Detroit School Teachers Lounge Has It All

A teacher in the Detroit Public Schools District gave herself a “community assignment”. That “community assignment” which she assigned to herself involved the creation of what she calls a “wellness/tranquility room” for teachers and all staff members. The school in which she works is the Davis Aerospace and Golightly Career and Technical Center, which resides in the Jefferson-Chalmers neighborhood on the city's east side.

The Detroit Free Press reported that Ms. Davis explained, “the room fits into her vision of how she can best serve both schools and the community”. Her vision has come to fruition and now her school has its very own “wellness/tranquility room”. This room has the following:

four teal-colored spa chairs
a zero-gravity massage chair
a hand-held massager
a foot massager
stress-relieving balls
three miniature rock waterfalls
an aromatherapy oil diffuser
puzzles
soft lighting
herbal tea
and music for relaxation and meditation

Nice. The room was paid for via a $3,500 grant the teacher applied for from a group called Building Healthy Communities. Building Healthy Communities website states they are:

a district-based program focused on addressing the social determinants of health that have contributed to wide disparities in many communities across Michigan.

They also state that they are:

a collaborative partnership between Blue Cross Blue Shield of Michigan, the Michigan Health Endowment Fund, the Michigan Fitness Foundation, the United Dairy Industry of Michigan, and Wayne State University’s Center for Health and Community Impact. We work together to offer a healthy school transformation opportunity to elementary and middle schools in Michigan.

The teacher stated “My first thought when I looked at what we had created on Wednesday afternoon is that we did what we were supposed to do”.

Good for them. I have never been fortunate enough to have worked for a private company that had a “wellness/tranquility room”.

My only thought was we keep hearing from people in the public education business and their politicians that there is never enough money to educate the students. I respectfully ask perhaps this $3,500 could have been better spent to help educate the students.

Just a thought.