DETROIT – Detroit's Cass Tech High School canceled classes Tuesday after several teachers called out sick in protest.
Steve Conn, an education activist and former president of the Detroit Federation of Teachers, told Local 4 teachers are in need of support to reduce class sizes, get books and other supplies into the classroom and get good pay to attract talented teachers.
“Right now, we’re being robbed by the state of Michigan repeatedly. Their answer to the robbery is more robbery,” Conn said. “I personally, and teachers who have been with me for all these years, have watched these schools deteriorate. The students, the community is suffering. They key is to defend and rebuild public education in Detroit so every neighborhood has a good quality public school. We’re going to continue to act. Teachers are not going to give up.”
Detroit Public Schools executive director of communications Michelle Zdrodowski issued this statement:
“We don’t disagree with people’s right to protest. However, what we do disagree with is when these protests take away instructional time from our students. To deny students their opportunity to learn in the interest of making a political statement should go against every principle a teacher holds important, and sends a terrible message to the very students to whom they are supposed to serve as role models. DPS students and their families make every effort, despite a myriad of challenges, to make it to the classroom every day. It is truly disappointing that this small subset of the District’s dedicated educators would choose to let them down this way. Students should not be taught that it’s OK to shirk their responsibilities, which is the message the teachers who call in sick - without truly being sick - are sending to their students.”
A Red Cross blood drive that was scheduled at the high school has also been canceled.
Check: More school closings