The teachers union for the third-largest school district in the nation voted to return to classrooms in the coming weeks, agreeing to a deal with Chicago Public Schools that will phase in classroom education over the next few weeks, the Associated Press reports.

By a 2-to-1 margin, the Chicago Teachers Union members voted to return to classrooms, with pre-K and special education teachers starting in-person instruction Thursday, with kindergarten through eighth grade returning in coming weeks.  Parents will have the ability to decide if their children attend in-person or will continue to attend remotely.

The agreement sets metrics the union and the school system will share to identify schools with outbreaks and standards to determine if and when schools should be shut in the future.  It also provided for an increasing effort to provide vaccinations for teachers.

“This plan is not what any of us deserve. Not us. Not our students. Not their families,” Union President Jesse Sharkey said in an email to members. “The fact that CPS could not delay reopening a few short weeks to ramp up vaccinations and preparations in schools is a disgrace.”

Sharkey also said that the union hit a wall with the ability to negotiate with the school system, saying the agreement hit the “absolute limit to which CPS was willing to go at the bargaining table to guarantee a minimum number of guardrails for any semblance of safety in schools.”

Chicago Mayor Lori Lightfoot and CPS school CEO Janice Jackson released a statement that the agreement “reaffirms the strength and fairness of our plan, which provides families and employees certainty about returning to schools and guarantees the best possible health and safety protocols.”