September 6, 1999
Web posted at: 8:51 p.m. EDT (0051 GMT)

DETROIT -- A tentative contract settlement with the Detroit school system has been reached, a teachers union spokesman said Monday night.

The deal would end a six-day walkout over reforms proposed by a new chief executive hired to fix the troubled school district.

Details of the contract would not be divulged until it is reviewed by the membership on Wednesday, said John Elliott, president of the Detroit Federation of Teachers.

School could begin as soon as Wednesday, he said.

"We consider it to be not only a victory for the teachers, but for the students we teach," he said.

The package offered includes "competitive wage increases," he said.

"We're not where we want to be, but we have moved up considerably if this agreement is approved," he said.

But Elliot said the process of lowering class size was "more modest than we would like." A teacher shortage and a limited number of classrooms make it difficult to lower the class size, which is up to 35 students per class in high school and a maximum of 30 students per class in middle and elementary schools.

Teachers in the 172,000-student district rejected an offer to extend their contract last week, spurning their own negotiators' recommendations and stalling last Tuesday's scheduled start of classes.

Teachers had been unhappy with proposals for a longer school day, merit pay, class size and other reforms proposed by the district's chief executive, David Adamany. He took the place of the superintendent after the Legislature voted in March to replace Detroit's elected school board with one appointed by the mayor.

Similar school takeovers have been enacted in Chicago and Cleveland.

The teachers struck in defiance of state law, and legislative leaders had said they would move to seek sanctions against the teachers Tuesday.

Adamany had said lawmakers likely would invoke a 1994 law that bars strikes by teachers and fines them one day's pay for each day they strike.

On Monday, teachers brought their message to the street, toting signs saying "No contract, no work" as they marched in the Labor Day parade in the nation's 10th-largest city.

Teachers will be asked to ratify the agreement in a secret ballot. The date of the vote had not been set, Elliot said.

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