Fred Klonsky: Grizzly Bears in the Classroom! Grab a Gun!

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1. Joe says:

   January 18, 2017 at 9:24 pm

   If it wasn’t so tragic it would be hilarious. At first you laugh and then you realize that this yahoo will be our new education secretary. Sam Kinison said it best: “Yeeeeeeoooooooooowoooooowwwwooowoooo!!!”
   https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Czmb6tEwFE8

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2. Joe says:

   January 18, 2017 at 9:33 pm

   Eons ago, in my old school district, the high school had a very close encounter of the ungulate kind. A panicked deer that was being chased by a pack of dogs, smashed through the glass doors of the high school, spreading blood and shattered glass everywhere. It exited through a window and was never seen again. The dogs remained in the woods and did not pursue the deer across a busy road and into the glass doors.

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3. Fred Smith says:

   January 18, 2017 at 10:25 pm

   Goldy Locks

   From Duncan to King,
   From bad to worser
   And now to DeVos,
   We’ve gone to ursa.
   From choices, if anything,
   That now seem frivolous,
   We’ve picked someone
   Who’s truly horribilis

   But don’t be fooled;
   Come to your senses.
   Betsy’s mom will soon have contracts
   Selling schools bear traps and electric fences.

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   • dianeravitch says:

     January 18, 2017 at 10:38 pm

     Well done, Fred!

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4. Jack says:

   January 18, 2017 at 11:38 pm

   Funny tweet:
   https://twitter.com/GWillowWilson/status/821788370317651968

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   • LeftCoastTeacher says:

     January 19, 2017 at 8:47 am

     Bill Gates: That grizzly could be the next JFK.

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5. Jack says:

   January 19, 2017 at 12:11 am

   I’m having Cathie Black flashbacks.

   A few years back, she was appointed the New York City Chancellor of schools — after having ZERO experience in education. Her career was in magazine publishing, if memory serves. She got her appointment because she was in lock-step with then-NYC-mayor Michael Bloomberg on privatizing schools through charter expansion and closing schools and union busting and on and on …

   However, Cathie only lasted about a month. Here’s why.

   Black’s “grizzly bear” moment when she said that on video that the reason NYC’s schools were so over-crowded was that city’s low-income Puerto Ricans needed to learn how to use birth control. From that point on, at every public event she then went to, crowds of Puerto Rican women waved condoms at her, booed her, cursed her, etc.

   Even the pro-privatization Bloomberg recognized that these photo ops were proving disastrous, and that Cathie had to go. He soon canned her.

   Perhaps the same thing will play out with Betsy.

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6. Zeev Wurman says:

   January 19, 2017 at 12:38 am

   I actually find it a rather smart response.

   Had she responded as the Wise Senators expected, they would grandstand in an argument why using guns to protect kids is ineffective/immoral/wrong-headed/whatever and would claim that gun control — I mean more gun control — is the only way to go forward.

   Instead, she smartly turned it on them by pointing out that each state has different needs and it’s not for her to decide for them. After all, what would the Wise Senators suggest as an alternative … Bear Control?

   Actually, very smart.

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   • dianeravitch says:

     January 19, 2017 at 12:55 am

     Zeev, when your answer makes you a subject of ridicule all over the Internet, it doesn’t look that smart.

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     • Zeev Wurman says:

       January 19, 2017 at 2:14 pm

       Manufactured ridicule, you mean? I am not too impressed.

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     • dianeravitch says:

       January 19, 2017 at 2:48 pm

       Zeev

       Given DeVos’ ignorance of every area of federal education law and policy, she offered much to ridicule.

       I personally prefer Bill Evers.

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7. someluckydog says:

   January 19, 2017 at 1:32 am

   Bears getting into a school is not at all preposterous.

   http://www.usatoday.com/story/news/nation-now/2015/10/15/bear-inside-montana-high-school/73974112/

   I live in Montana and one of the local districts went on lock down last year due to a black bear hanging around outside near the elementary play ground. I’m not saying it was a brilliant answer. but the part about guns being allowed in schools being left up to local and state school authorities is spot on.

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   • SomeDAM Poet says:

     January 19, 2017 at 9:05 am

     She specifically said grizzly bears.

     There are exceedingly few places where grizzlies in schools would ever even be a potential problem (Northern Montana, Yellowstone, and Alaska)

     And grizzlies are difficult to bring down with a handgun. Even with a 45, you need to hit them just rightt — hard to do when the bear is charging.

     So unless teachers are all keeping high powered rifles in their classrooms (which is itself probably more dangerous than a grizzly) and trained marksmen, a gun is not going to help and may actually make things worse.

     Pepper spray is probably a much better option.

     DeVos knows about as much about grizzly bears as she knows about education: nothing.

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     • ciedie aech says:

       January 19, 2017 at 12:52 pm

       I have a feeling that there are a few Park Rangers out there who could “educate” her on how they actually deal with bears…

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     • someluckydog says:

       January 19, 2017 at 11:46 pm

       Grizzly bear, black bear, who cares which one she said??? For what it’s worth a black bear is more likely to attack without being provoked than a grizzly. Again, the point is the entire issue should be left to local and state school authorities.

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8. Norwegian Filmmaker says:

   January 19, 2017 at 2:39 am

   Who could resist?

   https://mobile.twitter.com/ChadMac19/status/821570056664608770

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9. Mary says:

   January 19, 2017 at 9:39 am

   Obviously she is a billionaire dilettante who has paid our representatives to play, not a professional educator. Even so, she couldn’t bother to have prepared a thoughtful answer to the crisis of school shootings in the US. Sandy Hook is of no importance. Clearly she’d rather not upset the NRA. But what about the kids?

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10. drext727 says:

    January 19, 2017 at 9:44 am

    Reblogged this on David R. Taylor-Thoughts on Education.

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11. Jack says:

    January 19, 2017 at 9:59 am

    Forbes writer Emily Willingham connects Devos’ grizzly gaffe to Devos’ deficient private schooling:

    http://www.forbes.com/sites/emilywillingham/2017/01/18/betsy-devoss-ignorance-is-not-a-compelling-argument-for-private-schooling/#2caadf463cac

    EMILY WILLINGHAM:

    “Betsy DeVos’ Ignorance Is Not A Compelling Argument For Private Schooling”

    “Betsy DeVos is a lot like the man who nominated her for education secretary. She showed up for the exam unprepared and careless and seemed to think that her mere presence was sufficient to carry the thing off. Perhaps that’s how it’s worked for DeVos her entire life, allowing her to skate past the need to learn pesky details about things like grizzly bears or federal education statutes related to disability.

    “DeVos raised eyebrows and dropped jaws during her confirmation hearing before the Senate education committee where she showed her ignorance about two widely divergent subjects: bears and disability laws.

    “First, the bears. When asked about whether or not guns are needed in schools, DeVos replied in the affirmative. Seeking what she presumably felt was her most compelling argument, she asserted that, for example, schools in Wyoming might need to allow guns to protect children from “potential grizzlies.” Immediately, a hashtag was born.

    “But her argument was silly, at best, a Hail Mary answer from an unprepared student trying for some extra credit points. The distribution of grizzly bears in Wyoming is, shall we say, limited. In truth, they are confined to the upper northwest corner of the state. Where Yellowstone National Park is. There aren’t typically schools in national parks, and the distribution of public schools anywhere near grizzly territory is unimpressive, at best.

    “DeVos was apparently referencing a comment Wyoming Senator Mike Enzo had made about the need to build a protective wildlife fence around a single school in Wapiti, Wyoming. And indeed, a grizzly once was sighted walking near the school, outside the fence built around it to protect it from … grizzlies.

    “Of course, the grizzly wasn’t in the school, where DeVos seems to think the guns should be. And, of course, she’s making an argument that our nation’s schools should have guns if they’d like and basing it on the needs of one elementary school on the edge of protected grizzly territory–which is quite limited in the lower 48–in our nation’s least-populated state. Because, of course, as goes Wapiti, Wyo., so should go our nation. (As it turns out, the state of Wyoming disagrees with DeVos).

    “Having lived and sent my children to public school in bear country, I can say that a far deeper concern would be any large hoofed antlered animal during the rut. I’m surprised that DeVos didn’t mention the even greater threat that aroused and angry elk and moose bulls pose to our nation’s schools.

    “Unfortunately, DeVos knows as much about disability laws pertaining to education as she does about justifications for allowing guns in schools. The grizzly comment was eyebrow-raising and mildly amusing. But her responses regarding federally protected rights of children with disabilities in our nation’s public schools demonstrated a jaw-droppingly profound and unacceptable level of ignorance.

    “Former vice-presidential candidate and current senator Tim Kaine (D-Va) opened the subject by asking DeVos about how she would ensure adherence to the requirements of the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act, or IDEA. This federal law requires that public schools ensure that students with disabilities receive a free and appropriate education (the acronym is FAPE) in the least restrictive environment (acronym, LRE) possible. Together with Section 504 of the Rehabilitation Act and the Americans with Disabilities Act, these statutes form the foundation of the rights that these students have.

    “Kaine asked DeVos, who has never attended public school, worked in one, or sent her children to one, if she thought that all government-funded schools were adhering to this law (N.B.: many are not) and should be required to do so. DeVos gave her first strikingly ignorant response to this question, stating that she believed that all schools were following the law.

    “And then she dug a deeper hole by following up with:

    — “I think that’s a matter best left to the states.”

    “IDEA is a federal law. The U.S. Department of Education is specifically responsible for enforcing it. Donald Trump’s nominee for Secretary of Education stated in her confirmation hearing that she thinks that this oversight belongs to the states.

    “Kaine was unimpressed with his student:

    — “So some states might be good to kids with disabilities, other states might not be good, and then what? People can just move around the country if they don’t like [the schools]?”

    “Then Maggie Hassan (D-NH) took up the baton on behalf of IDEA and her own child, who reportedly is a member of the population it serves. In a follow-up on Kaine’s exchange with DeVos, Hassan pushed the nominee on what she’d said, asking her if she stood by her statement that ‘that’s a matter best left to the states.’

    “This time, the student waffled. DeVos replied:

    — “Federal law must be followed where federal dollars are in … in … play.”

    “Hassan pushed: ‘So, were you unaware that of what I just asked you about the IDEA, that it was a federal law?’ “

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