending to school a refined product. If you would take the time and watch Waiting for Superman, you will have to do it when your wife is correcting all those papers she bring home nightly. Becuase if she catches you watching it, well lets just say you will be sleeping on the floor for a long time. You will learn a ton, that kids, black ones from the worst ghetto in NY city, when given an option to attend a private school had results that were better than the white ones in Westchester and Rockland counties right outside the city. Both counties are very wealthy and pay their teachers a ton, over 125k per year or more. So it is not the cusotmers fault that they can't learn, it is the teachers, cause isn't that what they went to school for in the first place?