Above Photo:Â About 20 students held a brief demonstration outside the Detroit School of Arts on Tuesday, Dec. 1, 2015, after teachers forced the closure of three schools by staying home from work in a “sick-out” protest against longstanding state control over Detroit schools. (Tanya Moutzalias | MLive Detroit)
Against State Control
DETROIT, MI — A group of teachers stayed home from work Tuesday in protest of longstanding state control over Detroit Public Schools, forcing the closure of three schools with their “sick-out” action.
The teachers said they stayed home due to “Snyder flu,” gathering with students for a brief demonstration against ongoing emergency management outside the Detroit School of Arts on Tuesday afternoon.
State-appointed emergency managers have run the district since 2009, leaving the elected school board with little power, particularly after the passage of laws strengthening Michigan’s financial emergency law in 2011 and 2012.
Protesting students and teachers were harshly critical of Gov. Rick Snyder and Emergency Manager Darnell Earley, making accusations of systemic racism.
They called ongoing state control over the district “back-of-the-bus” treatment of Detroit kids, referring to the 60th anniversary Tuesday of the Alabama arrest of civil rights icon Rosa Parks.
Teachers in Detroit decided today it is our day to make a stand and break the new Jim Crow that we have in Detroit today, the segregated, unequal conditions we have that is not fair to our students and not fair to those students or the people of Detroit,” said Nicole Conaway, a teacher at East English Village high school.
“We demand the restoration of democratic control of our schools to the people of Detroit with a fully empowered, elected school board.”
A school district spokesperson confirmed Tuesday evening that three schools closed as a result of the teacher absences.
“Detroit Public Schools’ sole focus and goal is the education of its more than 46,000 students,” said Earley in a statement. “… While we can agree to disagree on matters of policy, those disagreements should never impact our students and the instructional time they are entitled to as it has today. This unfortunate turn of events, orchestrated by a very small minority of the good and dedicated employees of DPS, is seriously misguided and directly harms our students – taking away a day in the classroom that they cannot afford to miss… This does absolutely nothing to further our collective efforts, nor to meet our goals over the next six months of improving academic achievement and becoming a solvent and sustainable school district governed under any form of local control.”
The governor’s office
“It’s unfortunate when people use incendiary rhetoric and force schools to close for a day when students most need to be in the classroom,” said Snyder spokesman David Murray.
“We understand why people are frustrated. That’s why Gov. Snyder is focused on children and working with Detroit leaders and our partners in the Legislature on a plan to improve academics and finances in Detroit. The city needs solid public schools for Detroit’s revitalization to extend from downtown to the neighborhoods. There is a sense of urgency here because there have been struggles within Detroit schools for years, and we need to work together for the city’s children to have best education possible.”
The governor has been trying to gather support in Lansing for legislation that would pay off the district’s ballooning debt and launch a new district:
Splitting the deficit: How Snyder plans to fix Detroit school debt
Meanwhile, a group of parents is marching this week from Detroit to Lansing in a separate protest, for a return of the school district to local control.
“I am marching today because everyday I drive 40 miles to take my kids to and from school,” said Dawn Wilson-Clark, a parent of five Detroit children, in a statement issued ahead of a Tuesday evening gathering of the group in Farmington Hills, 22 miles into the 90-mile walk.
“No one in my community was consulted when our schools were closed. There is nothing preventing the same thing from happening in other communities, including Farmington Hills.”