Teachers Accept Offer, Parents' Rally Cancelled

After nearly two weeks on the picket line, the 711 Catholic high school teachers will return to work Tuesday.

The archdiocese and Local 1776, the union that represents the teachers have been struggling to reach a new contact agreement since the end of March and the union has been on strike since Sept. 6.

It was announced Sunday, in a joint statement from the diocese and the union, that a tenative agreement had been reached and, according to a report from NBC, the teachers accepted the new agreement this morning.

To read NBC's full report click here.

With an agreement reached, the 6 p.m. rally organized by Catholic Parents Respond is canceled.

"The 1,293 members of CPR are greatly relieved by today's settlement agreement," a release from the ad hoc organization stated. "Both parents and students are grateful to both sides that they finally understood the sense of urgency to end this impasse and get our children back to school."

The statement goes on to say that the parents believe they were influential in Monday's settlement.

"We know both sides are well aware of our efforts, our considerable membership numbers and our call to withhold tuition payments until the kids were back in school," it continued, adding that it is refraining from commenting on the terms of the agreement becuase that was never its concern.

"Our goal was to apply pressure to hasten a settlement and return our kids to the classroom," the release stated.

Although the group was formed last week as result of the strike, it will continue operating if its members wish to do so and address other concerns including the potential closure of more Catholic high schools.