--- description: Thousands of Detroit Public School students are home from class today after a teacher "sick-out" forced the shutdown of over 50 schools title: Detroit Teacher 'Sick-Out' Shuts Down Dozens of Public Schools image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltde093bcdab65f2d0/6988d9b9bc6cfc69913e2a3c/time-logo.jpg?branch=production --- * [U.S.](/section/us/) ## U.S. Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close # Detroit Teacher 'Sick-Out' Shuts Down Dozens of Public Schools by [Lauren French](/author/lauren-french/) ## Lauren French Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close Jan 11, 2016 5:23 PM CUT by [Lauren French](/author/lauren-french/) ## Lauren French Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close Jan 11, 2016 5:23 PM CUT Thousands of students in Detroit’s public schools stayed home on Monday after a planned teacher “sick-out” protest forced more than 50 schools to close. The teachers are protesting poor working conditions, led by former Detroit Federation of Teachers president Steven Conn, the [Detroit _Free Press_ reports](http://www.freep.com/story/news/local/michigan/detroit/2016/01/11/dps-schools-closed-sickouts/78618800/ "undefined"). The sick-outs had previously shuttered at least five schools on different days last week, [WXYZ Detroit reports](http://www.wxyz.com/news/region/detroit/detroit-public-schools-issues-alert-about-potential-school-closings-on-monday-due-to-sick-outs "undefined"). Ivy Bailey, interim president of the Detroit Federation of Teachers, told WXYZ the union has not officially sanctioned the sick-outs. But, she added, “I want everyone to understand the frustration” of the teachers who are walking out. The school system’s emergency manager, Darnell Earley, said in a statement that the sick-outs will make it more difficult for the Detroit’s public schools to get the support they need from Michigan’s legislature. ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/4175203/detroit-teacher-sick-out-schools/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/4175203/detroit-teacher-sick-out-schools/"},"headline":"Detroit Teacher 'Sick-Out' Shuts Down Dozens of Public Schools","datePublished":"2016-01-11T17:23:31.000Z","dateModified":"2026-02-22T13:57:37.978Z","description":"The teachers are protesting poor working conditions","url":"https://time.com/4175203/detroit-teacher-sick-out-schools/","keywords":["Education","Michigan"],"thumbnailUrl":"","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Lauren French","jobTitle":null,"url":"https://time.com/author/lauren-french/"}],"articleSection":"U.S.","image":[],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/section/us/","name":"U.S."}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/4175203/detroit-teacher-sick-out-schools/","name":"Detroit Teacher 'Sick-Out' Shuts Down Dozens of Public Schools"}}]}] ```