"You can see there is literally steam coming out of the parking lot asphalt. There is definitely a problem underneath the ground here," said a WXYZ reporter.

Teachers have staged "sick-outs" — strikes where they call in sick to protest the conditions.

But some teachers say the conditions are literally making them ill.

"There's cold air that just gushes through there as well as the mold," said Nancy Muerhoff, a teacher at Carleton Elementary.

After complaining of constant headaches, that teacher took a different job.

State legislators have toured some of the schools.

Some say there is plenty of good going on as well as bad.

"The easy thing to do is see what's not working," said State Rep. Sherry Gay-Dagnogo. "The harder thing to do is get to the solution."

City officials will inspect all Detroit Public Schools through April.

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Wade Roberts (center), a Decatur-area resident with children in three of the city's schools, speaks as Decatur parents met with Education Planners, a consulting firm, on Nov. 13, at Beacon Hill Middle School in Decatur to discuss the possibility of one of the district's five K-2 schools closing. (Daniel Varnado for the AJC)

Credit: Daniel Varnado/For the Atlanta Journal-Constitution

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Inventor Lonnie Johnson stands with his Super Soaker water guns at JTEC Energy on Wednesday, Oct. 29, 2025, in Atlanta. Johnson, a former NASA engineer, is currently working on a new energy technology through his company’s JTEC device that turns thermal heat into usable energy. (Natrice Miller/AJC)