(Reuters) – The union for Detroit public school teachers sued their district on Thursday demanding immediate removal of a state-appointed emergency manager and a return of local control with a plan to repair its crumbling buildings.
Detroit Public Schools are under state oversight and pressured by declining enrollment and heavy pension and debt obligations have left the district in danger of running out of cash in April.
The district’s emergency manager, Darnell Earley, previously served as emergency manager in Flint, Michigan, where growing criticism of the state and federal handling of lead contamination in tap water has drawn nationwide focus.
The state lawsuit filed by the Detroit Federation of Teachers accuses Earley of allowing buildings and finances to deteriorate so severely that the district is no longer providing a minimally sufficient education.
“While descriptions of the conditions have shocked the world, apparently they haven’t shocked DPS and Darnell Earley into taking action,†union Interim President Ivy Bailey told a news conference.
Bailey said teachers and parents have for years raised specific health and safety concerns only to be snubbed by the district and its emergency managers and it was time to restore local control.
Conditions are so severe that people risk their health and safety just by entering the buildings, the union lawsuit said.
Shoniqua Kemp, a parent and plaintiff in the lawsuit, said her two children attend high school in a building that is excessively hot with overcrowded classes, no working water fountains and boarded-up windows.
“Like other parents, I feel ignored by a school district that doesn’t seem to care,†Kemp said.
The lawsuit follows a mass demonstration by district teachers who called in sick on Jan. 20 in such large numbers that all but nine of the 97 public schools were forced to close that day, leaving 44,790 students out of class.
Another sick-out protest over working conditions forced about two-thirds of the schools to close on Jan. 11.
The union has said that teachers are frustrated over crumbling walls, mold in classrooms, rats and student overcrowding, combined with a teacher shortage and low pay.
Michigan Governor Rick Snyder has been pushing a state response to the district’s pension and debt obligations, which would require legislative approval, over court options.
Bills introduced in January in the legislature would create a new entity to run the schools and use the current Detroit Public Schools to retire debt.
(Reporting by David Bailey in Minneapolis, editing by G Crosse)
- Education
- Schools
- Detroit Public Schools
- Darnell Earley
- emergency manager