Hundreds of thousands of schoolchildren in Chicago returned to class Wednesday after teachers voted to suspend their strike.
“We feel very positive about moving forward,” Chicago Teachers Union President Karen Lewis told NBC News. “We feel grateful that we have a united union, and that when a union moves together we have amazing things happen.”
The teachers’ strike was the first to take place in Chicago in 25 years and kept around 350,000 students from going to school for seven days.
“Seven days I think is long enough,” Doris Gordon, a grandmother of a 5-year-old student, told the New York Times. “I was getting a little frustrated.”
Another parent, Naomi Gonzalez, said her daughter “was dying to come back” to school, ABC reported. “She was counting down the days, and she is extremely, extremely happy.”
The teachers’ contract, which has yet to be ratified, includes a 7 percent salary increase in three years and allows teachers to create their own lesson plans.
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