After months of tense negotiations, the Chicago School District’s teacher’s union has agreed to provisions that will allow the nation’s third-largest school district to reopen. School reopenings have been at the top of many pundits’ priority list for returning the country to normal.

Some scientific research suggests that children neither catch nor spread COVID at the same rate as adults. This research has been touted by proponents of school reopenings, with many holding that it is important to get kids back in the classroom for their own development and learning.

Others have accused the pro-reopening side of rushing to put children back in a dangerous scenario just to get the kids out the house. This debate has sparked heated exchanges, and the Chicago teacher’s union decision marks one of the biggest concessions of the pro-distance learning side of the argument to date. Many provisions, including vaccinations for teachers and thresholds at which schools would be closed, were included in the agreement to reopen in Chicago.