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Most Detroit schools closed due to teacher 'sickouts'

David_N

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Has anyone been paying attention to this?
Detroit Public Schools closed again due to teacher 'sickouts' - CNN.com
On Monday, the same number of schools closed after more than 1,500 teachers called in sick to protest when they learned the district has only enough money to pay them through June 30.
The Detroit school system is deep in the red, with more than $500 million of operating debt, the Michigan governor's office has said.
In January, teachers staged a sickout to protest dilapidated and dangerously unsanitary conditions -- including rat and roach infestations, black mold and falling ceiling panels -- forcing the closure of dozens of schools. A judge later ruled that teachers could continue staging the sickouts after the district brought the union to court over the issue.
Teachers and some parents are urging Michigan lawmakers to pass a $715 million education reform package that would fund salaries for July and beyond.
The legislation has passed the Michigan Senate but still needs to be approved by the House of Representatives and Gov. Rick Snyder.
"I have been and remain confident that the Michigan Legislature understands the urgency and importance of the reform legislation that is before it," said Judge Steven Rhodes, whom Snyder appointed in February to be the transition manager for Detroit Public Schools. "The future of Detroit is as much at stake here as the future of the school system."
Rhodes called the sickouts "drastic" and "unnecessary" but said he was sympathetic to the teachers' plight.
"I am on record as saying that I cannot in good conscience ask anyone to work without pay," he said. "Wages that are owed to teachers should be paid. ... I understand the frustration and anger that our teachers feel."
 
Kinda right in the middle of it.

Should also note that a number of principals and other administrators as well as the contractor have been federally charged with fraud and corruption, I'm pretty sure those were the charges, for over charging DPS for school supplies that were never delivered, or never fully delivered (partial shipment?), the contractor kicking back money to those that authorized the invoices.

With crap like that going on, little wonder that there's a $700M debt hanging over the school system, which in recent years has lost 2/3's of it's student body.

Seems like the teacher's union, which appears to have instigated this sick out, is wanting to put the final nail in DPS' coffin.

A lot of the electorate outside of Detroit are asking 'How many times do we have to bail out Detroit?', and I'd be among them, and think it's a legitimate question.

What is also surprising is that the parents have demonstrated in the past to push the state financial manager out of running DPS. Makes me wonder how far the kickback scheme goes.
 
Kinda right in the middle of it.

Should also note that a number of principals and other administrators as well as the contractor have been federally charged with fraud and corruption, I'm pretty sure those were the charges, for over charging DPS for school supplies that were never delivered, or never fully delivered (partial shipment?), the contractor kicking back money to those that authorized the invoices.

With crap like that going on, little wonder that there's a $700M debt hanging over the school system, which in recent years has lost 2/3's of it's student body.

Seems like the teacher's union, which appears to have instigated this sick out, is wanting to put the final nail in DPS' coffin.

A lot of the electorate outside of Detroit are asking 'How many times do we have to bail out Detroit?', and I'd be among them, and think it's a legitimate question.

What is also surprising is that the parents have demonstrated in the past to push the state financial manager out of running DPS. Makes me wonder how far the kickback scheme goes.
Seems like the teacher's union, which appears to have instigated this sick out, is wanting to put the final nail in DPS' coffin.
I mean, would you work without pay?
 
The big question would be...does it matter?

Detroit is still performing well below other urban districts. DPS fell slightly behind Fresno, Calif., Cleveland and Milwaukee, Wis., in fourth-grade reading. Some 57 percent of Detroit students were found to be performing “below basic.”

Detroit tied with Washington, D.C., as the lowest scorer in eighth-grade reading. The average Detroit score in fourth-grade math was more than 10 points below Cleveland, the next-highest scoring. On that test, 66 percent of students were found to be performing below basic levels.

Detroit did similarly poorly in eighth-grade math. Seventy-one percent of students were found to be performing below basic; only 41 percent were able to correctly answer a question on subtraction.
"Detroit Students Worst In Nation On National Assessment, Show Some Improvement"
Detroit Students Worst In Nation On National Assessment, Show Some Improvement
 
I mean, would you work without pay?

With only 1/3 of the student body remaining, how many full time, paid year round teachers would you really need?
How many schools, admittedly allowed to degrade into deplorable condition, do you need to keep open?

DPS, and it's corruption, is probably the rotten core of Detroit. I suspect it needs to be excised before a better course for the future and for everyone can be charted.

As 2/3's of the student body has already left the school system for private schools or for charter schools, or just plain moved out of Detroit, perhaps a complete conversion to only charter schools is the right path forward. Maintaining DPS, and it's corruption, on indefinite state funded life support isn't an option. I don't think the greater electorate will stand for that.

The state just allocated $50M to get them to the end of June (end of school year). At that point, plow DPS over, and start from scratch.
 
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they're going to end up cutting months off the school year like kansas did, or hiring "teachers" who are HS dropouts because those are the only ones who will take such a nightmare job for $12/hr
 
The kids of Detroit learn more on the streets than they do under the malfunctioning school systems.

For better or worse.
 
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