The Chicago Teachers Union's House of Delegates officials said that the teachers strike will continue on Monday and there will not be school for students.
The union's more than 700 delegates have the authority to formally end the strike but not to approve the contract. The union's full membership of roughly 26,000 teachers and paraprofessionals will have an opportunity to vote on the contract in the coming weeks.
Union leaders were trying to persuade skeptical delegates to accept the tentative contract offer and end the weeklong teachers strike at today's closed-door meeting, according to multiple sources.
Retiree Willie Scott, who had to leave the meeting early, said that whether classes resume tomorrow is still up in the air.
"We don't know, it has not been decided," Scott said around 4:30 p.m.
He said he would not be happy if school resumed without a settlement in place.
"I don't trust the mayor or the government,” he said.
On Saturday evening, CTU president Karen Lewis had sounded more optimistic after thousands of teachers from Chicago and beyond rallied at a Near West Side park.
"We believe this is a good contract, however, no contract will solve all of the inequities in our district," Lewis said in a statement. "We are a democratic body and therefore we want to ensure all of our members have had the chance to weigh in on what we were able to win."
When the House of Delegates started its meeting at Operating Engineers Hall in Chinatown this afternoon, leaders were hopeful that the district's 350,000 students would be back in the classroom by Monday.
The union finally released details of the proposed deal just before midnight. The deal calls for a three-year contract, with an option for a fourth year that both the district and union would have to agree to. There would be 3 percent raises in years one and four, and 2 percent raises in years two and three, according to the union.
So-called "step and lane" increases, raises given out for years of service and continuing education, would be preserved under the contract, according to the union. And the three highest steps would be increased.
The union also said it had come to an agreement on the sticky issues of performance reviews and teacher recall when schools close. Standards for teacher evaluations that could lead to firings would be eased, and some higher-rated teachers could get a better shot at being recalled after layoffs, sources said.
The mayor did get the longer school day he fought for, though six of 181 days in school became half days during negotiations, sources said. And principals will still have significant power in hiring teachers, they added.
Other details of the proposed contract, according to the union:
• The school board decided not to pursue "differentiated compensation," which would have one set of teachers being paid differently than another set.
• The hiring of more than 500 teachers in art, music, physical education, world languages and other classes "to ensure students receive a better school day."
• A hiring pool that requires one-half of all of CPS hires must be laid-off members.
• Teachers will be allowed the option to "follow their students" when schools are closed. Also, the contract will have 10 months of true recall to the same school if a position opens.
• In evaluations, 70 percent will be based on "teacher practice” and 30 percent on "student growth."
• The hiring of nurses, social workers and school counselors when the board "gets new revenue."
• A guarantee that CPS students and educators will have textbooks on the first day of classes and "will not have to wait up to six weeks for learning materials."
"This union has proven the Chicago labor movement is neither dormant nor dead," Lewis said in releasing the details. "We showed our solidarity and our strength, and with this new contract we have solidified our political power and captured the imagination of the nation. No one will ever look upon a teacher and think of him or her as a passive, person to be bullied and walked on ever again."
While the two sides worked out the terms in private, the Saturday afternoon rally was filled with symbolism. Out-of-state teachers traveled to Union Park in solidarity with a city teachers union that has attracted national attention as organized labor looks for lessons in a fight with cash-strapped government.
Representatives from teachers unions in Wisconsin and Minnesota spoke, as did the Rev. Jesse Jackson and Lorretta Johnson, secretary-treasurer of American Federation of Teachers
"I remember in Baltimore, we had a 95 percent strike, but it didn't look like this," Johnson said, referencing the 90 percent support Chicago's strike vote got. "You have proven to the world that you're not going to take it anymore.
"The challenge was to stand up for the children, and you have done that."
