CHICAGO _ Chicago Teachers Union delegates have voted to accept a new contract deal _ but won't end the strike yet because they're still squabbling with the city over making up the days lost to the walkout.
The union says it will be at City Hall at 10 a.m. Thursday to "demand the mayor return our days."
Chicago Public Schools responded a short time later by formally canceling classes again Thursday, which will be the 11th day of the walkout.
"We feel like important things were accomplished over the last 10 days" during the strike, CTU President Jesse Sharkey said. "Now we feel we're just being punished because we had the audacity to (go against) the mayor. ... Her last card is to punish up for what we did."
The union voted 364-242 in favor of a tentative agreement offered by Mayor Lori Lightfoot earlier this week, according to a source with firsthand knowledge of the outcome.
But the deal is contingent on teachers getting back the days lost in the strike _ as of Thursday, that will be 11. Teachers won't get paid for the days lost unless they are made up.
The makeup of school days called off by the strike emerged as a make-or-break issue Wednesday afternoon.
Union Vice President Stacy Davis Gates tweeted that the union "may have reached a monumental agreement and want to convene our (House of Delegates) to suspend the strike."
That sounded promising, but then she immediately followed up with another tweet: "However, our mayor has informed us that she will not make up student instructional time due to the strike."
Davis Gates also said: "Why is the mayor taking out her anger over the strike on #CPS students by reducing instructional time?"
Lightfoot has said the days won't be made up, but the district might be required by state law to add days, since a minimum of 180 instructional days is legally mandated. Not all 11 days would be legally required to be made up, though.
It remained unclear late Wednesday how Lightfoot and CPS will respond on making up school days.
Last week, Lightfoot was emphatically against the idea, saying: "I've been very clear from the beginning: We are not extending the school year. I typically don't say things in public that I don't mean."
Both sides have now accused the other of backing a loss of instructional time. Another late sticking issue has been to paid prep time for teachers, which Lightfoot has said she would not support because of its effect on classroom time. It's unclear if that issue has been resolved in the pending contract.
