Will the Power Ever Come on for Detroit Public Schools?

From U.S. Uncut

Detroit’s students are trying to learn while breathing in black mold and sitting in classrooms filled with buckets catching toilet water leaking through the ceiling. And that’s not even the worst part.

Republican Governor Rick Snyder is not only using the financial emergency management laws to poison children in Flint; he’s doing the same thing in Detroit via the public school system, which the state has controlled for the last seven years. Darnell Earley, the same emergency manager who oversaw the changes in Flint’s water system, is currently in charge of Detroit’s public schools.

Read the rest of the story by Dylan Hock at U.S. Uncut 

Twittersphere

Tweets by @teachDetroit

Top Tweet

Public school teachers in Detroit posted photos to social media to shed light on their horrible working conditions https://t.co/ZbRzQgrhG1

— NowThis (@nowthisnews) January 19, 2016

Editorial

The internet recently exploded over images emerging from Detroit Public Schools. There are no shortage of images to appeal to even the most cynical of education news follower. Detroit has, for many, been the sad symbol for urban plight and these latest clippings tear at ones’ heart because kids are involved. Many of us are accustomed to stories of violent activity and drug use in urban centers across America.

What we are not used to is seeing similar story lines and conditions in the hallowed halls of schools.

I went to Cody in Detroit. Dedicated and caring staff teaching kids in appalling conditions. pic.com/2Vh0cYZ9GV

— Randi Weingarten (@rweingarten) January 14, 2016

These images should not be a surprise. Nor should the outrage. Schools all over the country are often the last structures to see the kind attention-to-detail and investment needed to maintain safe standards for millions of students across the country. The sad truth is that now this issue is taking on a PR and marketing nightmare. It is often one thing to hear of plight and another to see it plastered all over Twitter and the nightly news. Shall we be reminded the the infamous Ray Rice domestic violence story line? Former NFL running back Ray Rice was accused of hitting his then fiancee Janay Palmer. Not until the horrific video emerged were we enraged.

Hopefully Detroit’s struggles will put countless other school districts on notice that student and teacher safety is paramount. That any attempt to learn needs to be in the confines of inspirational environments or at the very least structures with running water. Now the question and focus turns the the impact local teachers have had with ‘sick-outs’ forcing many schools to close due to reduced resources. 

Only time will tell if the upswell of attention will cause more than a blip on the 24-hour news cycle.