Denver Public Schools and its largest teachers’ union appear to be making progress toward a new contract.

The school district on Friday announced it had agreed to two additional mediation sessions with the Denver Classroom Teachers Association (DCTA), scheduled for June 17 and June 23.

“I feel that working through the mediation process has been very successful for our negotiations,” DPS Executive Director of Labor and Employee Relations Lawrence Garcia said in a news release.

Garcia said the sides had reached tentative agreements on 22 of 25 articles addressed so far through mediation.

“I am optimistic that we will be able to complete the final 15 articles before the end of the month,” Garcia said.

The district ruffled feathers last month when it declared a bargaining “impasse” with the teachers’ union during Teacher Appreciation Week.

The DCTA represents 4,200 teachers across the district and has advocated for competitive wages and benefits, smaller class sizes and establishing workloads for specialized staff. The union also sought 20 days of paid leave for educations each year, which was cut to 16.

The current contract expires at midnight on Aug. 31.

All negotiation sessions are livestreamed by the Denver Public Schools, and an archive can be found on the district’s website.

Denver Gazette Reporter Nico Brambila contributed to this report.