School cancelled at Cass Tech after teachers call off

DETROIT, Mich. - Cass Technical High School in Detroit closed Tuesday morning after a large number of teachers called off.

A source close to the matter told Fox 2 the teachers took personal days.

"We don't disagree with people's right to protest. However, what we do disagree with is when these protests take away instructional time from our students. To deny students their opportunity to learn in the interest of making a political statement should go against every principle a teacher holds important, and sends a terrible message to the very students to whom they are supposed to serve as role models. DPS students and their families make every effort, despite a myriad of challenges, to make it to the classroom every day. It is truly disappointing that this small subset of the District's dedicated educators would choose to let them down this way. Students should not be taught that it's OK to shirk their responsibilities, which is the message the teachers who call in sick - without truly being sick - are sending to their students."

Earlier in December 2015, several DPS schools were closed due to sickouts, or "Snyder Flu" as some called it. It was in response to the governor's proposed school reform plan, which is aimed at paying off hundreds of millions of dollars in debt by essentially creating two school districts. One district would absorb the debt and the other would educate the children.