America is SINKING SINKING SINKING schools closed by teachers' salary protest

[Sammyboy RSS Feed]

An honorable member of the Coffee Shop Has Just Posted the Following:

Soon to come schools will be shut forever and kids will shoot the streets with guns on daily basis. God Save America?


http://thinkprogress.org/education/2...roit-sickouts/





Education
Detroit Teachers Launch Massive Protest After Learning They Won’t Be Paid This Summer

by Casey Quinlan May 2, 2016 10:07 am

CREDIT: @teachDetroit

Share 1,135
Tweet

Teachers across Detroit called in sick to work on Monday — a “sick-out” protest that ultimately shut down all but three public schools in the city because there weren’t enough teachers in class.

The coordinated protest, which was organized by the Detroit Federation of Teachers, came soon after the school district’s emergency manager, Judge Steven Rhodes, announced that there won’t be enough money to pay teachers after June 30.

“Detroit teachers deserve to be paid fairly for their work like every other working person… But Detroit Public Schools has just informed us that it cannot guarantee to pay these dedicated men and women for their work. This isn’t right. It isn’t fair,” the president of the teachers union, Ivy Bailey, told the Detroit News.

In January, in an effort to bring attention to the condition of Detroit schools, teachers used the same “sick-out” tactic to shut down many schools. They posted photos to social media of inedible food, dead rodents, and cracks in the floors, among other problems. After the sick-outs, Detroit Mayor Mike Duggan (D) called for inspections of all of the schools and found evidence of many of the same problems teachers cited.

Detroit Public Schools is in major financial distress, and lawmakers and educators have been concerned the school system will go bankrupt. After being sued by the teachers union and dealing with weeks of sick-outs, DPS filed a lawsuit against the state last month, claiming that the state violated the civil rights of students through its emergency manager law.

Michigan Gov. Rick Snyder (R) signed legislation for emergency funding of $48.7 million to keep the school system running until the end of the school year, but now students and educators are left without a long-term solution for paying their salaries and funding summer school programs. The state legislature is considering a restructuring plan to pay off the school system’s operating debt.

Teachers will protest outside the Fisher building, a skycraper in the city, and they plan to hold an emergency meeting on Tuesday night, Detroit Free Press reported, to decide whether to “authorize a major collective action.” Though it’s unclear whether that could mean a strike, the union’s president told the Detroit News that every option is on the table.

Strikes by public employees such as teachers have been illegal since the 1947 Hutchinson Act passed, but that hasn’t stopped teacher strikes throughout the years. In the 1960s, the law was changed so that there were no longer penalties for striking, MichiganLive.com reported.
Tags

Detroitteacher protests




http://abcnews.go.com/US/wireStory/s...sures-38807186

Sick-out by Teachers Shuts Nearly All Detroit Public Schools

By corey williams, associated press

DETROIT — May 2, 2016, 3:02 PM ET

0 Shares
Email

Nearly all of Detroit's public schools were closed Monday and more than 45,000 students missed classes after about half the district's teachers called out sick to protest the possibility that some of them won't get paid over the summer if the struggling district runs out of cash.

The latest in a series of sick-outs shuttered 94 of 97 schools for the day as 1,562 teachers heeded their union's call to stay home. The move by the Detroit Federation of Teachers came after Detroit Public Schools' transition manager said the district would have no money to continue paying teachers this summer without further funding from the state.

The state had approved $47.8 million in emergency money in March to keep the 46,000-student school system operating, but that amount only pays the district's bills through June 30. Detroit Schools also would be unable to fund summer school or special education programs after June 30. The state Legislature is considering a $720 million restructuring plan that would pay off the district's enormous debt.

Teachers can opt to receive their pay over the course of the school year or spread over a full 12 months. It wasn't immediately clear how many of the district's approximately 3,000 educators chose to have their bi-weekly pay spread out over 26 weeks. Some say they live paycheck to paycheck and need the money to get through July and August, before the next school year starts.

"We have already put the work in," said Kimberly Morrison, 54, a reading and recovery specialist and 20-year district employee. "If I don't get my pay, then somebody else — who I owe — won't get their pay."

Kindergarten teacher Famata Legemah, 54, says it's difficult for her to save enough during the school year to make do over the summer because "there's not a whole lot left over."

Morrison and Legemah were among a few hundred teachers who picketed Monday morning outside the district's administrative offices.

"There's a basic agreement in America: When you put in a day's work, you'll receive a day's pay," Detroit Federation of Teachers Interim President Ivy Bailey said in a statement. "DPS is breaking that deal. Teachers want to be in the classroom giving children a chance to learn and reach their potential.

"Unfortunately, by refusing to guarantee that we will be paid for our work, DPS is effectively locking our members out of the classrooms."

Teacher strikes are illegal under Michigan law. Sick-outs earlier this year caused tens of thousands of students to miss class.

Dejuan Parkman, who has four children in the district, joined the protest. Parkman, 42, was able to get his mother to watch the kids Monday, but said he might have to take time off from his catering business if more sick-outs are held.

"It's real scary," he said. "What are we going to do if the teachers shut down the schools? I'm not mad at the teachers. You can't pay the teachers their money? That's not right. They have to pay their utilities, pay their mortgages and car notes."

Steven Rhodes, the district's state-appointed transition manager and a former bankruptcy judge, also said the teachers "have to be paid for the work that they do," but without more help from the state that might not be possible. He said he understood the frustration and would like to do something about it.

"No one can guarantee what the Legislature will do," Rhodes said. "The alternative is so unimaginable."

Republican Gov. Rick Snyder said Monday that he hopes to see action this month and "clearly before the middle of June" by lawmakers.

"We need to get something done here," Snyder told reporters in Flint. "A legislative solution is the best solution compared to the alternatives of ending up in court in some fashion."

Monday's sick-out was not constructive, especially with the Legislature considering the restructuring plan, he added.

"That just probably raises more questions and challenges to legislators," Snyder said.

——


Click here to view the whole thread at www.sammyboy.com.