DPS TEACHERS FIGHT BACK!
"A Union Within a Union"
"Teachers from more than 40 DPS schools are demanding safe conditions, adequate learning environments, and a level playing field for DPS Students."
Detroit- 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. Just as doctors take theHippocratic Oath to uphold ethical standards, teachers also take a Loyalty Oath to serve, protect and allow no harm. Unfortunately, we have been unable to live up to that with the constant change of leadership, state control and 4 consecutive Emergency Managers.
On Monday, January 11, 2016, 12 p.m., DPS Teachers will join in solidarity during a rally organized by teachers from Paul Robeson at Malcolm X Academy at the Fisher Building, 3011 W Grand Blvd, Detroit, MI 48202. Despite the increased cost of medical care, and lost wages, teachers are choosing to go without pay or to take a personal day stand in unity.
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.
In an Open Letter to DPS Parents, DPS Teacher Sarah Jardine shared the following:
"Dear Parent, I write this to you on this night because you're on my mind. You live in Detroit and you send your child to Detroit Public Schools. You trust me everyday with your children. I feel that I owe you an apology. I apologize because I should have stood up. I kept quiet as they dismantled our schools. I was silent when they took your schools from you. I didn't protest in the streets when they put our schools in State control. I said nothing when they took your democracy. I should be ashamed of myself. I, the teacher you trusted, had power to start a revolution, and fight for you, and I didn't fight back. Tonight, I am going to make you a promise that I won't sit quiet any longer." (Read Here)
Public education is the cornerstone to democracy, and Detroit teachers deserve to be treated the same way teachers are treated in Livonia, Novi, West Bloomfield, Grosse Pointe, Troy, and all other districts throughout the state of Michigan.
In an Open Letter to Darnell Earley, 4th Grade DPS Teacher, Pam Namyslowski said:
"Mr. Earley, I have been a teacher in Detroit Public Schools for 24 years. I feel the need to respond to some of the comments you made during your press conference this week. You described the actions of protesting teachers as "unethical". I'm curious, then, how you would characterize the learning conditions of the children of Detroit Public Schools that have existed for years. These deplorable learning conditions happen to also be the teachers' working conditions." (Read here)
The DPS Teachers Fight Back Rally will include remarks from Dr. James Perkins, Greater Christ Baptist Church, DPS Parents, and DPS Teacher organizers, during which a list of concerns and demands will be shared including: Safe learning conditions for all students,Increasing student academic achievement, and the removal of Emergency Manager Darnell Earley, who was an integral part of the Flint Water Crisis. We hereby stand united to protect the 47 thousand students remaining within Detroit Public Schools and demand immediate corrective action!
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