DETROIT, Sept. 12 (AP) — The city's striking teachers and the school district reached a tentative contract agreement overnight, clearing the way for a possible return to work after 16 days on the picket line.
The deal was reached in bargaining between the Detroit Public Schools and the 9,500-member Detroit Federation of Teachers after Mayor Kwame Kilpatrick brought the two sides together in his office, Ken Coleman, a school spokesman, said Tuesday.
"This is a tentative deal," Mr. Coleman said, "but we are optimistic" that the strike will end.
The union's executive committee approved the tentative agreement in a meeting later Tuesday and recommended that teachers return to work pending a ratification vote over the next few weeks. A union spokeswoman, Michelle Price, said teachers could meet Wednesday morning to vote on returning to work that day. A mail ratification vote would follow.
Classes could start as early as Thursday.
The agreement includes a pay freeze for this school year, a 1 percent increase for 2007-8 and a 2.5 percent increase for 2008-9, said Vince Consiglio, a member of the union executive board. It also calls for all teachers to pay 10 percent of their health insurance costs, he said.