Update: the Detroit teacher strike continues, and the district has elected to cancel school until the dispute is resolved.  Obviously, nobody is particularly happy about it.  Here’s my current thought: there is no possible way this situation can be justified as being for the good of the students.  None.  It has been a while since I have seen anyone trot out that line (like “this isn’t about money; this is about educating the children”); if anyone tries to say this strike is about the children, that person should be laughed out of town.  This strike lost all student-related justification the moment students became unable to go to school.

It is worth noting that there are other area districts that have not yet settled on a contract, but they have reported to work.  Those teachers have shown that they value students over contracts; Detroit teachers have demonstrated the opposite.