Mayor Rahm Emanuel and Chicago Public Schools (CPS) currently intend to close fifty-four schools before the year is over. This means Chicago is likely to have the largest number of school closures in any city in America this year.

The Chicago Teachers Union has agreed to suspend its seven-day strike and return to work. Classes will resume for more than 350,000 students on Wednesday. This does not mean they have agreed to the contract submitted by the Chicago Public Schools, only that they will complete the strike action while reserving the right to walk out again if the final resolution doesn’t meet with their satisfaction.

Chicago public school students will not return to the classroom on Monday, as the Chicago Teachers Union decided to take more time to mull over a contract proposal. Students will not return to class until Wednesday at the earliest, according to the union.

Chicago public school students will not return to the classroom on Monday, as the Chicago Teachers Union decided to take more time to mull over a contract proposal. Students will not return to class until Wednesday at the earliest, according to the union.

At the end of the rally, Karen Lewis, president of CTU, delivered a speech. She said she was tired and frustrated. She explained the negotiations had produced a framework for an agreement but no agreement, which means the strike is not over. If you read the news reports on the rally, this is what Lewis said.

It’s important to note that Chicago is being used as the latest laboratory for anti-union privatization measures that some big business Democrats and Republicans hope to implement across the country. Firedoglake has assembled a Myth vs. Fact sheet to help you better understand what’s going on in the Windy City.

The Chicago Tribune reports that a tentative deal has been reached in the teachers strike that would resume classes as early as Monday for 350,000 students.

The union’s House of Delegates will review the proposal at a meeting this afternoon and is likely to vote to end the five-day-old teachers strike on Sunday after final details have been worked out, officials say.

The Chicago teachers strike could end by Monday, CTU President Karen Lewis now projects. It’s hard to get a handle on where the concessions have been made. We know that raises would be restructured as per union policy and health insurance rates would remain the same, pending union participation in wellness programs. In addition, the city would be unable to rescind raises in a time of economic emergency, as Rahm Emanuel did last year.

The Chicago Teachers Union strike could end as early as tomorrow. Both sides reported progress in yesterday’s bargaining session, and hopes are high that today’s session will complete whatever outstanding issues exist. Since strikes are technically confined to bargaining issues like pay and benefits, we only have the barest sketch of the emerging deal.

The AP reports that Obama Education Secretary Arne Duncan is “neutral” about the Chicago Treachers Strike. But he’s only neutral if one believes he has no prior experience in the management of education. He’s only neutral if you gloss over and omit his history as “former chief of Chicago’s public school system” and then leave it there. Catalyst Chicago, an independent news magazine created in 1990 to document, analyze and support school-improvement efforts in the Chicago Public Schools, covered Duncan’s record as CEO of Chicago’s public schools, and that history makes clear he’s far from “neutral.”