The teacher's strike in Minneapolis is officially over as the teachers union has ratified the contract that their union negotiators and Minneapolis Public Schools agreed to on Friday.
While specific terms of the contract are not immediately known, MFT says that the historic contract includes significant wage increases for ESPs, improving students learning conditions and protections for teachers of color.
President of the teachers chapter, Gretta Callahan, says although this deal will change the way students learn in Minneapolis, union negotiators did not get everything they wanted.
"It really shows what our battle is ahead," Callahan told Vineeta Sawkar on the WCCO Morning News. "It was definitely in the right direction. It's unfortunate that we had to go on strike for three weeks to get... things that our students critically need to have."
She cited those needs as mental health care and class size caps.
"At the same time, we are so grateful that our members were willing to take that risk to ensure that our students did have those things," she said.
According to union officials, nearly 3,000 members voted over the weekend.
The Minneapolis Federation of Teachers lists a membership of 4,500.
The rank-and-file receive pay raised in the pact, but Callahan says that's not as important as moving forward with improvements to the education process.
"This was never about money to begin with, it was all about power," she said. "The people negotiating this contract on behalf of the Minneapolis public schools are so deeply dug into their own power, their way of doing things, not giving control to those who are implementing the work. And that's dangerous."
With the new deal ratified, students to return to school on Tuesday.
Teachers are back to their buildings on Monday to prepare for students returning.
Minneapolis Public Schools Superintendent Ed Graff says the most important point of this deal is kids returning to school.
“Nothing is more important to the MPS community right now than returning our students to their classrooms. We are pleased to confirm Tuesday, March 29 for their return," he said.
School days will be extended by 42 minutes for the rest of the year starting on Monday, April 11th.
The end of the school year will now be June 24th.