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It will be back-to-school Wednesday for District 300 teachers and students after a tentative agreement was reached late Tuesday between the district and LEAD 300. 

According to the District 300 website: 

We are pleased to report that LEAD 300 and the Board of Education have reached a tentative agreement for a new 3-year contract. The strike has ended, and school will be in session tomorrow, Wednesday, December 5, 2012.  We believe the agreement that was reached is fair to the teachers and responsible to the taxpayers of the community. We are not releasing details of the proposal immediately to allow LEAD an opportunity to update its members. We will release the specifics within the next several days.

The above information was updated at 9:15 p.m. on Tuesday, Dec. 4. 

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Michael Williamson, LEAD 300 spokesman, said bargaining teams for the teacher's union and District 300 were still meeting shortly before 9 p.m. on Tuesday. 

He said he could not comment further on the status of negotiations, whether both sides were close in reaching a tentative agreement or if teachers would again be on strike Wednesday. 

Updated at 9 p.m. on Tuesday, Dec. 4. 

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District 300 updated its website Tuesday afternoon to include the following information:

"As of 3 p.m. today (Tuesday, Dec. 4), the negotiation teams for the District 300 Board of Education and LEAD 300 were in communication to determine their next steps in trying to resolve the strike.   As more information becomes available, the District will provide updates on this website and a message will be sent via phone and/or email to D300 families and staff members. If a tentative agreement is reached today, the message will indicate that school will be in session tomorrow as normal. If no tentative agreement is reached, the message will indicate the most current information available about the strike."

The above information was updated at 4:30 p.m.

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LEAD 300 has lots of members picketing throughout the District 300 communities including high traffic intersections like Randall Road in Algonquin and Route 25 in Carpentersville.

Williamson said picketers were pulled out of neighborhood schools that are difficult to find to more high profile intersections to get the word out about the strike.

Updated at 3:35 p.m.  

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LEAD 300 and Distrcit 300's Board of Education negotiation team will meet at Westfield Community School, 2100 Sleepy Hollow Road in Algonquin, at 3 p.m. Tuesday.

"We are committed to getting the kids of District 300 back where they belong as soon as possible," according to a press release from LEAD 300.

Algonquin-Lake in the Hills Patch left a message with District 300 Monday and Tuesday but has not heard back as of Tuesday at 3 p.m.

UPDATED: 3 p.m. on Tuesday, Dec. 4.

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Jacobs High School freshman Gabe Rife and Kelly Durgan, a sophomore joined teachers picketing at the corner of Bunker Hill Road and Randall Road Tuesday afternoon.

Durgan held a sign that read “I think better in smaller classes.”

“We wanted to be a part of things and support our teachers,” Rife said, taking a break from walking around the corner with about 100 or so people.

Rife and Drugan said they understand why teachers went on strike, to keep class sizes small and a salary increase. Dugan said she looked at the teachers’ contract on the Internet and saw teachers have not gotten a raise in a while and have been working without a contract.

“I agreed it (the strike) was necessary, but I wish it didn’t come to this,” Drugan said.

Updated 3 p.m. Tuesday, Dec. 4

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The district informed LEAD’s team that it will meet but “is not willing to change anything,” Williamson said Tuesday morning.

“We are willing to meet with them until 2 in the morning to get this done but in order to get it done, they need to move and they’ve known they need to move for 11 months,” he said.

The sticking points remain lower class sizes and pay.

LEAD is looking for caps on class sizes and looking for an increase in the base pay for teachers. They are looking to cap class size at 30 students per classroom in high schools, 29 in middle schools and 25 in elementary schools, Williamson said.

The district is looking at slightly higher numbers, which consists of 32 students per classroom in the high schools, 33 students per classroom in middle schools and 31 students per classrooms in the elementary schools, he said.

“It’s not where we want it and they know that,” Williamson said, adding smaller classes help teachers pay more attention to students’ needs.

Both sides were close on salary increases on Monday then talks fell apart, he said.

District 300 posted its latest offer on its website.

LEAD’s membership has compromised a great deal during the negotiations, he said.

“We are willing to be creative and come up with creative things. What we keep hearing (from the district) is 'no.' No is not a word that functions well with compromise,” he said.

Williamson said the LEAD bargaining team will meet with the district Tuesday afternoon even if it means just sitting across the room staring at each other until a resolution can be reached.

The above information was updated at 1 p.m. on Tuesday, Dec. 4.

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An estimated 900 District 300 teachers marched at the district’s administrative offices on Cleveland Avenue in Carpentersville early Monday on the first day of a strike affecting approximately 20,000 students.

Motorists honked their support as they drove past the mass of people, television trucks and a few police cars station on the district’s property.

LEAD 300 members — approximately 1,300 — reported to the picket lines rather than classrooms after the union’s bargaining team and district officials could not reach a contract agreement Monday. The union and district have been working on a contract for almost a year, said Michael Williamson, LEAD Communications chairman and spokesman.

The district and LEAD's bargaining team have a tentative meeting set up at 2 p.m. However, Williamson said the district has indicated it does not have another offer. He said the team would go to the meeting anyway.

The above information was updated at 12:30 p.m. Tuesday, Dec. 4.