The Detroit Federation of Teachers held a news conference Monday morning outside A.L. Holmes Elementary School, and said the toxic conditions at that and other facilities were a “travesty” that is being ignored and causing understandable angst among educators, parents and the community.
Advertisement
More than half of Detroit’s 100 public schools are closed because teachers are absent, a protest that began last week over pay and general turmoil in the district.
DPS officials say the following schools are closed due to a high volume of teacher absences: Academy of the Americas, Bates, Bow, Burton, Carleton, Carstens, Carver, Coleman Young, Dixon, Drew, Gompers, Henderson, Marcus Garvey, Mackenzie, Mark Twain, Palmer Park, Pasteur, Paul Robeson, Sampson, Spain, Thirkell, Thurgood Marshall, Turning Point and Vernor.
Many teachers in Detroit are dissatisfied with their pay and the district’s poor finances.
Former School Board president Steve Conn says Sunday in a release that a “continuation of the rolling strikes” by teachers is expected Monday.
Mayor Mike Duggan saw the rodent Tuesday, during a tour of several schools with city officials looking for health and safety violations. Detroit’s debt-ridden district of 46,000 students has been under state oversight for almost seven years.
Over the past year, Governor Snyder has taken steps to restructure the Detroit school system, but, so far, the legislature has been unable to reach an agreement.
Snyder has called for the state to commit $715 million over a decade to address the debt and relaunch the district under a new name. “We know there’s an issue with money, but you know what?”
A group of about 200 teachers, joined by parents and children, protest, Monday, Jan. 11, 2016, outside the Detroit public schoolss Fisher Building headquarters in Detroit. “They all still need to be in the classrooms teaching and learning, though”. The plan includes a reorganization that could lead to closing independent, publicly funded charter schools, where more than half of Detroit students are enrolled.
“It’s a turning point for Detroit – the stigma on urban education that has to end”. “We may have to do a district-wide work stoppage or strike action, but we must be united and we must honor the democratic rights of all members with a secret ballot strike authorization vote”, DFT President Ivy Bailey said in an undated statement on the DFT website.
She emphasized that she does not necessarily support the sickouts but that she does support the teachers.
Teachers say students are being judged unfairly.
Advertisement
He said it was “heartbreaking” to see some kids wearing coats in the morning until classrooms warm up by lunch. He got a look at three schools on Tuesday and has a message.
