July 28 2015
Detroit Federation of Teachers (DFT) President Steve Conn blasted Detroit Public Schools (DPS) Emergency Manager Darnell Earley for numerous and snowballing school district payroll problems.
“Our members are reporting that DPS failed to accurately pay hundreds of teachers today,” said Conn. “Many members received pay that was short hundreds of dollars. Others received nothing at all.”
“At this point there is still no word from DPS top officials as to what they plan to do to correct this matter, “ said Conn. “This is at least the second major payroll problem in that many weeks. And on top of those problems, DPS still owes hundreds of teachers numerous special payments for workshops and earned bonuses.”
The district already had delayed the current paycheck by a week in order to supposedly realign its payroll calendar with the 365-day year. “But in doing that, they failed to properly notify the teachers, causing many to incur bank problems, including insufficient funds for automatic withdrawals, “said Conn.
“The problem is part bureaucratic incompetence and part not caring about the teachers, but the policies of the emergency manager are