Detroit Teachers To Consider Next Move After Mass Sick-Out
Source: ASSOCIATED PRESS
By Corey Williams?|?AP May 2 at 3:57 PM
DETROIT — Teachers in Detroit are considering their next move after they effectively shut down the financially strapped school district on Monday, giving nearly 45,000 schoolchildren an unscheduled day off. The educators stopped short of calling it a strike, instead saying they called a massive sick-out in response to an announcement that the district wouldn’t be able to pay teachers who deferred part of their salaries to get checks during the summer months.
Here are some questions and answers about what teachers call a lockout vs. what would be an illegal strike.
HOW DID THE DETROIT PUBLIC SCHOOLS’ FINANCES GET SO BAD?
Republican Gov. Rick Snyder has said the district’s debt will reach about $515 million by this summer. Much of the blame for the money troubles can be traced to plummeting student enrollment. The Detroit Public Schools had 150,415 students in 2003-2004. Now, about 46,000 students attend the district’s 97 schools. Detroit receives about $7,400 for each student. Many Detroit parents seeking out better educational opportunities for their children have turned to charter schools and close-by suburban districts.
WHY DID THE DETROIT TEACHERS’ UNION CALL FOR A SICK-OUT MONDAY?
The Detroit Federation of Teachers has not supported sick-outs held earlier this year by some of its members, but union leadership is growing more frustrated with the district’s poor finances. Monday’s sick-out closed 94 of the district’s 97 schools, eclipsing a January sick-out in which classes were canceled at 88 schools. The union was told over the weekend by state-appointed transition manager Steven Rhodes that there would be no money after June 30 to pay teachers who have chosen to have their paychecks spread out over the entire year. Union president Ivy Bailey said Sunday that an inability by Rhodes to guarantee those teachers would receive paychecks during the summer for work they would have already performed was the breaking point.
Read more: http://abcnews.go.com/US/wireStory/detroit-teachers-move-mass-sick-38823893
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DetroitSocialist83
(169 posts)It's hard to think of any other American city getting rat fucked as much as Detroit, and both parties have done it.
Dont call me Shirley
(10,998 posts)
dembotoz
(16,806 posts)would assume they can not get uc.
have a teacher in the fam and we always do the 12 month pay cause it makes budgeting easier.
so that could be my family,.....would pretty much put us under.
