Almost all Detroit’s public schools were closed Wednesday as many protesting teachers called in sick, turning what was supposed to be a day to celebrate into one shining a harsh spotlight on one of Michigan’s struggling cities.
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A meeting planned for Thursday will have union members voting on strike demands including an end to emergency management, no more charter schools, teacher salaries and adequate books and supplies for students among others, according to Steve Conn, former Detroit federation of teachers president in the release.
But the school district in response asked a judge for a restraining order and preliminary injunction against the teachers involved in the sick-out and force them to return to work.
“DPS has requested the court’s intervention in addressing the ongoing teacher sick outs that are plaguing the district”, spokeswoman Michelle Zdrodowski said in a statement, adding: “There will be no further comment until we receive direction from the court”.
Michigan Governor Rick Snyder, a Republican, encouraged lawmakers on Tuesday night to pass bills overhauling the school system by spending more than $700 million over the course of a decade and by splitting the district into two.
“And the teachers have managed to bring the light to some really desperate situations in the city of Detroit, because the legislators have not moved”, Reyes said.
Detroit Hispanic Development Corporation director Angela Reyes, who also co-chaired the recent Coalition for the Future of Detroit Schoolchildren, said she’d normally want teachers back in class, but “these are not normal times”. The district has about 46,000 students. Other sick-outs affecting a smaller number of schools have taken place as well.
Darnell Earley was also the emergency manager in Flint, when the city switched its source in 2014.
Many of those who chanted and carried signs were Detroit Public Schools teachers who were taking part in a massive sick-out Wednesday that closed the majority of the district’s schools. The city has responded to these protests by sending officials to inspect schools for code violations.
“This movement has grown, and I think it has grown among the teachers themselves”, Mitchell said. Inza Sturdavant-Bryant, a teacher at East English Preparatory Academy, said that even crime within the city takes its toll on some students. “Lansing needs to act”.
Some teachers say that conditions have been bad since before Earley took over and even before state control, when the district was under control of an elected school board.
Obama will be in town to tout the resurgence of the USA vehicle industry at the Detroit auto show.
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Teachers from Detroit area schools protest outside Cobo Center before President Barack Obama’s visit to the auto show, Wednesday, Jan. 20, 2016, in Detroit.
