A major sick-out shut down most of Detroit's schools Wednesday as teachers tried to call attention to the city's public school problems. She said hundreds of teachers and supporters showed up to rally Wednesday outside the North American International Auto Show as President Obama stopped by to celebrate the resurgence of the nation's vehicle industry.

All but a dozen or so of the city's 100 public schools were closed Wednesday morning, forcing most of the district's 46,000 students to stay home, according to local NBC affiliate WDIV.

"Thursday night's meeting will vote on strike demands, including an end to Emergency Management, no more charters, return EAA schools to DPS, restore democratic rights to the people of Detroit, lower class size, raise teacher pay, provide adequate books and supplies, restore art, music and phys ed in all our schools, and more", Steve Conn, former Detroit Federation of Teachers President, said in a statement. Snyder also said he would be creating a "commission on 21st century education" to study what needs to be done to improve Detroit Public Schools.

Newsy Teachers have been staging so-called "sick-outs" for months to protest dilapidated conditions in schools.

Duggan expressed dismay over seeing a dead mouse in a trap at one campus and said some of the conditions he saw were "deeply disturbing", reported The Detroit News.

The number of schools closed Wednesday indicates that more teachers are joining the sick-outs.

Also Tuesday, Gov. Rick Snyder pushed lawmakers to pass bills to overhaul Detroit's school district during his State of the State speech.

DPS spokeswoman Michelle Zdrodowski said that the issue has been brought to court.

"I'm not happy about it because it's real public and it's open and they haven't actually handed this to us". Already, the district is run by an emergency manager appointed by Snyder, a Republican.

"This movement has grown, and I think it has grown among the teachers themselves", Mitchell said. "It's time for all of us to work together to ensure that there will be a school system in Detroit for future generations of the city's children".

Staff members at the closed schools were expected to report to work or take a leave day, the announcement said. "We were not encouraging people to go out today, but people are feeling it's the time now to do big actions to show what they're feeling".

The latest sick-out shuttered more than 85 of the struggling district's roughly 100 schools and was timed to coincide with a visit to the city by President Barack Obama. The schools are a separate unit of government that wasn't included in the city's reorganization.

Earley was in charge in 2014 when the catastrophic decision was made to stop sourcing tap water from Lake Huron and switch to using corrosive water from the Flint River to save $500 million over two years.

Teachers have complained of crumbling infrastructure, mold in the classrooms, leaky ceilings and too many students per class.

And last week, Duggan ordered inspections of all the city's public schools.