State schools chief seeks meeting with Detroit Schools boss

The mayor plans to visit schools Tuesday to make sure the district is meeting health and building codes. Teachers also said they are dealing with rat and mouse infestations, overcrowded classrooms and supply shortages.

“We’ve seen a couple of school buildings that are well-maintained and then saw some conditions that were deeply disturbing, including a school where the children have no gym class because the gym floor is buckled from roof leaks”, Duggan said. “What I’m dealing with is making sure every building is safe”. The plan includes a reorganization that could lead to closing independent, publicly funded charter schools, where more than half of Detroit students are enrolled. He’s promising a plan by Wednesday. Detroit teachers are experiencing much frustration because the district is “starved” for funding, something the school system acknowledges. So, you know, it just begs the question… we can do better. When employees raise concerns, we investigate and address them as quickly as we can. “The priority is to always have a safe learning environment”.

However, Detroit Public Schools argues the sick-outs are counterintuitive and won’t help the teachers get what they demand. The so-called sick-out started last week with a handful of schools.

Aside from building inspections, Duggan has no control over the school district, and neither does the board of education.

That’s not timely enough for Mayor Duggan. Sickouts are “a blatant attempt to circumvent the law barring the DFT from walking away from their responsibilities and striking”, MI state Rep. Tim Kelly said.

“Our children need our teachers in the classroom…. And the emergency manager has failed to act”. Gov. Rick Snyder wants to pay off the debt and spin off a new district, but he lacks support so far in the Legislature. “These issues have to now be addressed”.

Detroit’s schools have been under continuous state oversight for almost seven years.

Snyder now joins state Superintendent Brian Whiston and a number of Republican state legislators in calling for an end to the sickouts.

“A great education is the gateway to a bright future for our children and our nation”, Rev. Charles Williams said in a press release issued soon after the news conference.

Russell also has has three kids attending DPS schools.

“He’s been doing a good job”.

“This is an emergency”, she said in a statement. “Students support DPS teachers”, said another. “They told me they usually wear their coats until lunchtime, when they warm up a bit, which was heartbreaking, because there’s a part of each day they actually expect to have to wear their coats in the classroom”. “There’s ome kind of growth on the wall here”, David Heckler, President American Federation of teachers MI, said.