School-free drug zoneSOME schools have black mould creeping up the walls; at others, mushrooms sprout from them. At Palmer Park Preparatory Academy, pieces of the ceiling are falling on pupils’ heads while rats run around. Jerry L. White Centre High School has no heating. Western International High School does not have enough books for its pupils, who are crammed into classes of up to 45 children. One reason for this is that of the $7,450-per-pupil grant the school district will receive this year, $4,400 will be spent on debt servicing and benefits for retired teachers, according to the Citizens Research Council, a Michigan think-tank.
Listening to the complaints of Detroit’s public-school teachers, it is hard not have some sympathy for those who staged a “sickout” (calling in sick) on January 11th, closing 64 schools. Galvanised by the teachers’ strike, Mike Duggan, the mayor of Detroit, visited some public schools and admitted that he was disturbed by what he saw in some of them, which included four-year olds sitting in their coats in a classroom because it was so cold. Mr Duggan implored lawmakers in Lansing,...Continue reading
Source: United States http://ift.tt/1mYthur
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