Amid sick-out, marchers decry Detroit schools state

Detroit teachers upset with pay, the poor conditions of buildings and large class sizes staged a “sickout” Wednesday, resulting most of schools in the district to close for the day.

Western International High School teacher Debrah Baskin, 53, of Southfield, and other teachers from Detroit area schools protest outside the Cobo Center, Wednesday, Jan. 20, 2106, only hours before President Barack Obama’s visit to the auto show.

The Detroit Strike to Win Committee, in a release sent out Wednesday evening, said during a phone conference with “more than 100 teachers” it was unanimously chose to shut down the city’s schools again Thursday.

Detroit teachers have been staging sickouts – the organized but unauthorized taking of sick days – to draw attention to the district’s financial straits and crumbling buildings and to express their opposition to Gov. Rick Snyder’s public education policies.

A report by Citizens Research Council of MI, a nonprofit public affairs group, said Detroit schools have $3.5 billion in debt and need to be rescued by the state of MI. The Detroit Federation of Teachers reported that three of these have already been met in a letter of agreement DPS emergency manager Darnell Earley signed Tuesday.

“If they are getting pay cuts, and don’t have what they need in the classrooms, the only way for them to be heard is to take a stand”, said Tanisha Murray, whose daughter attends a closed foreign language immersion and cultural studies school.

More than 85 schools were closed Wednesday due to teacher absences, forcing thousands of students to remain home.

“We’re talking about 45 fifth graders in one room”, Mitchell said.

“I can’t have her out of school and not learning”, Wesley said.

“It’s inconvenient. It makes me a little late for school when I have to find someone to watch her”, said Wesley, a pharmacy tech student at the Everest Institute’s Detroit campus.

A spokeswoman for the Detroit Public Schools, Michelle A. Zdrodowski, said it’s “extremely important” the court help to resolve the issue.

“(The mayor feels) the best thing for them to do is go back to school and teach”, Roach said. He was in that position in April 2014 when Flint’s water supply switched from Lake Huron to the Flint River, a decision reversed more than a year later after reports of corroded pipes and elevated blood lead levels.

Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton waded into the city’s public school sickout debate early Thursday, questioning the conditions inside school buildings.

About $7,400 of school funding is allocated per student each year.

Yet Bailey says a lot more still needs to be done. In response, city officials have started inspecting schools for possible code and safety violations. “Teachers are fed up and have had enough”.