Most of Detroit’s public schools are closed for the day due to teacher absences. The teachers, who are banned from holding school children hostage by striking, organized a massive sick-out day to force the shutdowns.
Their demands? Higher wages and better benefits, among others.
Detroit Public Schools made the announcement Wednesday morning, saying they were forced to shut more than 85 of its roughly 100 schools. The move left thousands of working parents suddenly needing childcare.
On Tuesday night, a group advocating for change at city schools known as Detroit Teachers Strike to Win warned of closures as teachers continue a sick-out to protest school conditions, the district’s financial condition and work environments.
The district says it has no choice but to close schools when teachers don’t report to work. More than 60 schools were closed Jan. 11 because of an absence of teachers and other sick-outs have taken place.
The Associated Press contributed to this article.
What a sick way to target our children. Teachers and unions have all summer to settle their disputes. This is unprofessional. Money does not buy a real teacher who has the children’s interest at heart and conducts themselves in a professional manner.
Agree.
Agreed! You might expect these teachers would get a decent wage for the important work they do!! In private schools for the rich, you can bet the teachers are paid better! Are not all American children worth the best education?
Maybe the school district should fire the teachers and hire new ones.
I like that idea!!!! As a teacher, I am sick of these union teachers giving the “real teachers” a bad name!
Glad to hear that, The lady across the street from me is a teacher as well and bemoans the same thing. Let the REAL ones stay on and fire the imposters.
Ain,t no maybe to it.
That would be my solution. There are a lot of great teachers out there looking for a teaching job.
Raze schools, fire teachers, privitize schools IE convert to Voc Tech Ed schools alone IF any jobs.
More can be done & disband Teachers unions.
My son-in-law used to deal with the Teamsters Union who is well known for its “toughness” when it comes to bargaining, et all. He once told me that he had a private conversation with a couple of the union negotiators who proceeded to tell him that “if you think we are radical in our demands, we’re like choir boys compared to the TEACHER’s union”! That’s got to tell you something.
Either get back to work or fire ’em all. I am sure there are plenty of laid off teachers who wouldn’t mind some inconvenience to be able to be working again.
It is so time to privatize the school system, go to charter schools. My grandson attends one and when a teacher doesn’t perform they are gone even it’s in the middle of a school year AND they do not have disciplinary problem, you mess up you are out and that rarely happens because the kids love going to school there. The junior and senior yrs of HS are a waste of time other than maybe for kids going into the professions, otherwise votech is the way to go. Same goes with the colleges, the first two yrs are a waste so they can get money. I have a BA with some grad work and had to take useless classes my first 2 yrs that did me no good at all in my profession, which was teaching, LOL. Quit teaching HS and went to work for an oil company because of the lack of discipline. Kids got away with practically murder.
yes convert to privitised school system get paid only if you know how to teach
I completely agree with all these comments – Detroit doesn’t have the funds to increase benefits – they need to cut them further or leave as-is. Detroit should hand out vouchers for folks to decide whether they want to send their children to the public or private schools – these folks should choose their preference the prior year, so that district knows how many teachers it will need to man their public schools the following year. …this should send a strong message to the unions!
More and More people are going to Home Schooling, or Charter Schools so that their children can get a good education.
We do not need Teacher Unions or any Unions as far as that goes.
My daughter quit work as a Certified Public Accountant to home school her 3 Children, with her husbands help and other home school teachers they all did a real good job. All three kids as carrying a 4.0 average in college, one working on his His Masters in Agriculture Engineering, the second grandson is Carry a 4.0 is business and will graduate in May this year. My granddaughter is at Mary Hardin Baylor and carrying 17 hours with a 4.0 grade point average. She also kids sits and Tutors.
OF COURSE THEY ALL TAKE AFTER THEIR GRANDFATHER, AMIL
Who will speak for the working class? Currently no-one does!
I commend you and your family for taking that step.
Fire all of them!
THUGS=The Helpful Union Guys
Maybe we’ll get lucky and SCOTUS will rule against the unions collecting forced dues. I was in a union for 5 years.The first year I had to pay the fukrs monthly dues but could not get representation until after my 1st. year. Legal extortion! I will Never work a job that involves a union ever again. To hell with unions.
Unions are a waste of time and money they only feed the top guns with money and power. Fire the striking teachers and cut the wages of the top administrators and superintendents who make too ,much money.