Detroit schools in session after teacher sick-out shutdown

The Detroit school district filed a lawsuit Wednesday to try to stop sick-outs by teachers as thousands of students again were forced to stay home.

Temperatures in the teens appeared to have kept most students indoors, and all Wednesday’s protest – and one last week – did for Carnisha Wesley, 23, was to make her late for her own classes. “It would be so much more productive to actually do something to fix Detroit schools rather than file restraining orders against those who expose the miserable conditions”.

DPS spokeswoman Michelle Zdrodowski said in a statement that the district has “no option but to close schools when teachers do not report to work”, WDIV-TV reports.

Teachers have complained about crumbling infrastructure, mold in classrooms, leaky ceilings and too many students per class.

(CNN) – Detroit schools will reopen Thursday, but the crisis gripping the city’s public school district is far from over.

It would create a second school district within the city that assumes control over all of its schools and students, while leaving the current Detroit Public Schools system with only the district’s debt, said Republican state Sen. “We are teachers, period, who teach in Detroit and love our kids”, Vanessa Dawson.

At least 88 out of Detroit’s 100 schools were closed after teachers staged a sickout, the largest in a series of protests that aim to bring light to issues the school system faces.

“There’s an oppressive aura all throughout Detroit public schools”, she said. Because officially the teachers are all calling in sick, they can’t be fired or punished for skipping work or launching an illegal strike. Duggan also established a way for parents, teachers and students to report unsafe and unhealthy conditions in schools. “Detroit students and teachers deserve better”.

The AFT national executive committee conducted a hearing Wednesday in Detroit on Conn’s appeal; a decision is not expected until next month. And while the teachers may be right that their schools are in bad shape, inadequate funding simply isn’t the problem: the district spends roughly $16,000 per pupil each year.

According to the Detroit Public Schools website, the budget deficit is $46.5 million, but the district is also facing $515 million in legal liabilities. Over the Martin Luther King Jr. holiday weekend the hashtag #SupportDPSTeachers trended on Twitter in the United States as educators in the Motor City posted dozens of shocking images of building code and safety violations at schools.

Gov. Rick Snyder (R) urged lawmakers to act quickly to address the schools crisis in his State of the State address on Tuesday night. “Each year, each emergency manager, the debt has grown”, said Mitchell, administrator of the Detroit Federation of Teachers. “The Detroit schools are in need of a transformational change”. “We were not encouraging people to go out today, but people are feeling it’s the time now to do big actions to show what they’re feeling”.