Freep’s Rochelle Riley on challenges facing Detroit schools

With so many teachers calling in sick, more than 85 schools had to be closed down Wednesday – that means 45 thousand kids missed class.

School district spokeswoman Michelle Zdrodowski said in a statement, “DPS [Detroit Public Schools] has requested the court’s intervention in addressing the ongoing teacher sick-outs that are plaguing the district”.

“We want to clarify in the media that it’s not Detroit Public School district that is taking it – it’s Governor Snyder’s control of Detroit Public School district … through his emergency manager”. The sickouts coincided with President Obama’s visit to the North American International Auto Show in the city.

Those demands will include smaller class sizes, pay raises, adequate books and supplies, and the restoration of art, music and physical education programs, former teachers’ union president Steve Conn said.

In protest of the deplorable state of the schools in Detroit, teachers and faculty made a decision to stage massive sick-outs to help garner the attention these schools desperately need.

In response to the sickout, the school district has filed a lawsuit and sought an injunction against the union as well as individual activists and teachers.

“These teachers deserve to be fired for turning their backs on the children in their care”, said Kevin Cotter, a Republican from Mount Pleasant.

The teachers say they acted to make concerns about poor working conditions heard.

Already, the district is run by an emergency manager appointed by Snyder. Sometimes students must resort to sitting on windowsills due to the lack of desks, and classes are often held in gymnasiums. Conn added that a “full-blown strike is needed” to take the movement forward, proposing a “D-Day” on Wednesday, named after the location of a protest at the $6.6 million Diann-Banks Williamson Center that opened in Detroit two years ago, according to the complaint. Detroit’s academic performance has been in last place along large city school districts for every year since 2012, The New York Times reported.

The changes would permit hearings for more than one teacher at a time, the AP said.