Both Chicago Teachers Union President Karen Lewis and Board of Education President David Vitale said late last night that they were hopeful the CTU strike would end today soon, with classes resuming tomorrow. The optimism follows the district publicly releasing their latest contract proposal. That offer includes assuring teachers that they could not be dismissed in their first year of evaluation and retaining health insurance costs at their current rate as long as teachers participate in a city wellness program. Also, the district would be prohibited from rescinding raises due to an economic crisis. The Board of Education blocked a four percent raise for teachers last year citiing economic hard times.

In her remarks last night, Lewis cited progress on the teacher evaluation issue.

In other strike news, CPS head Jean-Claude Brizard requested to Lewis that CTU stop picketing the 147 schools that are open as strike contingency sites. And Capitol Fax released a poll (in a subscription-only post) conducted by We Ask America that found among 1,344 Chicago households 56 percent approved of CTU's decision to strike and 40 percent disapproved.

UPDATE (10:20 a.m.): Although CPS and CTU agree that they may come to a resolution in contract talks today, they seem to disagree on how soon classes will resume. CPS says classes will likely begin tomorrow if an agreement is made, while CTU President Lewis says that is "highly unlikely", according to the Chicago Tribune.