President
Obama visited Detroit on January 20th, 2016 to tout the city’s resurgent auto
industry, which, after the federal government’s bailout, has seen a spike in job growth.
Detroit’s
educators have taken advantage of the President’s visit to bring attention to
the city’s “toxic” schools suffering from years of neglect. They are holding
“sick outs,” a protest strategy that bypasses Michigan’s anti-strike laws by
having teachers collectively call in sick.
As the New York Times reports, the district recently
had to close over 60 schools when teachers didn’t show up for work on a Monday.
The teachers demand the district and state alleviate the financial problems of
the school system, which appears headed toward bankruptcy. Instead of
addressing the teachers’ demands, the district sought a court injunction to prevent further sick-outs.
The judge refused to act, and the sick-outs spread, causing nearly every school
in the 100-school district to close.
Pictures
of the moldy, rat-infested, freezing cold buildings have been shared by teachers on the ground. After a recent
visit to one of the schools, American Federation of Teachers’ president Randi
Weingarten summarized: “dedicated and caring staff teaching kids in appalling
conditions.“
So now
national attention is focused on inhumane conditions in two Michigan cities:
Flint’s lead-filled drinking water and Detroit’s rotten public schools. The
former has garnered the attention of everyone from resident filmmaker Michael
Moore to President Obama himself, who said, “I would
be beside myself that my kids' health could be at risk.” and declared a federal
emergency for Flint. Activists have let the president and the rest of the
country know that clean drinking water is not a privilege. It is an inalienable
right.
The
crisis in Detroit’s public schools has a long history but has not gotten the
attention it deserves. For years, teachers have been complaining about
miserable learning conditions for students, citing cracked and moldy walls,
broken drinking fountains, and woefully inadequate curricula for their
students. The schools have only crumbled further under Republican Governor Rick
Snyder’s tenure, as, true to his campaign message, he continually seeks to
undermine the public good by slashing budgets and services.
According to Alternet, “Flint’s water contamination crisis began in April 2014 after
Darnell Earley, an unelected emergency manager appointed by Snyder, switched
Flint’s water source to the long-polluted and corrosive Flint River in a bid to
save money.” The very same person who ran this life-sustaining public resource
to disaster, Darnell Earley, was also chosen to run Detroit public schools in
2014. In Michigan, governors are free to appoint persons of their own choosing
to oversee the operations of the Motor City’s schools. DPS has gone through four
emergency managers: Robert Bobb, Roy Roberts, Jack Martin, and now Darnell
Earley.
One
might think Michigan’s relentlessly upbeat governor would draw on all of his
resources to improve Detroit’s dilapidated schools. But that would mean
Governor Snyder cares about people, specifically people of color, in his
charge. In light of the governor’s spectacular failure to support basic public
services, why wouldn’t these predominantly Black cities draw attention
to their plight? In case of emergency, why wouldn’t the students, parents, and
teachers fight back in the name of their survival?
Part of
the lack of media attention to DPS may have to do with the narratives about
Detroit public schools told by current education “reformers.” Charter schools
and free market choice advocates have capitalized on the discord and lack of
resources in public schools to recruit students en masse. Charter school
student numbers were projected to surpass public school enrollment by last
year. With people like Michigan Wolverine basketball star and ESPN commentator
Jalen Rose getting into the business, and relentless
advertisements all over metro Detroit from these schools, it might seem like an
obvious choice for the residents of Detroit to go to charters instead of the
public option.
But, as
this last month has shown for the rest of the country, The United States of
America can no longer guarantee the public that its services are specifically
for all of the people. The water problem in Flint is not a problem for the
people who can afford filtered water. Coca-Cola and Pepsi haven’t been able to
dominate the water industry (not that they haven’t tried) the way the charter
school lobby has created a niche because most of us still assume our children
can safely drink our tap water without losing I.Q. points. We haven’t had an
onslaught of failure, disaster, and hopelessness layered on top of our water
system, even when companies like Nestle have profited from the
California water crisis to the tune of billions.
Whether
by elected school board or emergency manager, students, teachers, and parents
in Detroit cannot get the schooling they deserve—except, of course, in the most
elite schools. As educators in the classroom continue to be under-resourced and
under-valued, they continue to make do with what’s given to them. It’s well
known in education policy that 70% of a student’s performance in the classroom
is due to out-of-school factors. If the remaining 30% is severely degraded, we
give students very little chance for the much vaunted college and career-ready
path to success. Even Mayor Mike Duggan, Detroit’s first white mayor in 40
years, added his voice to the chorus of the concerned
by saying, “There were some schools that were very well-maintained. There were
some other schools that would just break your heart, where students wore their
coats in class until it was warm enough to take them off or where children
couldn't use the gym because of the water damage.”
To whom
is it not obvious that schooling is as much a public good as safe drinking
water? While Governor Snyder subverts the public will by perpetuating
deplorable learning conditions for students who attend DPS schools, educators
must subvert anti-striking laws with sick outs.
After
this much calamity, I’d be sick of the inequity, too.
José
Luis Vilson is a middle-school math educator, writer, activist, and Progressive
Education Fellow based in New York City. He writes the blog thejosevilson.com
From The Progressive
- See more at:
http://progressive.org/pss/sick-inequality-case-detroit-teacher-strike#sthash.mScpK5Fw.dpuf
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