Some Grosse Pointe Teachers Skip Class In Protest Of COVID Rules

GROSSE POINTE, MI — Some Grosse Pointe North High School teachers did not show up for work Wednesday, days after the district altered some of its COVID-19 guidelines to reduce a high number of students absent due to quarantine.

Teachers, office staff and other district staff covered for absent teachers Wednesday, according to a report from The Detroit News.

"While I am disappointed that many of our North teachers negatively impacted our students today by being absent, I am pleased at how we came together as OneGP and supported our North students during this unfortunate situation," Grosse Pointe Public Schools Superintendent Gary Niehaus told The Detroit News in an email.

District and school officials did not immediately respond to Patch regarding how many teachers were absent Wednesday.

The teachers' decision to not show up for work Wednesday comes after the Grosse Pointe Public Schools Board of Education on Monday voted to alter some COVID-19 guidelines. According to those updated rules, contact tracing was reduced to 3 feet and students deemed close contacts of COVID positive people can return to school after 10 days (instead of 14), among other changes.

The meeting, which lasted hours, included a resignation speech from teacher Sean McCarroll, who, according to ClickOnDetroit, said the board didn't take into account teachers' input.

“You tell us after your meetings that you ‘so appreciate and respect us,’ well I cry bull***,” McCarroll told the board Monday, according to ClickOnDetroit's report. “You don’t respect us. If you respected us, you’d listen to us. You don’t appreciate us. If you did, you wouldn’t make our jobs literally impossible to do. If you cared, you would pretend that you’re listening, at least.”

The rules were amended due to a high number of students placed in quarantine due to COVID-19 exposures, the News reported. At one point, more than 1,900 students were quarantined due to exposure in April.