Mich. school head to DPS: Address health, safety issues. With more than half of Detroit Public Schools closed Monday by a teacher sickout, Michigan’s top school official called for the district’s emergency manager to address health and safety issues in classroom buildings in response to teachers’ complaints. State superintendent Brian Whiston said in a statement that DPS Emergency Manager Darnell Earley should meet with district, state and local representatives in response to a press conference and a rally Monday where teachers expressed concern over schools with leaky roofs, broken boilers and shortages of books. “I care deeply about the safety and well-being of teachers in Detroit, just as I do the students,” Whiston said.
“They all still need to be in the classrooms teaching and learning, though. If buildings have health and safety issues, they need to be addressed immediately with the district administration and all appropriate agencies.” “We are set up for failure,” Jackson said. “Our goal is not to shut the schools down,” she said. 1. 2. Detroit teachers ask why funds used for consultant contract aren't used to address teacher shortage. DETROIT (WXYZ) - Update: Seven Action News reached out to the State Superintendent of Schools to see if the state would approve the use of these funds for hiring teachers. A spokesperson said, "The funds may be used to hire teachers, but not for administrative purposes such as Human Resources. " It seems like common sense. If you are going to have a class of students, you need a teacher. In Detroit Public Schools, that is not how it works. Teachers say the district is not doing enough to solve the problem. 7 Action News asked Emergency Manager Darnell Earley about the issue.
"Well let me just say this here. The fact is it is different than in other districts. While there is a statewide teacher shortage, again and again, DPS has responded to WXYZ stories on a lack of teachers saying there are classes without teachers everywhere. We have found sporadic vacancies at local schools, but the vast majority of districts find a way to put all kids in front of teachers. But is that true? The Great Diversion. When Boston Mayor Marty Walsh learned of plans by the city’s public high school students to walk out to protest proposed budget cuts, he told them to stay in class.
They didn’t. On a cool, sunny March afternoon, thousands of young people marched through Boston Common and converged on the Massachusetts State House, where the legislature’s Joint Committee on Education was holding a hearing on a ballot question that would significantly increase the number of charter schools. Brighton High School senior Christopher Gayle left school, too, but he went into the building to testify. Gayle told state lawmakers that he had nothing against charter schools, but he blamed them for the cuts. “They’re taking away money from the Boston Public Schools,” Gayle said.
Boston’s majority-minority public school system is the largest in the state, with nearly 57,000 students. Massachusetts currently has 81 charter schools. AP Photo/The Christian Science Monitor, Ann Hermes Advertisement AP Photo/Stephan Savoia. Ignorance, conditions, budgetDetroit Public Schools hit with lawsuit. The lawsuit, filed in Wayne County Circuit Court, is the union's latest salvo against a 46,000-student school system beset by teacher sickouts over decrepit facilities, overcrowding, insufficient maintenance and other issues. It asks the court to order immediate repairs for conditions that are relegating "children to spend their young lives in deplorable surroundings" and requests the creation of a capital plan to bring schools up to standard.
"Teachers are working their hearts and souls out," said Randi Weingarten, president of the 1.6 million-member American Federation of Teachers. "How dare we tell children that they need to also work their hearts and souls out and then provide them with schools that are deplorable in terms of their conditions? ... What message is it sending to kids about what we're saying to them about their education? " Darnell Earley, who was appointed by Gov. Rick Snyder a year ago to oversee Detroit Public Schools, is named as a defendant. 'We've failed these kids'
Detroit Public Schools Claims The State Is Violating Students' Civil Rights In Federal Lawsuit. After months of public uproar over the poor condition of Detroit schools, Detroit Public Schools filed a federal lawsuit against the state Thursday, Detroit Free Press reported. The lawsuit claims that the state has violated the civil rights of students through its emergency manager law, since the district has been run by emergency managers since 2009. The law weakens the authority of the board of education and allows the unelected emergency manager to make major decisions about cuts and selling off assets.
The lawsuit includes Gov. Rick Snyder (R), a few former emergency managers, a couple Republican lawmakers, and administrators and a vendor who were recently indicted on a bribery scheme involving school supplies. Before the emergency manager law, there was a state takeover of schools in 1999, which removed the elected board of education. DPS is hoping to get the lawsuit class-action status approved by a judge. Detroit Public Schools is going through a major financial crisis. Grad rates- Detroit schools begin culture change by tackling dropout crisis | America's Promise. Kymoni Baker first arrived at Detroit’s Cody High School with the reputation of being dangerous.
According to Cody High School Principal Johnathon Matthews, Baker’s prior school described him as a threat to the general population. A father by tenth grade, Baker lives in a low income apartment and is used to walking through metal detectors just to get to his locker. On the east side of the city, Osborn High School student Stepha’n Quicksey has also faced many challenges growing up in a rough neighborhood. Having watched five of his siblings drop out of high school, Quicksey had academic struggles that were symptomatic of the environment in which he grew up. He carried a 0.3GPA in his second year of sixth grade and was not the only student at risk of dropping out.
“The graduation rate was definitely under 50 percent,” said Tanya Bowman, Principal of Osborn High School. “Daily attendance was at an all-time low. Trust recently fostered important relationships within Detroit public schools. 2008 Recession- How Detroit, the Motor City, turned into a ghost town | US news. Try telling Brother Jerry Smith that the recession in America has ended. As scores of people queued up last week at the soup kitchen which the Capuchin friar helps run in Detroit, the celebrations on Wall Street in New York seemed from another world.
The hungry and needy come from miles around to get a free healthy meal. Though the East Detroit neighbourhood the soup kitchen serves has had it tough for decades, the recession has seen almost any hope for anyone getting a job evaporate. Neither is there any sign that jobs might come back soon. "Some in the past have had jobs here, but now there is nothing available to people. Outside his office the hungry, the homeless and the poor crowded around tables. Officially, America is on the up. But for tens of millions of Americans such things seem irrelevant. Added to that shocking statistic are the millions of Americans who remain at risk of foreclosure. For them the recession is far from over. The city has a shocking jobless rate of 29%. Detroit teachers sue district over shoddy school conditions. Last Updated Jan 29, 2016 5:36 PM EST DETROIT -- The Detroit teachers' union has filed a lawsuit against the district calling for it to repair "deplorable" conditions and remove the state-appointed emergency manager.
The Detroit Federation of Teachers' suit filed Thursday in Wayne County Circuit Court seeks "an appropriately funded capital plan" to fix district-wide problems. It also calls for removing Emergency Manager Darnell Earley and returning the schools to local control. Teachers claim the health of Detroit's 46,000 students is in danger. A district spokeswoman didn't immediately respond to a message from The Associated Press seeking comment. Rolling teacher sick-outs in the Detroit Public Schools have forced the closing of dozens of schools in recent weeks. The union says it doesn't condone educators' actions involved in the sick-outs.
At Spain Elementary School, some kindergartners wore their coats in class when CBS News visited at the beginning of January.