密歇根新闻广播 底特律公立学校老师称病旷课现象严重

For three straight days this week, some Detroit Public Schools buildings were closed because too many teachers called in sick.

These rolling "sickout" protests have picked up steam in recent weeks.

They've drawn¹ some major backlash — and attention to a district in free fall.

"They're making us suffer"

Crystal Fischer saw it on the news Monday morning: Her five-year-old son's school was closed because too many teachers had called in sick.

Fischer made do for that day.

But when she got the call on Tuesday—the school was closed again—the working single mom had to scramble². And she wasn't too happy.

"It may be an issue with the teachers, but shoot, they're causing issues with the parents," said Fischer. "They're making us suffer."

Fischer didn't really understand what the teachers were so upset about.

She has noticed one thing at her son's school, though: "The classrooms are overcrowded. Too many kids to one teacher."

Overcrowding is just one item on the long list of complaints Detroit teachers have right now.

In some other schools, it goes way beyond that.

"People leave every single week"

"I've seen some very well-maintained buildings. And I've seen some buildings that would break your heart," said Detroit Mayor Mike Duggan.

Duggan took a hastily arranged tour of some DPS schools this week, in response to the Detroit Federation³ of Teachers' calling out decrepit⁴ conditions in some buildings.

He toured some schools Tuesday, and vowed⁵ to fix the most egregious⁶ building problems: like black mold and collapsing⁷ ceilings.

But Duggan's powers are limited. The state has run the Detroit Public Schools for almost seven years, through a series of emergency managers.

"And it's been seven years of enrollment⁸ decline, deficits⁹, test score decline... and now a third of the money coming in school is being diverted to debt," Duggan said.

That's $3.5 billion in debt—more than $500 million in short-term, operational borrowing run up by the emergency managers.

Under Michigan law, emergency managers are supposed to put cities and school district with budget deficits back in the black.

But in some places—especially in school districts — emergency management has made bad situations even worse.

In this case, it's put Detroit Public Schools on the brink¹⁰ of what the city of Detroit has already experienced: bankruptcy¹¹.

"The state has created debt after debt after debt that it can't pay off," said Nina Chacker, a special education teacher at Detroit's Schulze Academy.

Chacker, who supports the sickouts, but hasn't participated in one, says teachers are now at a breaking point. And with DPS struggling to fill 170 vacant positions already, many feel they've got nothing to lose by protesting.

"People leave every single week. And we have just kind of come to realize that they need us at this point," Chacker said. "They cannot get people to work in Detroit."

The Detroit Federation of Teachers leadership has its own internal political struggles. The union hasn't organized or even formally condoned¹² the sick-outs.

Chacker says the big push came from teachers at the school level. And she says they're doing it for their students.

"They're kids that are easy to take advantage of. And I will fight as hard as I can to ensure that that doesn't happen," Chacker said.

Another slow-motion crisis for Gov. Snyder

But that's not how district and state officials see it.

They say the sickouts just hurt Detroit kids and parents like Crystal Fischer.

And they've accused the teachers of using them as "pawns," and engaging in illegal wildcat strikes.

DPS spokeswoman Michelle Zdrodowski says Emergency Manager Darnell Earley does understand Detroit teachers' frustration¹³.

"But when teachers continue to do these sickouts, it makes our efforts to talk to the legislature, and get them to say yes to investing in DPS, that much more difficult," Zdrodowski said.

This week, bills for a bankruptcy-style DPS restructuring were finally introduced in Lansing.

That overhaul¹⁴ is basically Governor Rick Snyder's plan for the district.

But the response from lawmakers so far has been lukewarm at best.

And the governor is already caught up in another huge political crisis: Flint's water contamination disaster.

He's got to figure it out though. Otherwise, the Detroit Public Schools will go broke before the end of the school year.

1 drawn   

v.拖，拉，拔出；adj.憔悴的，紧张的

参考例句：

• All the characters in the story are drawn from life.故事中的所有人物都取材于生活。
• Her gaze was drawn irresistibly to the scene outside.她的目光禁不住被外面的风景所吸引。

2 scramble   

v.爬行，攀爬，杂乱蔓延，碎片，片段，废料

参考例句：

• He broke his leg in his scramble down the wall.他爬墙摔断了腿。
• It was a long scramble to the top of the hill.到山顶须要爬登一段长路。

3 federation   

n.同盟，联邦，联合，联盟，联合会

参考例句：

• It is a federation of 10 regional unions.它是由十个地方工会结合成的联合会。
• Mr.Putin was inaugurated as the President of the Russian Federation.普京正式就任俄罗斯联邦总统。

4 decrepit   

adj.衰老的，破旧的

参考例句：

• The film had been shot in a decrepit old police station.该影片是在一所破旧不堪的警察局里拍摄的。
• A decrepit old man sat on a park bench.一个衰弱的老人坐在公园的长凳上。

5 vowed   

起誓，发誓（vow的过去式与过去分词形式）

参考例句：

• He vowed quite solemnly that he would carry out his promise. 他非常庄严地发誓要实现他的诺言。
• I vowed to do more of the cooking myself. 我发誓自己要多动手做饭。

6 egregious   

adj.非常的，过分的

参考例句：

• When it comes to blatant lies,there are none more egregious than budget figures.谈到公众谎言，没有比预算数字更令人震惊的。
• What an egregious example was here!现摆着一个多么触目惊心的例子啊。

7 collapsing   

压扁[平]，毁坏，断裂

参考例句：

• Rescuers used props to stop the roof of the tunnel collapsing. 救援人员用支柱防止隧道顶塌陷。
• The rocks were folded by collapsing into the center of the trough. 岩石由于坍陷进入凹槽的中心而发生褶皱。

8 enrollment   

n.注册或登记的人数；登记

参考例句：

• You will be given a reading list at enrollment.注册时你会收到一份阅读书目。
• I just got the enrollment notice from Fudan University.我刚刚接到复旦大学的入学通知书。

9 deficits   

n.不足额( deficit的名词复数 )；赤字；亏空；亏损

参考例句：

• The Ministry of Finance consistently overestimated its budget deficits. 财政部一贯高估预算赤字。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• Many of the world's farmers are also incurring economic deficits. 世界上许多农民还在遭受经济上的亏损。 来自辞典例句

10 brink   

n.(悬崖、河流等的)边缘，边沿

参考例句：

• The tree grew on the brink of the cliff.那棵树生长在峭壁的边缘。
• The two countries were poised on the brink of war.这两个国家处于交战的边缘。

11 bankruptcy   

n.破产；无偿付能力

参考例句：

• You will have to pull in if you want to escape bankruptcy.如果你想避免破产，就必须节省开支。
• His firm is just on thin ice of bankruptcy.他的商号正面临破产的危险。

12 condoned   

v.容忍，宽恕，原谅( condone的过去式和过去分词 )

参考例句：

• Terrorism can never be condoned. 决不能容忍恐怖主义。
• They condoned his sins because he repented. 由于他的悔悟，他们宽恕了他的罪。 来自辞典例句

13 frustration   

n.挫折，失败，失效，落空

参考例句：

• He had to fight back tears of frustration.他不得不强忍住失意的泪水。
• He beat his hands on the steering wheel in frustration.他沮丧地用手打了几下方向盘。

14 overhaul   

v./n.大修，仔细检查

参考例句：

• Master Worker Wang is responsible for the overhaul of this grinder.王师傅主修这台磨床。
• It is generally appreciated that the rail network needs a complete overhaul.众所周知，铁路系统需要大检修。