By: Jasmine West
For Detroit Federation of Teachers President Lakia Wilson-Lumpkins, one of the most meaningful victories in the union’s new contract began as something she was unsure educators could win.
Teachers who take approved maternity or paternity leave can now have up to 30 used sick days returned to them. Employees will still take time away from work, but they will no longer permanently lose all the accumulated days needed to care for themselves and welcome a child.
“I never imagined that I would accomplish the maternity and paternity leave — 30 days being returned to mothers and fathers if they take the approved leave,” Wilson-Lumpkins said. “That was a dream to me. I didn’t think that I would get that, but we fought hard and we got it.”
The provision is one of several changes included in a new agreement between Detroit Public Schools Community District and the Detroit Federation of Teachers. The contract raises salaries, adds retention and longevity bonuses, protects educators’ role in decisions involving artificial intelligence and addresses working conditions union members have raised from inside their classrooms.
Wilson-Lumpkins sees the agreement as part of DPSCD’s continued climb from an era when state-appointed emergency managers controlled the district and Detroit educators lost wages, benefits and bargaining rights.
“We lost so much during emergency management, and we’re just slowly making our way back,” she said.
Detroit Public Schools entered emergency management in 2009 after the state declared a financial emergency. A succession of state-appointed managers assumed nearly all financial, operational and governing authority ordinarily held by the elected school board and district superintendent. Detroit voters still had an elected board, but its power was severely restricted under state control.
Emergency management continued until the district was restructured in 2016. The former Detroit Public Schools remained in place to pay off legacy debt, while the newly created Detroit Public Schools Community District began operating the city’s schools. A locally elected school board took office in January 2017, restoring local governance after years of state control.
The contract gains described by Wilson-Lumpkins carry particular weight against that history.
Educators will receive a 7.5% salary increase over the life of the agreement, bringing the top salary for a teacher with a master’s degree to $100,100. Members who complete the entire school year will be eligible for a $2,000 retention bonus, while employees with at least 15 years of internal service to the district can receive a $4,000 longevity bonus.
The agreement also provides additional compensation for career and technical education teachers, bilingual educators and bilingual ancillary employees. Wilson-Lumpkins said those incentives recognize positions that are increasingly important as the district serves students with a wider range of academic, language and career needs.
The union hopes the combination of higher salaries and improved working conditions will help DPSCD keep experienced educators while attracting certified teachers to Detroit.
“We’re not only retaining the members we have,” Wilson-Lumpkins said. “We are attempting to attract new, qualified, certified and dignified professionals to the district, simply because we have to ensure our workforce.”
She said the district’s ability to recruit educators ultimately affects the instruction and stability students experience each day.
“The children and the families of Detroit deserve quality educators,” Wilson-Lumpkins said. “We’re hoping that with the competitive salary and the competitive working conditions that are now contractual, that we will be able to do that moving forward.”
The agreement also addresses health concerns that can disproportionately affect educators working with younger children. Teachers who contract hand, foot and mouth disease will be eligible to have the leave time they used returned to them.
The contagious illness frequently spreads in settings where young children are in close contact. Wilson-Lumpkins said the provision grew out of concerns raised by elementary educators who regularly face outbreaks during the fall and winter.
“We just try to respond to our members’ experiences in the classroom to make sure that special considerations and accommodations are made and that they are contractual,” she said. “It’s not on a case-by-case basis. It is applicable to every member.”
That distinction matters to Wilson-Lumpkins. Placing the protections in the contract means educators do not have to depend on individual administrators to decide whether their circumstances warrant consideration.
The contract also begins to define how artificial intelligence can be used in district decisions.
Wilson-Lumpkins said the language preserves educators’ authority and prevents an application or automated program from becoming the sole decision-maker in matters that can alter a student’s educational future.
Teachers must continue to play a direct role in decisions involving whether students are promoted or retained and whether they qualify for special education services. The protections also extend to employment decisions affecting teacher placement and potential transfers.
“We preserve the teacher’s ability to be the decision-maker and not allow some app or some computer program to make decisions,” Wilson-Lumpkins said.
The agreement will also affect how some high school students move through the school day. Wilson-Lumpkins said schedules have been redesigned to make it easier for students to attend the district’s career and technical education centers.
Students can pursue programs in manufacturing, plumbing and pipefitting, carpentry, electrical trades, automotive repair, culinary arts and aeronautics. The scheduling changes are intended to prevent students from having to choose between required courses at their home schools and hands-on career training offered elsewhere in the district.
“We have reimagined our high school schedules to make sure that we allow opportunities for our high school students to participate in career and technical education,” Wilson-Lumpkins said.
While celebrating the contract, Wilson-Lumpkins said the district’s aging buildings remain an area where she wants to see continued improvement.
She pointed to air-conditioning upgrades and plans for new Pershing and Cody high schools as signs that DPSCD is addressing long-standing facility concerns. Her expectation, however, is that improvements eventually reach every school still waiting for substantial renovations.
“We’re just looking for improved facilities, not just in some of our schools, in all of the schools that have not had those renovations yet,” she said.
Wilson-Lumpkins has spent 29 years in the district. She began as a first-grade teacher, later became a school counselor and served on the DFT executive board before moving into the roles of vice president and executive vice president. She is now in her fourth year as union president.
After securing a family-leave provision she once considered out of reach, Wilson-Lumpkins said the union must now imagine what the next round of progress could look like.
“I’ve got to push farther,” she said.
For Detroit educators, that push follows years spent rebuilding what was diminished under emergency management. Each restored benefit, salary increase and workplace protection represents another step toward creating a district where teachers can build careers and students can count on experienced professionals remaining in their schools.
