Matt Helms

Detroit Free Press

Opponents of the state plan to fix Detroit Public Schools said Sunday that teacher sick-outs would close two schools on Monday to protest Gov. Rick Snyder and support local control of the city’s schools.

Organizers of Equal Opportunity Now/By Any Means Necessary said “Snyder flu” would lead to the shutdown of Bow Elementary in northwest Detroit and Mason Academy on the east side with more to come through the week.

The organization said participants would rally at the Fisher Building in Detroit’s New Center area at noon Monday and then march down Woodward Avenue, calling for an end to state oversight and the return of local control over the district. Organizers said the event was tied to the anniversary of the start of the pivotal 1965 civil rights march from Selma, Ala., to Montgomery.

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“There will be more rolling sick-outs throughout the week,” said Steve Conn, the ousted former head of the Detroit Federation of Teachers. “We’re urging all Detroit to come with us — parents, students, teachers, everyone.”

Conn said protesters reject proposals to create an education commission with the state overseeing district finances, which he called “permanent state oversight.”

Conn said proposals to move Detroit teachers from pensions to 401(k) plans will further hurt the district, which already pays teachers far less than other districts even as students and teachers work in “rock-bottom conditions.” He said that will leave Detroit schools unable to attract quality teachers, further hurting the city’s students.

“Who’s going to want to work here?” he said.

The Detroit Federation of Teachers distanced itself from the actions, with interim President Ivy Bailey calling Conn an outsider.

"The Detroit Federation of Teachers, which represents and speaks for Detroit Public Schools teachers and other school staff, does not support a sickout," Bailey said in a statement. "In fact, when we heard rumors Friday about a possible sickout, we talked with educators in every school, and the overwhelming majority—including teachers who attend the schools of the leaders of the sickout—said they do not want to participate in a sickout on Monday.

“The DFT and its members are focused like a laser on finding real solutions to the very real problems plaguing our schools. We have a lot of work to do in Lansing and in Detroit, and right now, sickouts are counterproductive to our goals of getting the short-term and long-term funding our schools need to survive, gaining local control, getting the tools and resources educators need for their jobs and working on a high-quality education agenda that will help transform our school system.”

In a statement released Sunday, DPS transition manager Steven Rhodes decried the sick-outs:

“Detroit Public Schools has been made aware of efforts by Steve Conn and BAMN to close several DPS schools on Monday, March 21, 2016," Rhodes said. "We would encourage anyone concerned about these potential actions to contact the Detroit Federation of Teachers, which is the recognized bargaining unit for teachers in the District, to get their official response/reaction to this threat of school closures. The district has been encouraged by the positive movement in Lansing over the last week to approve supplemental funding that would allow DPS to continue educating its more than 46,000 students through the end of the school year, and to not only bring critical resources back to our classrooms, but also return the district to local control through the passage of broader education reform legislation.”

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Contact Matt Helms:mhelms@freepress.com. Follow him on Twitter @matthelms.