If you’re shopping for portents of what Betsy DeVos’ tenure in government will entail, you won’t do much better than this: On Friday morning, the USA secretary of education tried to enter a D.C. public middle school through the back door.
Advertisement
DeVos met with D.C. Public Schools Chancellor Antwan Wilson, Jefferson Academy Principal Greg Dohmann and other school leaders once she got inside the school. “Millions of teachers, parents and students could not have made their opposition to Betsy DeVos’ confirmation any clearer – they do not want someone whose only education experience is dismantling public schools”.
Protesters also clashed briefly with police at the front entrance to the school when they formed a line to block a vehicle they believed contained DeVos.
The small but fierce group of protesters physically blocked DeVos from entering the school. Two Republicans eventually said they could not support her, forcing Vice President Mike Pence to break a tie on her nomination, marking the first time that a vice president had to do so for a cabinet nominee. They worked on passing Michigan’s first charter school bill in 1993, which allowed public school funds to be used toward “quasi-independent educational systems”.
DeVos issued a statement after the incident where she said she was “honored” to meet with the school about ‘our shared commitment to public education’. This was only after a teacher/parent “vigil” blocked the road by the front entrance, and a handful of Black Lives Matter protesters caused problems when DeVos tried to enter through the back entrance.
Betsy DeVos prompted outrage after marking her first day on the job with a tweet Wednesday, writing: ‘Day 1 on the job is done, but we’re only getting started. According to the unions, attaining public education that students deserve requires one to support sanctuary cities and the belief that “social justice for all begins with a quality, free public education”, whatever that means. She is defended by Republicans as a conservative who will limit federal funding to schools that go towards regulations that are seen as burdensome and someone who will change the current course of the education set by Obama.
DeVos is a reformer, and during her time as a public official in MI, she has made leaps and bounds in privatizing education.
Mother Jones notes that DeVos once advocated to “retire” and “replace” Detroit’s public school system, while promoting charter schools (including private and Christian schools).
National and global student tests indicate Obama’s program called Race to the Top was more almost a slide in the other direction, but now we have DeVos, surely no miracle worker but a common-sense crusader who just may work with states to accomplish sensible goals. One DC teacher at the protest told the Washington Post, “Betsy DeVos does not represent our students or our families here in DC”.
We want education to unite us as Americans, not divide us. To save our public schools! Why?
Advertisement
Jefferson is a school serving mostly black students.
