On Monday morning, 23 Detroit Public School (DPS) teachers will appear at the Michigan Court of Claims for a \u201cshow cause\u201d hearing related to the mass sickouts that have called the nation\u2019s attention to the deplorable conditions in Detroit schools.<\/p>\n
The DPS issued a statement on Sunday saying it \u201clooked forward to the opportunity to inform the court of the serious effects that these continued sick-outs are having,\u201d urging the court to issue an injunction against the sickouts.<\/p>\n
The hypocrisy of the DPS emergency manager Darnell Earley\u2013who in his prior position was responsible for the mass poisoning of Flint\u2019s children\u2013accusing teachers of hurting their students is staggering.<\/p>\n
The complaint was filed by the district last Wednesday. On Thursday the court denied the DPS\u2019s motion for a temporary restraining order. However, all parties were ordered to appear on Monday for deliberation on the preliminary injunction.<\/p>\n
![\"\"](\"http:\/\/www.wsws.org\/asset\/3b641f83-acb0-46c7-b1e7-6e597d35efbD\/detroit-teachers.jpg?rendition=image480\")
Detroit teachers demonstrate earlier this month<\/div>\nThe courageous stand by rank and file teachers, in the face of opposition from union leaders, the media and both Democratic and Republican politicians, has won massive public support. Workers and young people across the country are outraged at the degraded conditions Detroit schoolchildren face and have solidarized themselves with the teachers\u2019 demands for decent pay and working conditions. Students told the media they planned to rally on Monday in defense of the teachers and against the injunction.<\/p>\n
In response, state and local politicians\u2013enraged that teachers dared to speak up about intolerable conditions\u2013have launched a vindictive multi-pronged legal counteroffensive. The request for an injunction, issued by Democrat EM Earley, was followed Thursday by a series of punitive legislative bills proposed by state Republicans in the Michigan Senate.<\/p>\n
The three bills would further attack the democratic rights of teachers in several ways. They would require expedited hearings by the Michigan Employment Relations Commission (MERC) on public employee strikes, grant MERC broad powers to fine striking workers, and would require the State Superintendent to suspend or revoke teaching certificates of anyone found to have participated in an illegal strike. Further, an additional bill would punish any school district that failed to deduct MERC-imposed fines from teachers\u2019 paychecks.<\/p>\n
Among the senators sponsoring these draconian bills designed to criminalize the teachers\u2019 fight is Geoff Hansen (R-Hart) who is also the lead sponsor on the two bills pending in the legislature to dissolve the DPS and create a new Detroit Community School district.<\/p>\n
Throughout the escalating protests, union leaders, including AFT President Randi Weingarten; politicians, all the way up to the Obama administration; and the media have all combined to attempt to quash the determination of teachers.<\/p>\n
On a parallel track, politicians of both big business political parties are intent on pushing through a reorganization of the district. The district has said its ballooning debts will cause it to run out of money in April. The aim of the reorganization is to clear the way for a huge growth of charter schools and other edubusinesses, and further attacks on pensions and educators\u2019 incomes.<\/p>\n
Indicative of the whole thrust of his plans for Detroit schools and his general assault on public education, Governor Snyder\u2013the architect of the pending reorganization\u2013has proclaimed January 24-30 \u201cSchool Choice Week.\u201d<\/p>\n
In fact, big business interests in the media have now escalated the drumbeat for the complete dissolution of the Detroit Public Schools and the charterization of the district. On Friday, The Wall Street Journal<\/em> published a called for \u201cradical reform\u201d modeled on New Orleans, \u201cwhich converted nearly all of its schools to charters after Hurricane Katrina.\u201d These comments were followed by a column on Saturday by Tim Kelly, Michigan state representative, in the Detroit Free Press<\/em> calling for aggressive reforms \u201clike Education Savings Accounts and vouchers\u201d or the \u201cexpansion of choice and public charter schools to absorb the students of the former DPS.\u201d<\/p>\n It is becoming very clear that the issue at stake in the current struggle is the fate of public education.<\/p>\n Teachers spoke to the WSWS about the significance of their struggle, the legal attacks and why they are determined to fight. \u201cThis injunction is meant to intimidate,\u201d stated a Cass Technical High School teacher. \u201cIt\u2019s a scare tactic. Divide and conquer.<\/p>\n \u201cThe DFT used to be strong. When I grew up there were strikes all the time. My mom worked at DPS. We loved that they were fighting. But [former president] Keith Johnson actually signed our contract allowing 60 students in a class. That room didn\u2019t get bigger. Gym classes sometimes do have 60. My classes are 43, 41, etc.<\/p>\n \u201cIt\u2019s not just the governor. There are a lot people behind closed doors doing it, the Treasurer, the legislators. They want to shut down the DPS and just have Teach for America types. My pay with a Masters degree has gone down from $73,000 a year to $63,000.<\/p>\n \u201cIt\u2019s scary what\u2019s happening all over\u2013Chicago, Detroit\u2013it\u2019s a new world order. In 10 years they may have privatized education. They are changing society, period.\u201d<\/p>\n Another longtime teacher said, \u201cThe State of Michigan is threatening to take our teaching certificates away\u2013for us asserting our first amendment rights! Both of my parents were teachers and this is disgusting to me. Democracy is being taken away in the State of Michigan. Rick Snyder is denying 250 years of American history.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cI saw Rick Snyder\u2019s spiel\u2013\u2018Go back, you\u2019re hurting the kids.\u2019 He\u2019s<\/em> hurting the kids and has done so for years and years. We\u2019ve had enough,\u201d said another veteran educator with DPS. \u201cThe injunction cherry-picked teachers, any names they could get. Many were not significant players. These people are just trying to carry on and teach. It\u2019s a lot of stress to put them under\u2013demanding they attend a hearing on Monday. It is just wrong.<\/p>\n \u201cI am disheartened that teachers are so disrespected. I have worked for 29 years with the Detroit Public Schools. I feel dedicated; I had chances to leave, but I\u2019m invested in this. It\u2019s a calling. As they say, \u2018I\u2019m not in it for the income, I\u2019m in it for the outcome.\u2019<\/p>\n \u201cI\u2019m an art teacher. For 15-20 years I went in and painted classrooms, the library, bathrooms. I believe we must create an inviting space. I need to create an environment where my children feel valued. Each year I have 500-700 children, over the years this is some 15,000-18,000 children. I\u2019ve seen the conditions they have had to go to school in.<\/p>\n \u201cPeople can\u2019t buy cars, homes and food for their families. All of us are working poor. We see parents come in every day, struggling to raise their children. Both mom and dad are working two jobs.<\/p>\n \u201cWe have nothing to lose. I have three kids in college. They didn\u2019t tell me I\u2019d never get another raise, that I\u2019d have an $18,000 pay cut. We promised our children we\u2019d help them, like our parents did. But we are denied that ability because the governor rides roughshod over us. We mortgage our houses to get masters\u2019 degrees and get pay cuts.<\/p>\n \u201cPensions are gone. New teachers get defined benefits. No one goes into teaching. We are treated like the dregs of society. Who wants to get a job starting at $35,000 a year with $100,000 in student loan debt?\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cThey have no right to tell us what to do with our personal days,\u201d said another teacher, referring to the threatened injunction against sickouts. \u201cWe were tired of rolling over. \u201cThe district took 10 percent in TIP [Termination Incentive Pay] and the state took three percent for the health trust, that\u2019s $2,500-$3,500 each, plus interest. Rick Snyder took this and held it in escrow. Other state workers have gotten it back, but we\u2019re on our third appeal to get it back! It\u2019s unconstitutional.<\/p>\n \u201cWhy didn\u2019t the DFT ask for them to release these funds? The DFT has shut down democracy in our union. We lost confidence in them.<\/p>\n \u201cThey have the workers all segregated\u2013if you\u2019re a blue collar worker, you should make so much\u2013or a white collar worker, this much. We need to fight more and be more angry. We need to fight for all working conditions, for an increase in incomes. No one\u2019s income has gone up\u2013where has all the money gone? It is an oligarchy.<\/p>\n \u201cI went to Flint and marched for three hours in the cold. That\u2019s [the poisoning of the city\u2019s water supply] the same business. It\u2019s a basic civil right. Apparently the Michigan commission said water wasn\u2019t a \u2018civil right.\u2019 Lies! If water isn\u2019t a civil right, what is?<\/p>\n \u201cAll the urban school districts should go out together\u2013Philadelphia, Chicago\u2013that would turn the nation on its head. One day. The system is not working for the majority of us. They just don\u2019t want to pay for public schools anymore.\u201d Via WSWS<\/a>. This piece was reprinted by RINF Alternative News<\/a> with permission or license.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" \u201dDemocracy is being taken away in Michigan\u201d By\u00a0Nancy Hanover On Monday morning, 23 Detroit Public School (DPS) teachers will appear at the Michigan Court of Claims for a \u201cshow cause\u201d hearing related to the mass sickouts that have called the nation\u2019s attention to the deplorable conditions in Detroit schools. The DPS issued a statement on […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[519,18],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-218790","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","6":"category-newswire","7":"category-latest-news"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/rinf.com\/alt-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/218790","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/rinf.com\/alt-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/rinf.com\/alt-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/rinf.com\/alt-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/rinf.com\/alt-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=218790"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"http:\/\/rinf.com\/alt-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/218790\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/rinf.com\/alt-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=218790"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/rinf.com\/alt-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=218790"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/rinf.com\/alt-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=218790"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
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