School Sickout and FLINT Water Protests: Outcome of Obama Supported Disaster Capitalism

Unions Fiddle While DETROIT Burns. We weren't hearing much about the Detroit school crisis from the AFT and its affiliate the DFT until teachers began to take wildcat sickout actions.

Yesterday, with Obama visiting the Detroit auto show to praise the Detroit comeback (huh?), we saw this headline:

Nearly all of Detroit's schools closed due to sickouts coinciding with Obama visit

The role the Randi backed Detroit Federation of Teachers has not been a prominent one even though CNN reports "An attorney for the Detroit Public Schools has asked a judge to issue a restraining order and preliminary injunction to force teachers to stop sickouts and return to work, according to court documents filed Wednesday. The motion names the Detroit Federation of Teachers, interim teachers union president Ivy Bailey and 23 Detroit Public Schools teachers."

Who else can they try to blame? The cannot conceive of the idea that teachers might reach the point where the brakes the union tries to apply just won't work. This is a point I tried to make in some of my previous posts regarding Friedrichs weakening the unions to the point where they cannot manage the membership as overseers. [ see extra credit below].

Then there is the Flint water crisis, which ties together with the Detroit school crisis:

As Governor Snyder was hiding behind Michigan's executive privilege laws and withholding information about the water crisis from the public, Detroit teachers were taking bold action that called attention to the deplorable learning conditions within the state's largest school district. More than sixty Detroit schools have been shut down this winter due to teacher sick-outs.

-----MLK's legacy lives as Detroit and Flint battle injustices, column

Diane Ravitch's blog

Michigan Governor Snyder–Who Poisoned Flint–Says Detroit Teachers are Harming Children - PRICELESS READ


Then there is the tie to the Obama war on public schools:

Obama Administration Enables Billionaire Takeover of America's Public Schools | Alternet

http://www.alternet.org/education/obama-administration-enables-billionaire-takeover-americas-public-schools

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Of course we have this:
Republican leader of the Michigan House calls for teachers to be fired

Detroit school system wants judge to end teacher sickouts

http://www.cnn.com/2016/01/20/us/detroit-public-schools-michigan-governor/index.html

(CNN)

"DPS has requested the court's intervention in addressing the ongoing teacher sickouts that are plaguing the district," Michelle Zdrodowski, the spokeswoman for the Detroit Public Schools said in a statement.

The teachers union responded to the filing, noting "Detroit deserves better."

"It is regrettable that the Detroit Public Schools seeks to punish those who speak out about the deplorable conditions in our schools," Bailey said. "It would be so much more productive to actually do something to fix Detroit schools rather than file restraining orders against those who expose the miserable conditions."

Nearly all Detroit's public schools were closed Wednesday as many protesting teachers called in sick, turning what was supposed to be a day to celebrate into one shining a harsh spotlight on one of Michigan's struggling cities.

President Barack Obama was in Detroit for the North American International Auto Show. He praised the American automotive industry's resurgence, which many people view as a major victory for Detroit.

But those inside the city tell a sharply different story, one illustrated in leaflets showing pictures of dead rats found at public schools, mildew taking over ceilings and walls and damage to school buildings.

Detroit teachers have pressed their case against what they call deplorable conditions and inadequate funding. They've also decried decisions made by the school system's emergency manager, who was appointed by Republican Gov. Rick Snyder -- criticism that echoes complaints in Flint, a Michigan city mired in a water crisis after state officials largely took over because of budget troubles, just as they did in Detroit.

Detroit teachers have backed up their words with mass sickouts, starting January 11, when 62 schools closed as a result.

Bailey estimated the doors of "over 30 schools" ultimately would be affected.

Zdrodowski said there would be no class Wednesday in 88 schools, about 90% of those in the system. 

But as of Wednesday night, the Detroit Public Schools' Facebook page indicated all schools will be open Thursday. The announcement included a request for students and parents to check the page again for updates.

The speaker of the House in Michigan called for absentee teachers to be dismissed.

"These teachers deserve to be fired for turning their backs on the children in their care," said Kevin Cotter, a Republican from Mount Pleasant. "Their actions also go against any possible resolution on potential (Detroit Public Schools) reforms, because any long-term agreement on Detroit schools has to put the kids first."

Cotter said more than 700,000 instructional hours have been lost.

Budgets leave children by wayside in 2 Michigan cities

Obama meets with Detroit's mayor

The timing -- on the day of Obama's visit to the Detroit auto show, with the national media attention that it brought -- was no coincidence.

The Detroit Federation of Teachers indicated as much on its website, saying now is the time to "fight for Detroit kids (who) are struggling in schools with hazardous environmental and safety issues (and) educators have made significant sacrifices for the good of students."

 Extra Credit:

• Friedrichs: Did Justice Sotomayor Claim Teacher Un...
• Detroit Sickout Mystery: Who is Leading and Who is...
• Randi's Detroit Deja Vu: Is Union "One Voice" Argu...
• Nancy Flanagan on Detroit Sickout: Neither DFT Lea...
• Detroit Union Calls for Public Hearings While ille...
• DPS TEACHERS FIGHT BACK! "A Union Within a Union"
• Detroit: Randi Sends in the Troops to Back Puppet ...
• The Wrath of Steve Conn: Wildcat Sickout in Detroi...

Detroit Sickout Mystery: Who is Leading and Who is Trying to Stop It?

Why am I reporting so much on the Detroit wildcat sickout? Because of comments I've seen by dissident teachers here in NYC who are hoping for a UFT loss on Friedrichs and feel that with a weaker union teachers will arise from their slumber and revolt - and Detroit may be a model for a weak union. So I'm trying to decipher exactly what is happening - are there leaders who organized this? To what extent is this spontaneous combustion?

...the DFT [Detroit Federation of Teachers]—discredited for its willingness to sign onto any concessions contract, layoff and school closure handed down by a succession of emergency managers—has been unable to stop or control the sickouts and has gone into crisis mode. For the DFT and its national parent organization, the American Federation of Teachers (AFT), it is now ‘all hands on deck’ to try to quell the protests while at the same time trying to prevent further loss of union membership come next June, when members will be able to opt-out under the state’s right-to-work law.

Meanwhile, the corporate media, from the local Detroit press to the New York Times and UK-based Guardian, have falsely claimed ousted DFT president Steve Conn is the leader of the protests. But teachers have gone through an experience with Conn’s brand of pseudo-left racial politics and unprincipled maneuvers with the Democratic Party, and the organizers of the sickouts have specifically dissociated themselves from him.... the 4th International, World Socialist Website

There is too much information coming in on what forces are behind the revolt in Detroit which may be a true rank and file movement independent of the official union, the Detroit Federation of Teachers (DFT) and Steve Conn and his group BAMN.

We've reported on Steve Conn's story of being elected as president and then removed and tossed from the union. Knowing the DFT which follows Randi Weingarten's lead was too  passive to lead the sickout I assumed that it had to be Steve.

Well-known and trusted blogger Nancy Flanigan posted a comment on Ed Notes and a link to her blog affirming that the union is not involved but also casting doubt on the role Steve Conn has played. Nancy Flanagan on Detroit Sickout.

 This story has been reported, as all stories are reported in MSM, by contacting union leaders, rather than garden-variety teachers. Because that's what reporters do, when they want to hear the "teachers' voice." As you well know, official union leadership (as well as deposed leadership) does not always represent what classroom teachers really want. Steve Conn has taken credit for a bubbling surge of rage that he had no hand in instigating--here's a quote from a DPS teacher:

"Mr. Conn held a meeting this afternoon first touting it as teachers taking a strike vote and then as an endorsement of the current sick outs. He even went so far as to encourage yet another sick out on the 20th for people to show up at his hearing and show their support for him! Imagine closing down the schools over an internal union issue rather than an issue with the schools. And that gives you an idea at how crazy things really are right now."

Public hearings would a chance for the conditions in DPS and the dedication of DPS teachers to be heard, rather than glossed over or buried under still more governmental blah-blah. Here in Detroit, there is no school board, there is no democracy--there is management by fiat. A public hearing would be something the press could report on.

I'm curious since Steve Conn did seem to win election as president over a DFT Randi choice. And then was removed and tossed from the union.

Nancy on her blog includes comments from rank and file teachers:

• This teacher sick-out is not an action spearheaded by the DFT! We teachers are sick and tired of always being the ones who compromise. We have lent the district money in good faith, we have remained frozen in our pay since 2008, we have taken decreases in health care--and that's not even half of it! If we were in school today every student and teacher would have had to wear coats hats and gloves, because there's no heat.

• Recent teacher sickouts ARE NOT a DFT union-led activity. These sickouts have been organized by individual groups of teachers. This is how dysfunctional Detroit is. Teachers, who have been largely apathetic in the past decade even in light of their diminishing pay, benefits and working conditions are standing up and saying No More! The district wants to paint these teachers as uncaring about their students' welfare when the truth is exactly the opposite. They are taking a stand and saying "Our students deserve better and we will not be complicit any longer."

I'm guessing Nancy is pointing to what appears to be a third force - DPS FIGHTBACK - a Union Within a Union: DPS TEACHERS FIGHT BACK! "A Union Within a Union".

DPS Teachers Fight Back (A union Within a Union), is a group of teachers mobilizing to unite, shed light on unsafe and subpar learning conditions, and demand resolution. 

Is this the real group behind the sickout? They do make it clear that

We are not affiliated with BAMN, its' leadership, or any former DFT leadership.  We are teachers united as it is time that we stand up and defend our students, our profession, and our rights!  Our cornerstone issues are Academics, Fairness & Equity.  Our goal is to ensure that Detroit students are no longer pay for the deficit created by state control, and to protect their civil rights and ability to receive an exemplary education.  

Some sources in Detroit point to them as an offshoot of the DFT but that is not clear. Oy! If I were a real reporter I would start calling people and dig this story out. Or better yet, if there were real ed reporters out there who actually get paid to report on education we might get an accurate report. But don't expect that. Is Chalkbeat still in operation?

Then there is this long piece from the World Socialist Website - the 4th International with attacks on both the DFT, Randi AND Steve Conn.

http://www.wsws.org/en/articles/2016/01/13/dpst-j13.html

Detroit public schools teachers continue sickouts

Detroit Union Calls for Public Hearings While illegaly deposed DFT President Steve Conn Calls for Sickout/Strike - and What Impact on Friedrichs?

At a news conference Monday morning, [Acting DFT President] Bailey and other union officials, teachers and parents expressed frustration about conditions in many DPS schools and called for public hearings.... Detroit News

A WTF moment that exposes how the Randi Weingarten ideal of a union operates. I just heard a report on NPR's Takeaway where the point is made that the city manager is claiming that the union has not sanctioned the sickout and that only a minority of teachers are supporting it.

How different is the destruction of the Detroit school system than the poisoning of the water in Flint?

• The Man Who Poisoned Children in Flint Criticizes Teachers’ “Sick-Out”

The NY Times report has the below the lines bias, trying to paint this as an internal union dispute:

The job actions are tied up in the politics of both Lansing and the teachers’ union itself. The sickouts have been organized by Steve Conn, who was ousted in August as president of the union, and still has an ardent following.

Mr. Conn had been a firebrand activist at odds with union leadership — as well as the district administration — until a year ago, when teachers elected him president. Seven months later, the union’s executive board removed him over charges of misconduct.

No attempt to provide context for Steve's removal. At least they give him credit for leading the sickouts and given the appearance of a DPS FightBack, "union within a union" which says it has no affiliation with Steve - a group promoted by Diane Ravitch, I begin to wonder if  they are not a front group set up by the union itself to divert people from Steve. Just thinking out loud.

Previous Ed Notes reports:

• DPS TEACHERS FIGHT BACK! "A Union Within a Union"
• Detroit: Randi Sends in the Troops to Back Puppet ...
• The Wrath of Steve Conn: Wildcat Sickout in Detroi...

Meanwhile, Steve Conn, the legally elected president of the DFT had this to say:

Steve Conn, the ousted president of the Detroit Federation of Teachers, has been calling for teachers to stay home in protest. “It’s great,” Conn told The News on Monday.
On Sunday, Conn had told reporters he expected three dozen closures — and added that “an all-out strike will be the only way to save public education in Detroit.”
At Sunday’s meeting, Conn called his Jan. 20 reinstatement hearing with the American Federation of Teachers, which has placed the DFT in trusteeship, “D-Day.” Monday, Conn said that if he’s not reinstated, the Strike to Win committee will pursue a full-blown strike.
“It’s all one thing — the degradation of local control of our schools,” Conn said.
Though teacher strikes are illegal in Michigan, Conn brushed off those concerns Sunday.
“Teachers strikes have always been illegal, but I’ve been through four of these,” Conn said.
Conn was removed from office and expelled from the DFT in August by the union executive board, which found him guilty of internal misconduct charges, including illegal cancellation of meetings and failure to investigate abuse of members.

Acting DFT president Bailey had more to say:

“The deplorable conditions in our schools have created a serious environmental and educational crisis that is being ignored. We refuse to stand by while teachers, school support staff and students are exposed to conditions that one might expect in a Third World country, not the United States of America,” Bailey said. “The children of Detroit, Flint or any other community should not be exposed to atrocious, environmental hazards.”
Bailey said health and safety hazards include rat and other rodent infestations, crumbling walls, holes in ceilings, cracked sidewalks and broken boilers and no heat. She also said DPS has 170 teaching vacancies and that some special education classrooms have no textbooks.

But no plan of action to fight it other than the usual bitching and call for lame public hearings.

In the meantime, it was the actions of deposed president Steve Conn and other teachers willing to make a stand that got conditions noticed and are generating national headlines.

What is DPS Teachers Fight Back?
Then there is this group that I posted about yesterday that Diane Ravitch mentioned: DPS TEACHERS FIGHT BACK! "A Union Within a Union"

Exactly what is a union within a union? I spoke to someone named Kimberley who said Steve Conn had not reached out to them. In the full article below there is no mention of DPS, only Steve Conn. DPS states clearly that it is not affiliated with Steve's political group, BAMN which has run against Randi since 2010 at AFT conventions. Is DPSFB an attempt to separate itself from the more radical Conn? Note that they do not say a word about a strike.

There is a full membership meeting this Thursday and as Steve points out his hearing will be Jan. 22. If Randi's minions bury Steve he may form another union in Detroit and challenge the DFT as the bargaining agent. In the light of Friedrichs coming decision there is a lot to chew on.

DFT, like the UFT, plays a role -- to make sure things don't get out of hand and become too militant in ways that threaten the current power structure in the union and the Democratic political establishment.

Left-tinged social justice unionists with lines into the communities have the potential to cause all sorts of problems with the comfortable partnership teacher unions have established with the establishment over the past 55 years. Throw in the wild card of Friedrichs which will certainly harm the more traditional unions than the radical ones in terms of dues collection.

Just think Chicago, where over 90% of the teachers support a strike, inconceivable here in NYC. I would bet that the CTU will have less problems collecting dues than the UFT.

But also think about the power structure like Rahm in Chicago facing radical, militant unions that can be leaner and meaner than the UFT and not be as vulnerable to government attacks. We found that in Puerto Rico the union was attacked mercilessly and company unions were brought in to undermine them - yet they continue to collect enough dues to keep them alive.

I think the idea of a teacher union out of control begins to sink in at some point and the avid supporters of Friedrichs may end up with many unintended consequences. It is one thing to be a southern right to work state and quite another to have had certain rights in a northern urban city and then see them taken away. But members of the UFT are increasingly asking "exactly what do we have and what value do we put on it?" The last 20 years as our leaders have capitulated to ed deform are a lesson.

Full Detroit News story here and below the fold.

The Wrath of Steve Conn: Wildcat Sickout in Detroit After Randi Weingarten Undermines Union - Will Detroit Influence Friedrichs Decision?

A “substantial” number of teachers from at least 40 schools in Detroit’s public school district will participate in a “sickout” on Monday, the Guardian has learned. The move for teachers to simultaneously call in sick, fueled by frustration over large class sizes and “abominable” working conditions, could close nearly half the district.

Finally, some of you might be saying, a teacher union showing some militancy. Not so fast. The teacher union, which has been even more weakened than it was due to repeated Randi/AFT interventions, seems to be playing no role as they usually do in putting the breaks on militancy.

Nor consider this an outrage: "An estimated 41 cents out of every state dollar appropriated for students in Michigan is spent on debt service, according to an analysis by the Citizens Research Council."

Imagine that. Have you heard a word from Randi and crew that taking away almost half the money from children for debt service is obscene and must be resisted? Screw the bondholders. They took their shot and lost.

What happens when there is not much of a union left to sell out?

What happens if Friedrichs, opening today at SCOTUS, weakens a union to such an extent that teachers left to their own devices and without a union to put the breaks on them actually begin to organize themselves?

Don't think that this threat and what is going on in Detroit won't have some influence on the decision. People in power, from state and local governments through school boards may be seeing the nightmare of not having cozy unions like the UFT and AFT around to undermine militancy.

Friday’s closures brought to five the number of DPS buildings that were closed at least one day this week because of teacher sickouts, a tactic former Detroit Federation of Teachers president Steve Conn takes credit for implementing.... Detroit News

Detroit is an example of how Unity Caucus will undermine a local in danger of going rogue. We've reported on how Randi and AFT crew took charge in Detroit after Steve Conn was elected president of the Detroit Federation of Teachers by having him charged with something or other and throwing him out of the union.

Conditions in classrooms are “abominable”, said Steve Conn, a teacher and former president of the Detroit Federation of Teachers who was removed from office for alleged misconduct in August. Conn has vowed to contest those charges.

Detroit has been on our list of Randi Sellouts since she brokered another one of those contracts loaded with ed deform provisions that ultimately

undermine teachers and the union (see Newark).

Given the history of Randi/Unity Caucus non-militancy, to me it was clear that the DFT now under her control would have little to do with a sickout. Our leaders are perfectly comfortable with debt service coming first, in contrast to our pals in Chicago who have put the influence of the banks in siphoning money out of schools front and center.

Now for my anti-left/social justice friends out there, Steve Conn is from the left and a big social justice guy. That infuses militancy not stops it.

In fact, the only group to oppose Randi and her Unity crew at recent AFT elections is Steve Conn's By Any Means Necessary (BAMN).

In the articles below I don't see one comment out of the union. Let's watch this play out when Randi offers to come in and "mediate". She despises Conn and this should be fun. (I have some great video of Steve disrupting Randi's speech at a rally in Detroit during the AFT2012 convention.)

If you want some background here are some ednotes links to the Detroit situation going back to 2008:

Ed Notes Online: Randi's Nightmare: DETROIT TEACHERS ELECT ...

Jan 17, 2015 ... Randi's Nightmare: DETROIT TEACHERS ELECT STEVE CONN FROM EON/ BAMN TO HEAD DFT. Randi must be banging her head against ...

Ed Notes Online: The Trial of Steve Conn: Is Attack on Detroit Union ... Aug 4, 2015 ... The Detroit Federation of Teachers executive board put president Steve Conn on trial this morning for conduct detrimental to the union.

Ed Notes Online: Randi's Nightmare Continues: Steve Conn Sworn ... Jan 28, 2015 ... Conn, who has run for DFT president about a dozen times before, credits his victory to members being fed up with the "fiasco disaster" that ...

Ed Notes Online: More on Detroit Union Elections: Steve Conn and ...

Nov 17, 2008 ... So what's going on in Detroit with a slate of pro Green Dot so-called "reformers" ( see post previous to this) and Steve Conn running in the ...

Ed Notes Online: Detroit Union Election - Is Randi guy in trouble? 38 ... Dec 6, 2010 ... Detroit teacher Steve Conn (above center) spoke to the Peace and Justice Caucus of the American Federation of Teachers on July 10, 2010 ...

Ed Notes Online: Randi Invades Detroit Dec 9, 2015 ... Aug 4, 2015 - The Detroit Federation of Teachers executive board put president Steve Conn on trial this morning for conduct detrimental to the ...

Detroit braces for 'sickout' by teachers frustrated by class sizes and conditions

http://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2016/jan/10/detroit-sickout-teachers-frustrated-class-sizes-con

A ‘substantial’ number of educators are expected to be absent from at least 40 schools in a district facing financial calamity with liabilities of $3.5bn

Ryan Felton in Detroit

Sunday 10 January 2016 15.26 EST
 

A “substantial” number of teachers from at least 40 schools in Detroit’s public school district will participate in a “sickout” on Monday, the Guardian has learned. The move for teachers to simultaneously call in sick, fueled by frustration over large class sizes and “abominable” working conditions, could close nearly half the district.

Detroit schools close due to teacher sickout in protest of education reform

Detroit teachers have recently staged numerous such organized mass absences from work, prompting closures at some of the largest schools in the city of 680,000.
State and local education officials have criticized what they call an “unethical” approach to raising concerns that they say hurts students the most.

Teachers say students are already devastated by conditions in the district, which is facing financial calamity with liabilities of $3.5bn.

Last week, nearly a half-dozen schools closed for at least one day due to teacher sickouts. On Monday that number could climb, according to two sources with knowledge of the plan who spoke to the Guardian.

It is unclear what impact the pledges will have on school closures, but such a large-scale demonstration could prompt the closure of nearly half the districts’ 103 schools, which include an estimated 47,000 students.

Conditions in classrooms are “abominable”, said Steve Conn, a teacher and former president of the Detroit Federation of Teachers who was removed from office for alleged misconduct in August. Conn has vowed to contest those charges.

“I’ve been a resident of Detroit for 30 years … my daughter grew up in the neighborhood, went to Detroit public schools, and the conditions increasingly, especially since 2007 with the financial crisis, have been awful,” he told the Guardian.

Another source with knowledge of plans for the demonstration said 90% of teachers at one school had voted to participate in the sickout. Organizers received “pledges of substantial participation” from teachers in at least 40 schools, the source said.

Detroit’s public schools have been a problem for Michigan’s governor, Rick Snyder, a Republican who ushered the city into the largest municipal bankruptcy in US history. Most observers agree the success of Detroit is contingent upon whether its schools can be fixed.

Snyder has made a $715m proposal to overhaul the failing district in 2016. It has so far received little support in the Michigan legislature.

Asked about the spate of sickouts, David Murray, a spokesman for Snyder, said: “Detroit children need to be in school. In addition to their education, it’s where many children get their best meals and better access to the social services they need. There are certainly problems that [need] to be addressed, quickly.”

Snyder’s plan would eliminate debt in the district that is equal to $1,100 per child, Murray said. That was “money that could be better spent in the classroom, lowering class sizes, raising pay and improving benefits”.
Tom Pedroni, an associate professor at Wayne State University, said the governor’s plan was commendable for “taking seriously the notion that Detroit public schools needs debt relief”.

“We know that with the current debt figures if the issue is not addressed soon, Detroit public schools students will be losing [nearly half of the state’s per-pupil funding total],” Pedroni said, adding: “It’s unconscionable that students lose that to debt service.”

The problem with Snyder’s plan, Pedroni said, was that it relied on governing the school district with a board of appointees, not elected members. Since 2009, under a state-appointed emergency manager, the elected board has been effectively neutered.

“There’s currently a lot of debate over whether those appointees for the new Detroit school board [in Snyder’s proposal] would be mayoral appointees or gubernatorial appointees,” Pedroni said.

“But to me, really all of those are inexcusable because what I think we see happening in the district in Detroit is really an indictment of the sort of heavy-handed power from the executive branch without any checks or balances.”

Pedroni said this was similar to what has taken place in the nearby city of Flint. There, a state-appointed emergency manager has been alleged to have decided to use a local river as the city’s main water source. The move has been linked to an increased level of lead in household water supply.
When in 1999 the state first stepped in and overhauled the governance of Detroit schools, the district’s budget carried a $93m-surplus. According to an analysis by the Citizens Research Council, a Michigan-based policy research group, in the most recent fiscal year the district reported a budget deficit of nearly $216m.

An estimated 41 cents out of every state dollar appropriated for students is spent on debt service, according to the council’s report.

“Despite being under the control of a state-appointed emergency manager since 2009, Detroit public schools, the state’s largest district, is failing academically and financially,” the report said.

Despite a depleted school enrollment, class sizes have increased and teachers have repeatedly taken pay cuts. Only one-third of high school students are proficient in reading, according to Snyder’s office.

Teachers say students are being judged unfairly. In an open letter to the Detroit public schools emergency manager, Darnell Earley, who blasted teachers for the sickout protests last week, fourth-grade teacher Pam Namyslowski said pupils had been “set up to fail in every way”.

“We ARE [the students’] voice,” Namyslowski wrote. “We are on the front line, working side by side with them every day, trying our best to overcome numerous obstacles.

“In the winter, we often work in freezing rooms with our coats on with them. In the summertime, we survive with them in stifling heat and humidity in temperatures that no one should have to work in. We wipe their tears and listen when they are upset.”

Successes in the classroom typically go unnoticed, Namyslowski continued, as “most cannot be measured or displayed on a data wall”.

“We, as teachers, know our students and what they need. It is heartbreaking to see that our students don’t have what they need and certainly not what they deserve.”

In a statement released on Sunday, Earley said: “It’s clear that teachers are feeling an overwhelming sense of frustration over the challenges that they and all [Detroit Public Schools] employees face as they do their jobs each day. We understand and share their frustration.

“However, given the reality of the district’s financial distress, it is becoming clearer every day that the only way that we are going to be able to address these serious issues in any way is through an investment in DPS by the Michigan legislature.

“Unfortunately, obtaining that support becomes more challenging with each closure of a school due to a teacher sick-out.”

A teachers’ protest was planned to coincide with the sick outs, at noon on Monday outside the Fisher building in downtown Detroit.

====

State superintendent calls on teachers to end sickouts

James David Dickson, The Detroit News 6:52 a.m. EST January 8, 2016

(Photo: Detroit News file photo)

Detroit — Michigan’s state school superintendent called Friday on Detroit teachers to stop the sickouts that have caused repeated school closures this week and over the past two months.
“I understand that teachers in Detroit Public Schools have real concerns about the financial, academic, and structural future of their schools, but for the sakes of their students, they need to be in the classrooms teaching,” Brian Whiston said in a statement issued after classes were canceled Friday at East English Village Preparatory Academy and Mann Learning Community.
Friday’s closures brought to five the number of DPS buildings that were closed at least one day this week because of teacher sickouts, a tactic former Detroit Federation of Teachers president Steve Conn takes credit for implementing.
“I am calling on teachers in Detroit public schools to end their systematic plans of not reporting to work. ...,” Whiston said. “I will be calling a meeting of state and local stakeholders to sit down, discuss the issues, and finally put together a viable solution that will move education forward for the children in the city of Detroit.”
Whiston issued his statement a day after the chairman of the Michigan House Appropriations Committee on School Aid called on him to sanction the teachers union.
Rep. Tim Kelly, R-Saginaw Township, said Whiston should consider “all available options” and called the sickout “selfish behavior and a blatant attempt to circumvent the law barring the DFT from walking away from their responsibilities and striking.”
The leader of a statewide association that advocates for school officials also called for the teachers to be punished.
“I think any time people use kids for a political statement, I think there has to be ramifications,” Chris Wigent, executive director of the Michigan Association of School Administrators, said Friday during a taping of the public affairs television show “Off the Record.”
“I’m not giving a broad brush over every teacher that they’re not there for kids, and probably even the teachers who are doing this are there for kids, but politics can’t take over what’s going on in the classroom, especially with the types of student achievement that we need to get in the city of Detroit,” Wigent said.
The sickouts have been staged by teachers upset by large class sizes, pay and benefit concessions, and Gov. Rick Snyder’s plan to create a new, debt-free Detroit school district.
Conn said he and a contingent of DPS teachers will meet at 4 p.m. Sunday at Gracious Savior Evangelical Lutheran Church to plan their next moves, which might include a full-blown strike.
Conn was ousted as president of the DFT and expelled from the union in August after the local’s executive board found him guilty of internal misconduct charges.
In a statement issued Friday by the American Federation of Teachers, interim DFT president Ivy Bailey said Sunday’s meeting is not sanctioned by the union.
“The Detroit Federation of Teachers has learned that Steve Conn is holding a meeting on Sunday to talk about further actions,” Bailey said. “Let me be clear: This meeting is not a DFT-sponsored meeting, as has been mistakenly reported.”
Besides the two schools closed Friday, classes this week were canceled at Cass Technical High School, Renaissance High School and Martin Luther King Jr. Senior High School. That means roughly 6,730 students have missed class because of sickouts.
Teacher sickouts also resulted in several school closures in November and December, including Bates Academy, Mason Elementary, West Side Academy and Mackenzie Elementary-Middle School.
District officials at that time sent “notices of investigation” to teachers thought to be involved in sickouts on Nov. 3 and Dec. 1, 10 and 11, according to the DFT.
In a press conference Thursday at King High School, DPS emergency manager Darnell Earley said that while he did not begrudge teachers the right to protest working conditions, it is “unethical” for them to do it in a way that takes learning time away from students.
“These actions, caused by a minority of teachers, disrupt the efforts intended for those who can ill afford to lose instruction time,” Earley said Thursday.
In a statement posted on the DFT’s website, Bailey criticized Earley for “blaming the teachers — the glue that holds this system together.”
“While we don’t condone the action taken by a small number of our members, we understand the utter frustration underlying it,” she said.

Randi Invades Detroit

Randi sends in shock throops in Detroit union takeover

How does one rally the membership against a state takeover of local schools with a national takeover of the local union?... Mike Antonucci, EIA

About 6 or so years ago Randi parachuted into Detroit to help negotiate another sell-out contract along with retired DFT president Keith Johnson. That worked out as well for DFT as for Newark, Washington DC, Philly, etc. 

David Bellel's graphic

Over the past decade, EIA's Mike Antonucci and I have chronicled AFT takeovers of local unions, not only over corruption like Washington DC but over locals that want to leave the AFT or because AFT leaders don't like the politics of the elected union leader, like Detroit which we reported on in August

Ed Notes Online: The Trial of Steve Conn: Is Attack on ...

ednotesonline.blogspot.com/.../the-trial-of-steve-conn-is-attack-on.html

Aug 4, 2015 - The Detroit Federation of Teachers executive board put president Steve Conn on trial this morning for conduct detrimental to the union. Even though Steve won 2 elections, they just threw him out of the union.

Last August, the executive board of the Detroit Federation of Teachers ousted its perennially agitated president, Steve Conn. When the rank-and-file had an opportunity to weigh in, a majority favored Conn’s return, but the margin fell short of the necessary two-thirds.

Oh, democracy. Even though Steve had the majority, they just decided to throw him out of the union so he could not win again.

In past AFT takeovers they sent in shock troops which Mike hinted at:
 there’s still the danger that AFT could airdrop the locksmiths and take over the whole operation.”

But that wasn't necessary:

Well, the airdrop wasn’t required because the DFT executive board opened the gates and let the army in.

And the best part:

“Internal elections would be temporarily postponed to permit all DFT leaders and members to focus, for now, on the goals of the campaign.”
Conn couldn’t run again for the presidency because he was also booted from the union, but certainly there was a danger that one of his allies could activate his base and regain the office.

You see, I often tell people in the UFT who think that taking over the union is just about beating Unity in an election that there would be consequences - they would protest the election to the AFT (Randi) and they would rule there were "issues" and then just take it over and maybe even put the elected president on trial.

How much fun will it be if they every decide to have a union election in Detroit if Steve Conn's people actually win again? Just throw all of them out of the union. I believe Steve is trying to organize a counter union and force a vote on which one teachers would choose.

Here is Mike's full report:

AFT Set to Assume Control of Detroit Local

And the Detroit News report.

And by the way, this Friday MORE is doing a support event for the Puerto Rico union, which actually broke free of what they termed the "bloodsucking AFT" a decade ago - they were too far away to drop in the troops and the AFT sued and lost.

Here are some ed notes pieces over the years on the situation in Detroit (One day I have to dig up the video of Steve Conn heckling Randi at a rally in 2012 at the AFT convention.)

Ed Notes Online: Detroit Teachers Recall of Weingarten Ally ...

ednotesonline.blogspot.com/.../detroit-teachers-recall-of-weingarten.html

Feb 14, 2010 - Detroit teachers have been fighting to recall DFT President (and major Randi Weingarten ally) Keith Johnson as part of the fight to stop the Arne ...

Ed Notes Online: Weingarten Ally, Detroit Teacher Union ...

ednotesonline.blogspot.com/.../weingarten-ally-detroit-teacher-union.ht...

Jan 15, 2010 - See comment 2 by Mike Antonucci of the EIA who checked the Detroit Fed of T web site which says the recall was illegal. Read on to where I ...

Ed Notes Online: Randi's Nightmare Continues: Steve Conn ...

ednotesonline.blogspot.com/.../randis-nightmare-continues-steve-conn.ht...

Jan 28, 2015 - Ed Notes Online: Detroit Union Election - Is Randi guy in ... Dec 06, 2010. Detroit teacher Steve Conn (above center) spoke to the Peace and ...

Ed Notes Online: Randi's Nightmare: DETROIT TEACHERS ...

ednotesonline.blogspot.com/.../randis-nightmare-detroit-teachers-elect.ht...

Jan 17, 2015 - Detroit teachers elected Steve Conn to head the Detroit Federation of Teachers today. Conn ... Posted by Norm @ ed notes online at 7:56 PM.

Ed Notes Online: January 2015

ednotesonline.blogspot.com/2015_01_01_archive.html

Jan 31, 2015 - At a demo in Detroit at the AFT convention in 2012, Steve constantly heckled Randi ... Ed Notes Online: Detroit Union Election - Is Randi guy in .

Privatization Outrage in Detroit!

The transformation of Catherine Ferguson Academy into a for-profit charter is an attack on the students, educational staff and population as a whole. It is part of a nationwide trend to undermine public education and privatize schools. Detroit, as Obama’s education secretary said, is “Ground Zero” in education “reform”—that is, the looting of public education by corporations and Wall Street speculators.

Detroit’s Catherine Ferguson Academy to be Privatized
What is Evans Solutions, Inc.?

By Nancy Hanover- wsws.org21 June 2011

http://www.wsws.org/articles/2011/jun2011/evan-j21.shtml

A protest of the closing of the Catherine Ferguson Academy, a Detroit school for pregnant teens, became a victory
celebration. Actor Danny Glover speaks as Dalisha Thomas, 17, with daughter Kendall, listens.
REGINA H. BOONE/Detroit Free Press

Detroit Public Schools’ Emergency Financial Manager Roy Roberts announced last week that the Catherine Ferguson Academy (CFA), as well as two other alternative schools, the Barsamian Preparatory Center and the Hancock Preparatory Center, will be transformed into for-profit charters run by the Detroit corporation Evans Solutions, Inc. (see “An attack on public education: Detroit’s Catherine Ferguson Academy to become for-profit charter school”).
 

The survival of the nationally acclaimed CFA has been hailed as a victory by the Detroit political establishment and its supporters. The fact that the school has been transformed into a charter has been deliberately ignored or downplayed. It is quite possible that the closure announcement was a smokescreen, with the charter deal waiting in the works to be presented as a “victory.”
 

This sordid deal is, first of all, about money. All three schools were targeted for charterization because their per-pupil costs exceeded Michigan’s state aid formula. DPS receives about $7,600 per pupil from the state and an additional $500 million from grant funds. The cost to run CFA was $12,619 per student, with Barsamian requiring $35,636 per pupil, and Hancock $31,689. EFM Roberts has stated that converting CFA to a charter will reduce spending by $2 million.
 

The Barsamian and Hancock Prep Centers did not receive the press attention of Ferguson. They provided students who have been expelled from the Detroit Public School system with additional support, including counseling geared to the development of social skills and conflict-resolution services.
 

Evans Solutions is a for-profit Education Management Organization (EMO). One of its first tasks will be to brutally slash spending, a necessary step toward making the schools profitable. This will require eliminating crucial services and slashing wages for teachers.
 

The aims of Evans Solutions can be deduced from a look at the company’s current portfolio of schools. Evans now runs the Blanche Kelso Bruce Academy, begun in 2001 with two sites, and now expanded into six locations. These schools are designated “strict discipline academies.” They only serve those young people who are required by law to attend them, due to adjudication by the legal system.
 

The only educational experience Evans Solutions currently has is with this law-and-order model. The company also works closely with “faith-based” operations such as the Samaritan Center, St. Jude Center and the Don Bosco Hall.
 

In a 2007 court settlement, Evans Solutions paid out a $47,500 settlement to Doris Bennett, who was fired by the company after she revealed to her supervisor that she had breast cancer.
 

Blair Evans, the owner and superintendent of Evans Solutions, started his career in juvenile incarceration before entering the charter business in 2001. His ability to get control of CFA and the other schools is connected to his longstanding connections with the Democratic Party and the county police.
 

Blair Evans’s older brother, Warren Evans, has held the positions of Detroit Police Chief, Wayne County Sheriff and Chief of Operations for the Wayne County Prosecutor’s Office. He ran for mayor in the wake of the resignation of Kwame Kilpatrick. Evans oversaw the construction of the new juvenile detention center in Detroit, which contracted his brother’s Blanche Kelso Bruce charter for its education services.
 

In his 2009 election campaign, the elder Evans crudely stated, “I don’t care what you do to the [DPS] curriculum…the biggest problem with DPS is public safety.”
 

Most notoriously, Warren Evans was forced to resign as Detroit police chief after deploying the TV reality show “The First 48” to film a raid that resulted in the death of seven-year-old Aiyana Stanley-Jones in 2010. Stanley-Jones was first burned by an incendiary flashbang grenade, then shot by police.
 

Warren Evans’s ex-wife was former Detroit Police Chief Ella Bully-Cummings, a close ally of the city’s former mayor, Democrat Kwame Kilpatrick.
 

Public School Academies (PSAs) or charters were first legalized in Michigan in 1994. Wayne County Regional Educational Service Agency (Wayne RESA), the agency that charters Evans Solutions, Inc., approved its first PSA in 1995. It now oversees 90 schools with 53,000 students, about 17 percent of the county’s 313,000 public school students.
 

According to the annual report, “Profiles of For-Profit Education Management Organizations,” put out by the National Education Policy Center, enrollment of students in for-profits nationally is growing at a rapid pace. Since its study began, the number of schools managed by for-profit EMOs has increased from 131 to 729. At present, 31 states have authorized the operation of for-profit EMOs.
 

Michigan is, by far, the state with the highest number of for-profits, at 185. The NEPC report also notes that while Adequate Yearly Progress (AYP) is a crude indicator of school competence, of the schools managed by for-profits, 47 percent, or nearly half, failed.
 

The transformation of Catherine Ferguson Academy into a for-profit charter is an attack on the students, educational staff and population as a whole. It is part of a nationwide trend to undermine public education and privatize schools. Detroit, as Obama’s education secretary said, is “Ground Zero” in education “reform”—that is, the looting of public education by corporations and Wall Street speculators.

Detroit Union Election - Is Randi guy in trouble? 38% to Steve Conn 30% - Note GEM banner

Detroit Federation of Teachers Schedules Runoff Election For January

http://www.substancenews.net/articles.php?page=1814&section=Article


Rich Gibson - December 05, 2010
In a key US school election, members of the Detroit Federation of Teachers (DFT) gave only 38 percent of their votes to incumbent Keith Johnson, key negotiator of what may be the worst school contract in US history, and 30 percent to long-time Detroit Cass Tech radical teacher and union activist Steve Conn of the By Any Means Necessary (BAMN) group.


Detroit teacher Steve Conn (above center) spoke to the Peace and Justice Caucus of the American Federation of Teachers on July 10, 2010 (above) during the AFT convention. Conn is now in a runoff against incumbent Detroit Federation of Teachers President Keith Johnson. Substance photo by George N. Schmidt.There were a total of 4,237 votes cast; 240 votes were voided. Two other candidates, Greg Johnson and Mr Victor, who insiders say will shift their support to Conn, split the remainder of votes. The United For Teachers Rights Caucus, led by Keith Johnson, won all the executive board seats including three vice-presidential spots. In the DFT, candidates must win 50 percent plus one votes. A runoff election is scheduled for January. DFT officials were not available for further comment on Sunday (December 5, 2010). More details are expected by Monday afternoon.

It is only speculation to take a stab at who might win the runoff. While insurgent candidates won with CORE in Chicago, as Substance readers well know, the winner of the District of Columbia election, while opposing the old guard, can hardly be called someone who is promising significant change inside the union or out.

In Baltimore, the traditionally hide-bound American Federation of Teachers had to make the rank and file vote twice in order to ram through a concessionary pact. In the broad sense, there are cracks in the sclerotic AFT empire.

Even so, Steve Conn has never gotten more than 30 percent of a DFT vote, having run repeatedly over more than a decade. He was the rank and filer who, a decade ago, called on assembled DFT member to march to one side of an auditorium or another, backing a strike or not. The mass moved to strike — and did so, heroically.

Johnson and the UTR caucus go back twenty years and more to the days of [long-time DFT President] Mary Ellen Riordan. More than any other local DFT official, Johnson is responsible for the grotesque concessions package DFT ratified earlier in the year, giving up in every conceivable area of bargaining — massive wage and benefit cuts, loss of seniority, merit pay, the union split by school workers in "priority" schools and "neighborhood" schools.

Johnson joined district boss, Bob Bobb, a Broad Foundation puppet, with AFT's president, Randi Weingarten, in convincing the rank and file Detroit members that the sellout was the only alternative, resistance futile. Substance covered that debacle in detail, here: http://www.substancenews.net/articles.php?page=1063&section=Article

Race will play a role in the runoff, as it always does in Detroit. Johnson is black in a 90 percent black city. Conn is white. Conn's record of fighting racism may or may not win him balancing votes.

The Conn caucus members say they will be joined by members of Greg Johnson's and Mr Victor's caucus in campaigning against incumbent Keith Johnson in the next two weeks.

Incumbent Johnson's caucus recently released a statement on the DFT web site complaining about the horrors that describe life in Detroit Public Schools, conditions that they themselves created. The statement is linked in an earlier Substance article, here: http://www.substancenews.net/articles.php?page=1801&section=Article

Whether the majority of school workers, who ratified the recent contract, see Johnson as safer, as job protection, or the more radical Conn, as a better alternative is, at this moment, guesswork.

What is clear, however, is that in the context of an international war of the rich on the poor, everywhere, U.S.school workers and the schools themselves, students, are the next in line for an even harsher concerted attack from elites: an assault not only on wages, but ideas, a key product of capitalist schooling in America. If teachers can be convinced there is no alternative to retreats (which have never historically saved jobs), then what of the students they teach?

So far, if the recent NEA and AFT conventions are any indication (and they are), school workers have been willing to accept the promise of endless war, and to make concessions, taking leadership from Quislings like Weingarten, Keith Johnson, and the National Education Associations $450,000 a year president Dennis Van Roekel, all urging educators off the picket lines and into voting booths — the latest ruse being Obama.

That may not play well the next time around. The Keith Johnson/Steve Conn runoff may give us clues of things to come.

Rgibson@pipeline.com

Detroit Teachers Recall of Weingarten Ally Ignored

With UFT elections coming I've always maintained that if we were to win, Unity wouldn't let us take office. That they would find some way to invalidate the results. Watch what's going on in Detroit as we received this email from Steve Conn. If they do actually remove Johnson as Pres watch the AFT put the local into receivership and take over the local. - Norm


Fellow AFT members and defenders of public education!

Links below will take you to videos of the February 11 general membership meeting of the Detroit Federation of Teachers.

Detroit teachers have been fighting to recall DFT President (and major Randi Weingarten ally) Keith Johnson as part of the fight to stop the Arne Duncan / Rob Bobb dismanteling of public education in Detroit.

Watch as Johnson illegally rules all members' motions out of order to avoid the Recall Vote against him.

Watch as the Detroit Police Gang Squad tries to carry out Johnson's plan to remove a female teacher.

Watch the membership meeting erupt in anger and demand Johnson's recall.

Detroit Federation of Teachers union meeting of February 11, 2010: According to the DFT constitution, this meeting was supposed to hear the charges against President Johnson (brought by 1300 members' petition signatures on January 7), allow him an opportunity to respond, and then take a vote on removing him.

Instead of following the union constitution, Johnson asserted that he had the right to summarily dismiss the petitions, and came to the meeting seen here with his own agenda. You can watch and listen as Johnson rules out of order all our motions to include the trial in the agenda, further evidence of how he violates members' fundamental rights and why he needs to be removed.
Detroit teachers want to remove Johnson for failing to represent us in this summers contract negotiations with state-imposed Financial Manager Robert Bobb, as Bobb works to privatize and dismantle public education in Detroit, including school closings, mass lay-offs, and converting public schools to charter schools. Johnson and Bobb have been working together to carry out the Arne Duncan/Randi Weingarten attack on public education in Americas major cities.
Teachers and students demand resources and support to achieve equal, quality, integrated education!

http://www.youtube.com/user/DFTmembers

Also listen to a Michigan Public Radio report about the meeting that has been broadcast across the country:

http://www.publicbroadcasting.net/michigan/news.newsmain/article/0/0/1611414/Top.Stories/DFT.Meeting.Breaks.Down.Amid.Accusations.of.Vote-Rigging

1300 DFT members signed the recall petitions

The members alone have the right to decide whether the charges are valid

From the DFT Constitution & By-Laws:

Article VIII Recall of Officers

(a) Petition for the recall of any officer for violation of his obligation of office shall be initiated by a recall petition clearly stating the specific charges and signed by not fewer than one thousand (1000) members in good standing from not fewer than twenty percent (20%) of the schools or work locations.

(b) No officer shall be subjected to recall proceedings without being given at least 30 days written notice of the charges preferred against him and an opportunity to appear before the membership at a regular or special meeting. Two-thirds of those present and voting at the meeting shall be required to recall the officer.

Weingarten Ally, Detroit Teacher Union Leader Recalled After Disastrous Contract, updated

See comment 2 by Mike Antonucci of the EIA who checked the Detroit Fed of T web site which says the recall was illegal. Read on to where I say that Randi and the AFT would not allow this to happen.

With urban unions under severe attack in Washington, LA, Chicago, New Haven and New York, the Detroit teacher contract may be the most severe. And of course, Randi Weingarten and the AFT were handmaidens. (And for those of you who are impressed by Michael Mulgrew's rhetoric as somehow making him different than Randi, come back and talk to me in a year or two.)

Detroit teachers union activist Steve Conn sent this out.

This is some reasonably accurate tv reporting on our fight in Detroit to defend public education and reclaim our union: http://www.clickondetroit.com/video/22177639/index.html

Detroit Federation of Teachers (AFT 231) members voted overwhelmingly tonight to relieve Keith Johnson from his duties as DFT President until a recall vote is taken at the February 11th membership meeting. The membership also voted for the DFT to join the lawsuit against the $250 TIP "loan", and urge all members to immediately file State of Michigan Employment Wage Complaint Forms.

Early in the meeting, Johnson declared all efforts to recall him or support the lawsuit "out of order," in spite of a clear majority vote that these questions be placed on the meeting's agenda. When members refused to allow him to continue the meeting undemocratically, he walked out of the room, later returning to try to adjourn the meeting. Refusing to adjourn, the members passed three motions: (1) supporting the lawsuit against the $250 TIP; (2) setting the recall vote for the February 11th General Membership Meeting; and (3) relieving Johnson of "his duties and obligations as DFT President pending the recall vote."

DFT members are determined that the question of Keith Johnson's recall be decided by democratic membership vote and in accordance with the DFT Constitution.

The recall of DFT president Kevin Johnson, a Weingarten ally, is an early warning sign for the AFT and Weingarten, who praised the contract and was involved in the negotiations.

One report says:

"In a paid advertisement in the Sunday New York Times, Randi Weingarten, the president of AFT, praised the Detroit contract, saying it was “much more than a collective bargaining agreement; it is a covenant between educators and administrators…”

Weingarten makes clear that the AFT and DFT want to be full partners in Obama’s school restructuring plans. She boasts that the agreement includes “several reforms that will drive the enhancement of student achievement, including school based bonuses, peer assistance and review and a new, comprehensive teacher evaluation system.”

At the same time, the AFT president said, “both parties recognized the severe financial conditions of the district and sought innovative approaches to save money,” including the pay and health care cuts “that will save the district millions.”

In a separate press release, Weingarten said the educational provisions in the deal “would make it one of the most progressive big-city teacher contracts of our day.”

Given past oppressive actions by the AFT and Weingarten in Portland.

See ed notes exclusive reports:
Education Notes Online: AFT Hack Attack

Randi Goes to Portland

Education Notes Online: Randi In Portland (OR)

I wouldn't be surprised to see some kind of similar attempt by AFT goons to subvert the anti Johnson movement. A complete takeover of the union is not inconceivable. These people don't give up power easily.

With Nathan Saunders running for President in Washington DC and CORE challenging in Chicago some trees might be shaking at the AFT convention in Seattle this summer. Some activist groups from around the nation are talking about attending to force the AFT and Weingarten to confront the assault on public schools.

Steve sent this a few days ago:

Please email or call me about what is happening in your city or AFT local!

I will be reporting to our regular weekly citywide teachers' meeting.

We need to communicate and coordinate!!

Steve Conn

313.645.9340

AFT Local 231

P.S. Our latest plan is to run for delegates to this summer's AFT Convention: We must do everything we can to get the convention to turn around the AFT and begin a national fight to defend public education!

Interested in, or planning to be, a delegate to the convention?