Most of Detroit’s public schools close amid teacher sick-out

The largest in a series of rolling sickouts by teachers protesting the conditions of Detroit schools almost shut down the entire district Wednesday, hours before President Obama was expected to arrive in town.

On Wednesday, even more teachers are expected to call out to coincide with a visit by President Barack Obama.

“In addition to working for better physical conditions and adequate resources in schools and classrooms, we also know we must address the very real concerns teachers have”, including stagnant salaries and frozen pay steps, the union said on its website. “We really need someone to help focus on the schools”.

Austin said “We’ve got a market of public schools in Detroit but it’s been allowed to grow willy nilly with no constraints or expectations”.

On Tuesday night, a group advocating for change at city schools known as Detroit Teachers Strike to Win warned of closures as teachers continue a sick-out to protest school conditions, the district’s financial condition and work environments. “Lansing needs to act”.

They’ve also decried decisions made by the school system’s emergency manager, who was appointed by Gov. Rick Snyder – criticism that echoes complaints in Flint, a MI city mired in a water crisis after state officials largely took over due to budget troubles, just as they did in Detroit.

This is at least the fourth “sick-out” organized by Detroit Federation of Teachers union members in three weeks. The school district agreed to demands on staff meetings, sick leave accrual and a labor-management committee on curriculum, the teachers union said. It said those who don’t call in sick still were required to report to their buildings Wednesday.

All but a dozen or so of the city’s 100 public schools were closed Wednesday morning, forcing most of the district’s 46,000 students to stay home, according to local NBC affiliate WDIV. Other sick-outs affecting a smaller number of schools have taken place as well.

And last week, Mayor Mike Duggan ordered inspections of all the city’s public schools. Duggan’s school tour was precipitated by an earlier teacher sickout that closed 64 schools.

“This movement has grown, and I think it has grown among the teachers themselves”, Mitchell said.

“(The mayor feels) the best thing for them to do is go back to school and teach”, Roach said.