CTU strike, Day 15: What did special education students gain from the strike?

8:30 p.m. Some special ed advocates ask, was the strike worth it?

Special education advocates — teachers and parents alike — were among the strongest supporters of the Chicago Teachers Union strike, even as it lasted into a third week.

But some of those same people are now among the deal’s loudest critics, saying their needs did not make it into the final agreement reached between CPS and CTU.

“This is not strong enough to provide real relief,” tweeted Christine Palmieri, a parent and special education advocate.

Lauren FitzPatrick dives into the teachers contract to see what special education has to gain. Check out her report here.

7:01 p.m. IHSA board will hear appeal to allow CPS cross country runners back in state playoffs

The Illinois High School Association’s board will hear an appeal on behalf of Chicago Public Schools cross country runners on Friday morning.

CPS cross country teams were removed from the state meets due to the Chicago Teachers Union strike. They missed out on regionals last weekend.

Peter Auffant, Mather’s principal, submitted the appeal on behalf of all the CPS cross country teams.

Read Michael O’Brien’s full report here.

3:48 p.m. The kids are going back to school

Nieves Mandujano heard news of the strike’s conclusion while visiting the Field Museum with a group of friends and classmates from Bogan High School on the Southwest Side. The museum offered free admission for CPS students during the strike.

Mandujano said she wasn’t sorry to see their impromptu early winter break come to an end.

“I’ve missed a lot. I barely remember where we left off,” the junior said. “And now I’m concerned lessons are going to be squeezed together.”

Mitch Armentrout caught up with CPS students who will be going back to school tomorrow. Here’s what they’re thinking as the CTU strike ends.

3:18 p.m. Here’s what’s in the CPS-CTU deal

The 41-page agreement that union delegates approved by a tight 362-242 vote Wednesday night includes details on everything from salary hikes to class size limits. But advocates say it doesn’t do enough for special education.

Sun-Times reporters Lauren FitzPatrick, Nader Issa and Jake Wittich have been covering the strike. They broke down the specifics of the tentative agreement, which is still subject to approval by the union’s full membership. And CPS has yet to lay out the costs.

Ashlee Rezin Garcia/Sun-Times

Read more on the potential contract’s provisions for class sizes, class length, special education, bilingual education and teachers’ bathrooms.

2:54 p.m. Sharkey declined joint press conference with Lightfoot on strike suspension

Stepping out of her fifth floor office to announce the agreement, Lightfoot said she was “glad that this phase is over so we can get back to work.”

“In the interest of our students and our parents who have been suffering, it was important today to make sure that we got our kids back in class,” Lightfoot said. “In the spirit of compromise, we agreed. It was a hard-fought discussion.”

The mayor said she invited CTU president Jesse Sharkey to appear with her at a joint news conference, but he declined.

Nader Issa has more from the scene outside the mayor’s office where the strike-suspending deal was finally reached.

2:36 p.m. With the strike suspended, CPS football teams can play in state playoffs

The suspension of the strike is big news for CPS athletes, who have endured a stressful, confusing two weeks. They couldn’t practice and were never sure if they would actually be able to play their first-round state playoff games.

For the students who organized their teams and peers to advocate for the strike’s end, like Simeon senior Khalyl Warren, one of the football players that organized the trip to City Hall, these past weeks outside the classroom were a learning experience.

“I learned that your voice has power, no matter who you are,” Warren said Thursday. “Always speak your mind if there is a problem. Your voice always has power.”

Michael O’Brien has the full story on what the strike suspension means for student athletes.

1:22 p.m. Teachers reach tentative contract agreement, suspend strike

Mayor Lori Lightfoot and Chicago Teachers Union leaders have agreed to make up five of the days missed during the union’s strike, putting an end to a contentious few months of bargaining and likely sending 300,000 students back to school Friday.

The agreement was reached at a two-hour meeting at City Hall between the mayor and union president Jesse Sharkey. It comes a day after the union’s governing body approved a tentative agreement with Chicago Public Schools on a five-year deal.

— Nader Issa

11:53 a.m. Scenes from the downtown teachers rally

For special education math and language arts teacher Michael Krantz-Perlman, eight days of pay and instruction tacked on to the school year would be enough to return to work.

“That would be good enough,” said Krantz-Perlman, 28, who teaches at Boone Elementary School in West Rogers Park.

Mitch Dudek/Sun-Times

Krantz-Perlman, standing 6 feet 6 six inches, was dressed as Abraham Lincoln.

On whether there was a taller CTU member in existence , he said: “I don’t know and don’t care.”

By 11:50 a.m., the streets outside City Hall were reopened to vehicular traffic. The crowd had diminished significantly. Several hundred CTU members in front of Thompson Center were in a festive mood.

— Mitch Dudek

11:28 a.m. Sharkey addresses teachers at rally outside City Hall

CTU President Jesse Sharkey spoke to striking teachers gathered outside City Hall for a rally before heading inside, where he said he had a meeting scheduled with Mayor Lori Lightfoot.

He said that at a nearly 3-hour meeting Wednesday night of the union’s house of delegates, there was an “incredible, passionate discussion” about what the strike had achieved, and about the terms of the tentative agreement the union had reached with CPS.

But at that meeting, Sharkey says the union decided members “should return to work at the schools, pending one thing: And that one thing is a return-to-work agreement.”

Late Wednesday night, Lightfoot characterized the union’s demand for makeup days as “a curveball.”

When someone “comes to my office and tells me that these are the only issues, and then gives me their word, I take them at their word,” Lightfoot said Thursday morning. She says CTU President Jesse Sharkey told her, “‘Mayor, I give you my word.’ Why should I not be able to rely upon that?”

Before walking into City Hall Thursday morning, Sharkey said the union believes “that there are a number of important achievements in this contract.”

But he also said that he did not think that ratification of the contract offer from the full union memberships was going to be “a slam dunk.”

“The question that everyone wants to know is, are we ending the strike and returning to work?” Sharkey said. “And the answer to that is, we want to, but there needs to be a discussion about making up some of the instruction time that was lost. I understand that it’s going to be difficult for the mayor and for the people who run the schools to fit 11 instructional days back into the school year. But our strong feeling is that we want to discuss it. It can’t be zero [days]. It can’t be zero. That’s not an acceptable number to us.”

After his remarks, WBEZ education reporter Sarah Karp snapped a striking photo of the union leader walking towards Lightfoot’s office that she shared on Twitter:

— Sun-Times staff report

10:51 a.m. WATCH: Mayor Lightfoot discusses where things stand in teacher contract negotiations

From Thursday morning’s press conference:

The mayor’s office shared the full press conference here.

10:34 a.m. Teachers take to the streets outside City Hall

“It’s been crazy,” Kenwood Academy High School drawing and painting teacher Matt Milkowski said of the previous 24 hours.

“I am assuming today that Lightfoot will change her mind and give back some or all of the days we’ve been on strike so that we can get a full school year in terms of instructional time and pay,” said Milkowski, noting there was precedent for such an arrangement based on previous CTU strikes.

“We’re expecting to get them back, but we also understand the risks we’re taking when we go on strike,” he said.

“Everyone is kind of on the edge. I think very few are 100% ‘we need to keep going’ or 100% ‘we’re happy with this’ so that feels, in terms of democracy of the union, like it’s probably an ok time to stop as long as we get those days back,” Milkowski said.

Regarding the tentative deal as a whole, Milkowski said: “I think teachers are 50/50 on this tentative agreement, but the vote is in and we’re willing to do it as long as those days are returned.”

— Mitch Dudek

9:51 a.m. Lightfoot says she won’t accept ‘take it or leave it’ deal

At a press conference Thursday morning, Mayor Lori Lightfoot said she was unwilling to accept a “take it or leave it” agreement offered by the union to get teachers back in the classroom.

She suggested that union leadership misrepresented the terms of their contract ask in earlier negotiations.

When someone “comes to my office and tells me that these are the only issues, and then gives me their word, I take them at their word,” Lightfoot said. She says CTU President Jesse Sharkey told her, “‘Mayor, I give you my word.’ Why should I not be able to rely upon that?”

At a late news conference Wednesday, Lightfoot said union leaders, during a three-hour meeting at City Hall Tuesday, raised six issues that they said needed to be addressed for them to end the strike. Compensation for missed days was not among them.

“Wouldn’t you think if this was a priority, that they would have brought it to the table?” Lightfoot asked at Thursday’s press conference.

CPS CEO Janice Jackson said at the same press conference Thursday that there was “no way” to make up the 11 days of missed instruction time due to the strike without canceling winter break or extending the school year far into the summer.

“This year has already been disrupted because of the strike,” Jackson said.

“The only way to make up 11 days is to really disrupt families’ plans that have already been made.”

9:33 a.m. Sun-Times editorial board: Today is the day. End this strike.

The Sun-Times editorial board writes early Thursday:

Read the full editorial here.

9:17 a.m. Lightfoot willing to negotiate

Ald. Michael Scott Jr. (24th), Mayor Lori Lightfoot’s handpicked chairman of the City Council’s Education Committee, said Thursday Lightfoot is now willing to negotiate compensating teachers for the days spent on strike.

”She’s willing to do what it takes to get kids back in school. If that means negotiating the number of days, that’s what it is,” Scott told the Sun-Times.

”They came to her with ten days or nothing. It’s not ten days or nothing. It’s negotiating” the number of days.

Fran Spielman reports.

9:06 a.m. Lightfoot to hold press briefing on negotiations

Mayor Lori Lightfoot and Chicago Public Schools CEO Janice Jackson announced that they will be holding a press conference at City Hall at 9:30 a.m. to discuss the status of contract negotiations.

The Chicago Teachers Union plans to be at City Hall for a rally at 10 a.m. Teachers are demanding that the mayor make up time and pay lost during the strike.

— Alice Bazerghi

7:13 a.m. What makeup days would look like for CPS

Last night at the bargaining table, the union asked the mayor to make up time and pay lost during the strike.

The days would mostly have to be added to the end of the school year for the teachers to get all their lost pay back. There are, however, a select number of days during the year when students don’t attend school and teachers don’t get paid. Those could be changed to attendance days to make up some lost time and pay.

The last day of school on the CPS calendar is June 16. If all the missed days were added to the end of the year, school could continue until June 30.

6:37 a.m. Teachers, CPS reach tentative deal, but classes still canceled

The Chicago Teachers Union’s governing body voted Wednesday to accept a tentative agreement with Chicago Public Schools, but the city’s longest teachers strike since 1987 will continue after Mayor Lori Lightfoot refused to accept the union’s demand that the district make up all 10 school days missed during the walkout.

The tentative contract agreement passed in an unusually split vote, with 362 delegates in favor to 242 against at a contentious meeting with heated debate that eventually put the months-long battle on the verge of a resolution.

But the caveat that the mayor agree to make up lost time and pay appeared to leave the two sides distinctly far apart with, yet again, no clear end in sight.

Read more of our coverage from last night’s contract talks.

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