Detroit teachers: not sick enough not to protest. (spring break, homes)

[Retroit]

Detroit Public Schools teachers divided on how to get President Obama's attention - WXYZ.com

Temperature: 19F

Why wouldn't you want these people to teach your kids?

[belleislerunner]

The good news is Detroit is filing a restraining order against the truants so hopefully the immature adults get back to their day jobs.

DPS seeks restraining order against teachers

[animatedmartian]

Clearly you've never been inside any DPS facility if you don't understand why they're protesting.

[Retroit]

I have no problem with them protesting. I have a problem with them calling in sick and then marching outside when its 19F. That's called "lying".

[Squeamish]

Google the pictures associated with this that show the conditions inside the schools. Then you'll understand. How else could they possibly fix the problem when their oversight is intentionally ignoring them?

[MS313]

Funny thing is, this is the most attention DPS conditions have gotten in a long time. The real question is, why did they even have to take it to that extreme in the first place? If "Child Protective Services" see kids living in homes with those type of conditions, they would be ready to take the kids.

[craig11152]

Originally Posted by Retroit

I have a problem with them calling in sick and then marching outside when its 19F. That's called "lying".

I am not familiar with the terms of their contract. Does it reference "sick days" or PTO (paid time off)? Or perhaps some combination of the two? Because if it specifies PTO then calling in "sick" of the conditions in the building isn't lying.

[belleislerunner]

Most teachers get very limited personal time off because of all the breaks (Winter break, spring break, summer etc) - so if someone did call in sick without truly being sick they are lying.

I'd propose the legislature either reduces all their pay further or fire them and bring in replacement teachers. No shortage of teachers looking for work.

As a city resident (i.e. funder of their paycheck) - I abhor their behavior. This behavior is once again proof for why DPS student success is so terrible. DPS teachers choose greed over duty. They should be publicly shamed. By name.

[keraT]

Originally Posted by belleislerunner

I'd propose the legislature either reduces all their pay further or fire them and bring in replacement teachers. No shortage of teachers looking for work.

As a city resident (i.e. funder of their paycheck) - I abhor their behavior. This behavior is once again proof for why DPS student success is so terrible. DPS teachers choose greed over duty. They should be publicly shamed. By name.

I doubt all these "teachers looking for work" are going to stay in DPS more than few months or year. I have to give it to the teachers for getting attention to school condition. They had to do something but now that the attention has been given to them, I don't know why this is still going on. Of course its not over night fix. I guess maybe not enough attention has been paid to the situation.

[Arthur Digby Sellers]

Thinking that firing all the teachers and replacing them is going to fix deeply rooted systemic problems is simplistic and reveals an ignorance of root causes. What happens when the thousands of new teachers you just magically imported can't even begin to teach kids who are worried about their next meal, getting robbed/raped/beaten on their way home and having to deal with highly dysfunctional home lives. And on top of that you have schools that are literally falling apart due to managerial incompetence.

I am uncomfortable with the protests, but there are problems at the schools that go FAR deeper than the teachers.