Dozens of Detroit schools close due to teacher protest

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 the “sick-out” entered a second week.

“This sick out resulted in more than 31,000 students missing a day of instruction, and potentially placing more than a million dollars in per pupil funding in jeopardy…It is counter intuitive to everyone’s efforts to move this District forward when we send the message to the rest of the state and the nation that was sent today”.

Teacher and former union president Steve Conn calls the news “great”. School officials warned families Sunday that “ongoing sick-outs” by teachers could keep kids at home.

Teachers in Detroit say the sick-out is prompted by poor working conditions caused by mismanaged state budgets, which ultimately hurts students. Currently, Governor Snyder lacks the support needed by the state legislature to accomplish such a monumental task.

“It’s clear that teachers are feeling an overwhelming sense of frustration over the challenges that they and all DPS employees face as they do their jobs each day”, said DPS Emergency Manager Darnell Earley.

The school district is drowning under $3.5 billion of debt and needs to be rescued by the state of MI, according to a report released on Wednesday by Citizens Research Council of MI, a nonprofit public affairs group.

The district said it would issue school closure alerts no later than 6 a.m. Monday and encouraged parents to watch local media outlets as well as Facebook and the DPS website for information.

Earley said it would help if teachers in Detroit would stop the “sickouts” because he doesn’t support their methods even if it brings awareness to the problems.

“Teachers are staying out, and we’re fighting back, and we are building for a citywide strike”, Conn told reporters at a meeting Sunday night.

And despite differing opinions about the sickouts, interim union president Bailey says parents are fed up with the district’s failure to fix problems such as mold, that, in many cases, could be quickly remedied. The number could grow Monday morning.

“I understand that teachers in Detroit Public Schools have real concerns about the financial, academic, and structural future of their schools, but for the sakes of their students, they need to be in the classrooms teaching”, Superintendent Brian Whiston said. Because where I want the children to be in the classroom learning.