Chicago public school children will miss their fourth day of school Thursday since the start of a teachers strike on Monday.
The heads of the teachers’ union and Chicago school board say progress is being made. Teacher union president Karen Lewis said Wednesday’s long day of negotiating ended with some real progress especially dealing with the thorny issue of teacher evaluation. She says the school district’s negotiating team is starting to hear its concerns. But Lewis isn’t ready to declare victory. School board president David Vitale also acknowledged progress in the area of evaluations and recall of laid off teachers. The union says it’s also concerned about the closure of 100 schools. Vitale says there’s no plans right now to close schools but the district has to deal with having some 130-thousand more seats than it needs. The two sides continue negotiations Thursday.
