A judge in Detroit has denied a request by Detroit Public Schools for a temporary restraining order to prevent teachers from staging any more sick outs.
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A so-called sick-out by teachers has repeatedly forced the Detroit district to close schools during the past two weeks, keeping thousands of students at home.
Two schools closed Monday due to a high volume of teacher absences, said the district, which has about 100 public schools and 46,000 students. A mere eight schools remained opened, DPS announced on Facebook.
Introduced Thursday we’ve got: Senate Bill 713, which mandates that the Michigan Employment Relations Commission (MERC) accelerate hearings on public school employees who choose to strike.
The teachers have been calling out sick, protesting pay, class sizes and building conditions.
A judge could decide Monday whether to implement an injunction against 23 Detroit teachers and organizations named in a DPS lawsuit.
Teachers are protesting the current condition of Detroit schools, including overcrowded classrooms, rat and roach infestations, mold, decaying walls, unreliable heat, broken plumbing, and much more.
“Detroit teachers and students deserve better”, Clinton added.
Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton decried the deplorable condition of Detroit public school buildings Thursday, tweeting that “No one would tolerate these conditions in a wealthy suburb”.
The teachers say they acted to make concerns about poor working conditions heard.
Wednesday’s protest is the largest by Detroit teachers yet. This was a valid complaint before a 1994 school finance overhaul largely equalized funding across districts (Proposal A), but it can not be sustained today.
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Earley has said that closing schools during the sickout “further jeopardizes the limited resources the district has available to educate its students and address the many challenges it faces”. More than 60 schools were closed January 11 because of an absence of teachers and other sick-outs have taken place.
