CHICAGO (MCT) — Talks aimed at settling the Chicago teachers strike inched along Wednesday, while away from the bargaining table debate focused on how Mayor Rahm Emanuel’s hand-picked school board would implement an anticipated spate of school closings took center stage.

“Nobody knows” how many schools will be closed or consolidated, Emanuel said, a day after sources told The Chicago Tribune that the plan being considered calls for shuttering 80 to 120 sparsely populated and underperforming public schools, mostly on the West and South sides.