Teachers told News4Jax Detroit sister station, Local 4, that they’ve seen mushrooms growing at other Detroit Public Schools (DPS).
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Conn and his supporters are striking in part to protest Gov. Rick Snyder’s proposal to split the district in two, separating more than $500 million in debt from a new district that could focus on students.
He said the Detroit Buildings and Health departments plan to inspect every of Detroit’s almost 100 public schools, as well as Detroit charter schools.
The inspections began Tuesday at Spain Elementary-Middle School, which was recently the focus of a 7 Action News Fix My Schools report.
A group of about 200 teachers, joined by parents and children, protest, Monday, Jan. 11, 2016, outside the Detroit public schools¿s Fisher Building headquarters in Detroit.
A series of school closures due to teacher absences have called attention to complaints of lack of heat, mold, and rodent problems in school buildings, as well as overcrowded classrooms and lack of supplies.
“I care deeply about the safety and well-being of teachers in Detroit, just as I do the students”, Whiston said earlier this week. Those are concerns the state and city must take seriously.
“Using students as pawns to advance a political position in my opinion is not only unacceptable, it is also very unethical”, he said, according to the Detroit Free Press.
In a statement responding to the mayor’s tour and comment, the Detroit Public Schools Emergency Manager said: “It has been very well documented that given the tenuous financial condition of the District over the last several years, its capital and maintenance programs have been lacking in some areas”.
The strikes, spearheaded by ousted Detroit Federation of Teachers’ president Steve Conn, may backfire. “That’s money that can best be spent in the classroom, and why discussions on important reforms are continuing”, Heaton told CNN. “The sick-out says ‘enough is enough, ‘” said Russell.
“We will have an inspection schedule announced by the end of the day today”, the mayor said Wednesday morning.
“(Detroit Federation of Teachers) Interim President Ivy Bailey said health and safety hazards include rat and other rodent infestations, crumbling walls, holes in ceilings, cracked sidewalks, unsafe broken boilers and no heat”, the union said in a statement Sunday.
In the meantime, problems in the city schools persist.
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Detroit has been plagued with budgetary concerns citywide for years, which has trickled down to schools. “They struggle through it”.
