Teacher Sickout Closes 2 Dozen Schools In Detroit

Duggan says Monday in a release that he understands “teachers’ frustration”, but Detroit children need them “in the classroom”.

At least four city schools were closed last week as a result of “a high volume of teacher absences”, according to alerts from the school system.

The list of Detroit Public Schools closed to day because of teacher sick-outs has grown to 24. A wave of teacher absences described by an activist as “rolling strikes” shut down more than half of Detroit’s 100 public schools Monday, keeping thousands of students at home as a so-called sick-out entered a second week. Teachers also said they are dealing with rat and mouse infestations, overcrowded classrooms and supply shortages.

The mayor plans to visit schools Tuesday to make sure the district is meeting health and building codes.

“Despite being under the control of a state-appointed emergency manager since 2009, Detroit public schools, the state’s largest district, is failing academically and financially”, the report said.

The teachers were in good company during their sickout demonstration.

“While we don’t condone the action taken by a small number of our members, we understand the utter frustration underlying it”, Detroit Federation of Teachers interim president Ivy Bailey said on the union’s website. “They shouldn’t be doing that at the expense of having kids not in class”, the governor said. “Some time, sooner or later, they must put the children first”.

Detroit public school teachers say the strike was spurred by inadequate working conditions brought about by mismanaged state budgets, which ultimately hurts students. “Most observers agree the success of Detroit is contingent upon whether its schools can be fixed”, The Guardian said.

To the union, that was tantamount to blaming teachers instead of addressing the problem. Snyder has called for the state to commit $715 million over a decade to address its extraordinary debt that’s now being repaid with operating funds. “We refuse to stand by while teachers, school support staff and students are exposed to conditions that one might expect in a Third World country, not the United States of America”.

Teachers are upset over class sizes, pay, the condition of buildings and a plan by Gov. Rick Snyder to deal with millions of debt by creating a new district. But the teachers’ action was harshly criticized by Darnell Earley, the district’s emergency manager, who said that the sickouts could jeopardize the state’s financial assistance. “We know there’s an issue with money, but you know what?”

In the meantime, the Detroit Federation of Teachers is holding a news conference “to discuss the chronic, toxic environmental and learning conditions that educators and students face in Detroit classrooms”, according to the Detroit Free Press.