Between the Flint water crisis and President Barack Obama's visit to Detroit Wednesday, the state of Michigan has received a whirlwind of national attention recently.
Now presidential hopeful Hillary Clinton, who last week said Flint residents deserve answers about their water, is joining the mix on another hot topic, failing Detroit Public Schools:
Though still the Democratic Party nominee favorite, recent polls show Clinton is losing ground to Bernie Sanders and in some states, trailing him.
On the day Obama visited Detroit, nearly 90 percent of Detroit Public Schools were shut down because of a coordinated union protest in which teachers simultaneously called in sick.
Called "sick-outs" or the "Snyder flu," at least four such protests have shut down dozens of Detroit Public Schools in the last few weeks.
Clinton's comment on Twitter is similar to one made by Detroit Mayor Mike Duggan when he toured several schools last week, after which he called for the full inspection of all public school and charter school facilities in the city.
"When I sit with a 4-year-old preschooler at 10 in the morning, who is wearing her coat in the classroom... that's not acceptable," Duggan said. "It's just not acceptable, and if this was a suburban community, parents wouldn't tolerate it."
During his visits, Duggan also observed a warped gym floor a dead mouse and other sub-par conditions.
Duggan took the opportunity to urge bipartisan support for Gov. Rick Snyder's restructuring plan, which the governor himself admitted hasn't yet received substantial political support.
- Snyder says Detroit Public Schools are buried in deepening debt -- as much as $550 million by this summer -- and it's requiring nearly $1,100 per student on just debt financing, money the governor says should be going back into servicing the education of children.
His plan, costing the state about $715 million over 10 years and requiring contributions from districts across Michigan, would effectively eliminate the current Detroit Public Schools district, which has been under emergency management since 2009. It would remain for the sole function of paying off debt.
The legislature would then create a Detroit Education Commission, initially led by appointees selected by the mayor and governor. Oversight powers would return to an elected local body over a number of years.
"To be blunt, we have 19th century education system in the 21st century and it's time to ask ourselves why," Snyder said during his State of the State Address Tuesday.
"Let's solve the problem and help the kids," he said. "The time to act is now and avoid court intervention, which would cost us much more and be a lot more detrimental."
Meanwhile, Detroit teachers have proposed a plan that is almost the opposite of Snyder's.
They want local School Board powers restored immediately, the Emergency Manager Darnell Earley removed, former Detroit Public Schools now under state charter returned to the District, more charter school transparency and for the state to pay off the Detroit Public Schools debt.
- Earley released a statement Wednesday criticizing the sick-out protests that have been shutting down schools.
"These ongoing illegal actions chosen by teachers represent an extreme disservice to the more than 44,790 students and their families who today lost another day of instruction and were again inconvenienced or caused to loose wages due to these closures," Earley said.
"... We have heard teachers' concerns and identified short and long-term solutions to several key issues. It's time for all of us to work together to ensure that there will be a school system in Detroit for future generations of the city's children."
http://www.mlive.com/news/detroit/index.ssf/2016/01/hillary_clinton_tweets_about_d.html
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