Negotiators for the Lawrence school district and its teachers have reached a tentative agreement on scheduling and other operational issues leading into the next school year.

Now it’s time to confirm the language and forward the agreement for approval.

Negotiators for both the district and the Lawrence Education Association jointly announced their agreement Thursday morning, after meeting for several hours behind closed doors and with a mediator Wednesday night.

In their statement, the two sides noted that the agreement covers items that were being renegotiated within the two sides’ Memorandum of Understanding, which remains in force. Specific areas renegotiated were “related to reconfiguration: work year, duty day, plan time and professional development,” they said.

The two sides’ chief negotiators — Frank Harwood, the district’s chief operations officer, for the district; and Lois Orth-Lopes, a music teacher at Cordley School, for the teachers union — intend to have a final document ready for review by the end of today.

Members of the Lawrence school board will be expected to consider approving the agreement Monday night, while members of the teachers union — which represents more than 900 teachers and licensed personnel in the district — are expected to vote on ratifying the agreement next week.

The two sides have been meeting since October to renegotiate terms of this year’s work agreement, to acknowledge changes to work schedules and other matters related to the district’s plans for reconfiguring schools leading into the 2011-12 academic year: reserving elementary schools for grades K-5, establishing middle schools for grades 6-8, and expanding the rolls at both high schools with four grades, 9-12.