https://twitter.com/teachDetroit/status/686715639789170689
I don’t know what it’s like now, but I used to bitch and moan about having to go to school on hot days because there wasn’t any air conditioning in the classrooms. That was my sole complaint after the school finally got some new computers worth me skipping lunch and classes for. Looking back, I had it made compared to some Detroit students. Those kids have to deal with a whole lot worse than hot classrooms during the warmer months.
On the heels of the Flint water crisis, Twitter account @TeachDetroit has been sharing all the deplorable learning and teaching conditions both students and teachers of DPS schools have been suffering through. Leaky roofs, toilets without any seats, rodents (both dead and alive), moldy food, and pretty much moldy everything are just some of the photographic evidence being highlighted on the account. It’s just about the worst for a First World country.
https://twitter.com/teachDetroit/status/688095182823264256
https://twitter.com/teachDetroit/status/687069482389499905
https://twitter.com/teachDetroit/status/688060400840142850
https://twitter.com/teachDetroit/status/688349448884342784
https://twitter.com/teachDetroit/status/688160556277084160
https://twitter.com/teachDetroit/status/686744447493738496
As U.S. Uncut notes, a Kindergarten teacher had to actually quit because leaky toilets were leaking nasty toilet water in her classroom for years. Plus, she was suffering headaches from a rotting greenhouse that was also connected to her classroom. Obviously, it’s not just teachers getting sick. Kids are expected to learn while breathing in musty, moldy toxic air with mushrooms literally growing out of the walls. And during these cold winter months, parents have to make sure to bundle their children up because the classrooms are without any heat.
Detroit mayor Mike Duggan inspected a couple of DPS schools last week after teachers protested with a sick-out and noted the conditions. “Some buildings were well-maintained and some were deeply disturbing. What I’m dealing with is making sure every building is safe.”
Mayor Duggan called out embattled Michigan governor Rick Snyder without directly calling him out by name, instead saying the “state needed to do something.” “Lansing needs to address these issues with urgency,” he said. “We’re heading toward seven years of state takeover and test scores are low, and there’s a bigger deficit than before. After seven years of running the schools, the state needs to do something.”
The Mayor also said a third of the $75 million plan Snyder proposed was going to debt and should be going to fixing leaking roofs. “They’ve been talking in Lansing about the district’s future since last spring and they still don’t have a bill ready.”
So, until “the state” actually does something about fixing DPS school, @TeachDetroit will continue sharing the disturbing pictures.
https://twitter.com/teachDetroit/status/687984092684660737
https://twitter.com/teachDetroit/status/687818885895221249
https://twitter.com/teachDetroit/status/687818770144956416
https://twitter.com/teachDetroit/status/687431666088951809
https://twitter.com/teachDetroit/status/687319167133954049
https://twitter.com/teachDetroit/status/687304928872783872
https://twitter.com/teachDetroit/status/687098519732252672
https://twitter.com/teachDetroit/status/687096289935372288
https://twitter.com/teachDetroit/status/687090895498416128
https://twitter.com/teachDetroit/status/687090557177491456
https://twitter.com/teachDetroit/status/687089177209516033
(Via U.S. Uncut)