DPS seeks restraining order against teachers
Detroit Public Schools has filed an emergency motion seeking a restraining order and a preliminary injunction against DPS teachers who engaged in alleged work strikes, ordering them to stop the sickouts.
The suit, filed Wednesday in the Michigan Court of Claims, names 23 DPS teachers, the Detroit Federation of Teachers, union officials and organized sickout supporters.
In a statement released on Wednesday afternoon, a DPS official said 88 of the district’s 97 schools were closed due to the high volume of teacher absences.
According to the complaint, more than 31,000 of the district’s 46,000 students have missed a day of school or more as the result of teacher sickouts, or strikes, and the closure at one time or another of more than half of all DPS buildings.
The lawsuit says the “defendants have engaged in strikes, are intending to engage in additional strikes and have been and continue to encourage DPS teachers to engage in unlawful conduct.”
According to DPS, teachers engaged in “strikes” on April 30, Nov. 3. Dec. 1., Dec. 10, Dec. 11 and again on Jan. 4. Jan. 5. Jan. 7 Jan. 8, Jan. 12, Jan. 13 and Jan. 14, all which resulted in the closures of multiple schools across the district.
On Jan. 15, DPS Emergency Manager Darnell Earley issued an order directing all DPS teachers to refrain from work stoppages at the schools, according to the suit.
These strikes, the complaint says, deprive the students of their right to attend school, adversely impacts academic progress at DPS, cause DPS to potentially lose funds and cause a decline in enrollment.
The cumulative effect of the sickouts has resulted in the loss of at least seven instructional days across the district. Michigan law mandates at least 1,160 hours of instruction or at least 180 days.
The lawsuits says DPS teacher Steve Conn, the former president of the Detroit Federation of Teachers, has repeatedly called for a citywide strike in spite of its illegality.
Shanta Driver, lawyer for Conn, who is with him now at the Hilton Garden Inn on Gratiot in Detroit for his AFT hearing to be reinstated. Conn is among the numerous people being sued by DPS to prevent a strike.
“DPS has overreached by filing this restraining order. DPS has said to the members of DFT, that instead of negotiating with Steve Conn and all the others named in the lawsuit, we’re going to dry to suppress the action and that is inviting a strike to happen,” Driver said.
Under Michigan law, it is illegal for public employees to strike.
jchambers@detroitnews.com
Staff Writer Shawn Lewis contributed
