The largest in a series of rolling sickouts by teachers protesting the conditions of Detroit schools nearly shut down the entire district Wednesday, just as President Obama was expected to arrive in town.
All but a dozen or so of the city's 100 public schools were closed Wednesday, forcing most of the district's 46,000 students to stay home, according to local NBC affiliate WDIV.
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Many of the teachers rallied outside the Cobo Center, where Obama was scheduled to speak to a United Auto Workers gathering.
Detroit teachers have been staging sickouts — the organized but unauthorized taking of sick days — to draw attention to the district's financial straits and crumbling buildings and to express their opposition to Gov. Rick Snyder's public education policies.
The centerpiece of Snyder's plan to turn the system around is a 10-year, $715 million refinancing scheme that would split the district — already run by an emergency manager he appointed — into two as a way to pay off crippling debts.
Many teachers say the plan threatens to undermine the public school system and disenfranchises city residents.
Teachers from Detroit area schools protest outside Cobo Center before President Barack Obama's visit to the auto show on Jan. 20. Todd McInturf / Detroit News via AP
Wednesday's sickout was the biggest in a string of similar actions in recent weeks, reportedly organized by a group affiliated with the teachers union called DPS Teachers Fight Back. More than 60 schools were forced to close Jan. 11.
The sickouts have not risen to the level of an all-out strike, because such a move is prohibited by Michigan law.
A majority of  public schools were closed yesterday due to a coordinated "sickout" of teachers. This work stoppage was the latest in a series of showdowns with state government and was timed with an arrival by the President to attend an auto show. Activists used the opportunity to hold rallies to air their grievances publicly.

Educators have staged several work stoppages to protest the dilapidated state of public schools as well as Governor 's plan for the schools, which involves spliting the school district in two. Yesterday's protest closed over 85 schools and followed last week's efforts which shut down more than 60 and prompted visits to school sites by Mayor  and inspectors. Detroit Public Schools is several hundred million dollars in debt and has been under the administration of emergency manager  for a year.

The "sickout" strategy attempts to sidestep Michigan law which prohibits teacher strikes.  Schools have been found with mold in walls, crumbling infrastructure, and infestations.

In response to the sickout, the school district has filed a lawsuit and sought an injunction against the union as well as individual activists and teachers.