(SEATTLE) — Washington state’s largest school district has reached a “tentative agreement” with its educators union, as school closures stretch into nearly a week.

Seattle Public Schools announced late Monday that it had come to a tentative agreement on the educators’ contract with the Seattle Education Association.

“For now, the details of the tentative agreement are confidential,” the school district said in an update to families.

Union members will review the proposed contract and vote on whether to lift the strike on Tuesday, school officials said. The school district said it also plans to update families on the start of school by Tuesday afternoon.

The school year was supposed to start on Sept. 7, though classes for some 50,000 students in the district have not been held since then after the Seattle Education Association overwhelmingly voted to authorize a strike the day before. Of the 75% of members who voted, 95% voted in favor of a strike.

The union had previously rejected a proposal from the school district to start the school year on time without a contract, which expired last month, amid the negotiations.

Among the sticking points for the union — which represents some 6,000 certificated teachers, substitutes, paraprofessionals and office professionals — are more special education teachers and greater mental health and behavioral resources. The union was seeking to improve staffing ratios in special education, while the district said it was focusing on student needs “rather than fixed staff ratios” to improve service and inclusion.

The union was also pushing for higher set pay raises, in particular for its lower-paid members, including front office staff and instructional assistants.

The union said late Monday that it was “excited” to have reached a tentative agreement.

“We stuck together, made our strength and unity known, and our action worked,” the Seattle Education Association said in a statement. “Our solidarity on the picket lines and the enormous community support we received made all the difference.”

“We should all be proud of what we accomplished and what we stood up for: student supports and respect for educators,” the statement continued.

The union said the tentative agreement is for a three-year contract, with special education ratios “maintained and improved in areas.” The contract also adds “baseline mental health staffing in all schools” and yearly raises above the implicit price deflator — akin to cost of living increases — according to the union.

The school district called the agreement an “incredible effort” by the bargaining teams for both sides.

“We want to thank everyone on both teams who worked hard to come to a resolution,” it said.

The school district is the latest to see teacher strikes during the pandemic, which has exacerbated an existing teacher crisis over working conditions and pay.

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(NEW YORK) — A second trial to determine what conspiracy theorist Alex Jones should pay to Sandy Hook families began Tuesday in Connecticut with an attorney for the families calling what Jones said about the deadliest elementary school shooting in the nation’s history “beyond the pale.”

The attorney, Chris Mattei, told the jury Jones cooked up lies about the massacre to profit off his audience’s fear that the government would take away guns.

“The government staged it. People knew about it in advance. Parents were suspects. They were reading from a script,” Mattei recited some of what Jones said on his show during an opening statement.

The jury will decide how much in damages Jones should pay to an FBI agent who responded to the scene and eight families of victims that Jones called actors.

“None of them wanted to bring this lawsuit. They don’t want to be here,” Mattei said.

Instead, the attorney said the families sought to prevent Jones from preying on other families who experience tragedy.

“Will you stop him? That’s going to be in your hands,” Mattei said.

The plaintiffs successfully sued Jones for defamation in November 2021 and are seeking to hold him financially liable for his comments, which include calling them “crisis actors,” saying the massacre was “staged” and “the fakest thing since the three-dollar bill.”

The defense said the trial was meant to determine damages and urged the jury to refrain from making a statement.

“We don’t want you to do anything here but follow the law as the court instructs you,” defense attorney Norm Pattis said Tuesday. “You’ll hear nothing from the judge about stopping Alex Jones.”

The trial comes a month after a Texas jury ordered Jones to pay nearly $50 million to the parents of one of the victims.

In that trial, Jones was successfully sued by the parents of a 6-year-old boy who was killed in the 2012 Sandy Hook Elementary School massacre after he claimed that the shooting — where 20 children and six adults were killed — was a hoax, a claim he said he now thinks is “100% real.”

As in that trial, the judge has already entered a default judgment against Jones and his company, Free Speech Systems.

“Alex Jones and Free Speech Systems are liable under Connecticut law,” Judge Barbara Bellis told jurors. “Mr. Jones used multiple channels to distribute these statements to his audience including the InfoWars family of websites.”

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