The water crisis in Flint isn’t the only tragedy unfolding in Michigan. Public school teachers in Detroit have spent most of the last month calling in sick to protest unsafe and unsanitary conditions in the schools.
The teachers claim that Detroit Public Schools and its emergency manager, Darnell Earley, have been unresponsive to complaints about their working and learning conditions. Among other things, many of Detroit’s school buildings are in such a poor state of repair that they are a safety hazard. Others are infested with mold, mildew, and rodents.
Over the last month, a number of teachers have taken to social media to post pictures of the conditions in which they have to work every day. Here’s a sample:
In a computer lab. #supportDPSteachers pic.twitter.com/fuZo44LYlW
— Detroitteach (@teachDetroit) January 17, 2016
Buckled floors, rodents,heating system that runs artic or sizzling hot-not conditions in which kids can learn pic.twitter.com/tStWJ0MG0f
— Randi Weingarten (@rweingarten) January 14, 2016
Does your school look like this? #supportDPSteachers pic.twitter.com/jBGbkqoM4z
— Detroitteach (@teachDetroit) January 15, 2016
Teacher caught the glass when it came down. @DreaMcCoy pic.twitter.com/yUvCeo1TfX
— Detroitteach (@teachDetroit) January 13, 2016
The experience of students and teachers at Spain Elementary-Middle School, near Wayne State University, is typical. The gym’s roof has leaked for a long time, but no repairs have been made. As a result, half the floor is severely warped, while the other half was coated with mold. The playground has been off-limits for some time because steam pours out of the ground. Fourth-grade teacher David Kade has to leave the windows open in his classroom even with temperatures in the teens. Why? All too often, his room is sweltering–as much as 94 degrees at times. He told CNN that many rooms are infested with roaches, rodents, and bedbugs.
In a colossal understatement, Kade says that not only is this “not the way to learn,” but that these are “not conditions that we should be teaching in.” Lakia Wilson, a counselor at the school for 14 years and a kindergarten teacher for five years before that, agrees. In a blog post for PBS Newshour’s Teachers Lounge, she wrote that the school reeks of mold and mildew, and that many classrooms have exposed wires. She asks–loudly–“how can you teach or learn in conditions like these?”
Michigan teachers aren’t allowed to strike, so the teachers felt they had only one way to get their schools fixed. Over a period of several weeks, they staged rolling sickouts. They called in sick in large enough numbers that several schools had to stay closed for the day for want of enough teachers. It came to a head on Wednesday, when all but eight schools were forced to close for the day.
In response, DPS sought and won an injunction ordering the teachers back to work. While a number of city and state officials have expressed some sympathy for the teachers’ plight, they have accused teachers of leaving kids in the lurch. If the teachers are to be believed, however they have had to deal with these appalling conditions for years without anything being done to address them. After looking at the pictures of what these teachers have to endure, I can only conclude that they bit their tongues until they bled–and finally had to do something.
Apparently the sickouts are getting results. For instance, Kade told CNN that when a water fountain was removed after going on the blink, it was never replaced. After years of mice crawling through the hole, it was simply boarded up. After the sickout, however, a new fountain was installed–and it works. One end of the gym has been opened, with two humidifiers running. However, DPS spokeswoman Michelle Zdrodowski says it could cost up to $5 million to fix the roof. She says that the system is working to improve conditions in the schools, but “bigger issues” like Spain’s roof have to be put on the backburner because “we just don’t have the resources to tackle (them) right now.”
Hmmm, has it occurred to DPS that had it fixed the roof sooner, it wouldn’t have cost nearly as much to do so now? Maybe if it had done so, and addressed these other problems as well, there wouldn’t have been any sickouts in the first place. Just a thought.
