Chicago schools, teachers make progress after Lightfoot's Friday ultimatum
Leaders from Chicago Public Schools and the Chicago Teachers Union reached several tentative agreements Saturday in ongoing negotiations to reopen schools, making progress in talks less than 24 hours after Mayor Lori Lightfoot said the "CTU leadership has failed and left us with a big bag of nothing."
A few large points of contention remain, but the sides started putting pen to paper the day after talks appeared on the verge of derailing, potentially signaling a deal could still be finalized this weekend.
The district's tentative agreements with the union were on health and safety protocols, ventilation, a contact tracing program and safety committees at each school that would monitor problems. Those were the verbal agreements the mayor lambasted CTU leadership for not putting in writing and signing Friday night.
The sides are still negotiating over larger disagreements