Protestors blocked Betsy DeVos from entering a public middle school in DC.
Protesters block Betsy DeVos from entering public school in Washington
http://www.cnn.com/2017/02/10/politics/devos-protest-at-washington-school/index.html
I have mixed feelings about this.
On one hand, I was thinking of planning a “Betsy, bar the door” campaign, because of her well-documented contempt for public schools.
But I had breakfast on Tuesday with Cindy Marten, the dynamic superintendent of the San Diego public schools, and she told me about the wonderful accomplishments and spirit of teachers, principals, and students serving a very diverse enrollment. I told her she should invite DeVos to see the schools, see how they address the needs of English language learners and kids with disabilities.
Which is best?
How could she not be impressed by public schools that enroll all children? How could she not see that the district’ charter schools are draining resources, not improving the public schools?
Doors open to all. Even DeVos.
It is no secret, that Ms. DeVos is hardly a friend to the nation’s public schools. All the more reason, that she should be thoroughly familiar with them. Educators and parents, should be holding the doors open, to the new secretary. Openness and transparency, are the only to way to go.
I just read the information on Channel 7 (WashDC TV) webpage. I still can’t believe it.
There are none so blind as ideologues who will not see.
My head agrees with you, but my heart tells me that DeVos is a gaslighter who will spin our greatest advantages into our greatest disadvantage, like Bush “swiftboating” Kerry. Her ends to “advance” a more authoritative kingdom of God, will justify her means to undermine the public schools that teach the children more democratic structures.
Maybe there is a balance.
Unlike the United States, the teacher strikes and protests I’ve seen in Canada are more like a friendly contest. During British Columbia’s teacher’s strike a couple of years ago, both sides of the debate were constantly emphasizing how they were the friendliest towards meeting children’s needs. One of my neighbors helped stop a pipeline that was proposed to run through Vancouver by being the first to approaching the kindest looking policeman in the police line then asking, “I’d like to be arrested please.” He told me of another protest over indigenous land ending with the police refusing to remove the protesters after the protesters got into individual conversation with the policemen explained their cause.
Maybe the balance is to invite her into the public schools, but with plenty of friendly protesters holding signs that show her and the press the numbers about Michigan’s charter schools she’s hoping the public doesn’t notice. Most people still don’t see the corporate effort to privatize America’s public schools. And I bet most would not like it if they knew that was going on, even the police themselves.
DeVos plays her friendly card very well. I’m afraid angry protest that block her out of public schools will reinforce the false narrative that the teachers are being unreasonable and deserve to be targeted for blame. Our numbers card clearly shows who’s most reasonable. We just need to find the right friendly card to match with it.
So I say that we should invite DeVos to lots of public schools across the nation. But with plenty of friendly protesters showing her and the press the numbers as she goes in. Maybe we should ask that friendly policeman who lives in our neighborhood to join us and help preserve America’s public schools.
When DeVos’ 7 country clubs/ yacht clubs, invite the median American family, making $50,000, to become members, Betsy’s invitation, to the public school community, can be extended.
Charles, DeVos has had more than ample opportunity to visit urban public schools during her tenure in Michigan. If after all her “work” there she is not already intimately familiar with the landscape of public education, if she is not already familiar with the needs of public schools coming into the job, then it’s too late. This is a position for someone who already knows the workings of schools, of classrooms, of learning.
Would you be so accommodating of, say, a Surgeon General without the most basic understanding of medicine, or of a Joint chiefs of Staff Chairman with no military experience or understanding? Given the current political climate, though, maybe you would…
” if she is not already familiar with the needs of public schools coming into the job, then it’s too late. ”
Maybe that’s a good viewpoint: education secretary is not a first time job. People are not supposed to babysit their secretary of anything and patiently handhold her while she is learning what her job entails.
Agreed that DeVos should be in public schools everyday, all day. For the first time she will see what great things can and do happen in our public schools.
I am not sure she has ever been in a public school.
And I am sure she should never be allowed into one Public School.
Does anyone believe that she or anybody else in this administration has any concern for Public Schools or the common good . This is not a matter of a lack of knowledge or needing to be shown the better way . Everyone of these picks was picked to destroy the Department they head or convert it from a Public good to a private slush fund. Let me correct that Carson was picked because on Public policy he is just an idiot, the under secretaries will do the harm. Perry thought he was on mission to destroy the environment by shutting down clean energy . Then he and Trump found out he was responsible for maintaining our Nuclear arsenal ..
Everywhere in every city these despicables show up, they should be resisted . We knew what was coming in October. We confirmed it when his cabinet picks were made ,than as they were confirmed. Our expectations have been confirmed since January 20 th in every way possible.
When dealing with neo fascists unified resistance is the only answer. Appeasement will accomplish nothing. They are the minority by a lot more than the 3million votes they lost by. What has to be established is just how much opposition they face.And the more opposition they face the more opposition they will face. Public protest is contagious. I am sure that a large percentage of people who have come to the streets have never been there before and never brought there backsides to a voting booth,they will now.
They can only succeed in darkness and with an uninformed public..
.
Resistance is needed to the point that the puppet masters take care of the problem, so as to return to business as usual while they still can .
Personally I think the Women’s March was too small time to double it
I still have my DC metro pass .
Further the talking heads are talking about the possibility that Flynn violated the Logan act . An obscure law that really has never been used . The fact that the conversations previously denied . Those five Merry Christmas calls to the Russian ambassador , may be evidence of actual collusion (treason ) prior to the election has not been entertained by the media whose ratings are more important than their integrity .
No they should not be welcomed and engaged as Moyers points out about CNN and Kelly Ann Con-job
http://billmoyers.com/story/lamentation-bill-moyers/
Joel,
Great line that one.
“They can only succeed in darkness and with an uninformed public..”
Billionaires don’t belong in D.C. politics. One of three things is true of billionaires. They inherited their wealth, married it or, they devoted their lives to accumulating it. None of the three situations prepare them for public service. The point is evident, when illustrated by Bill Gates’ venture philanthropy e.g. his for-profit schools-in-a-box.
Joel, I was going to remain silent on this one because I wasn’t sure where I stood. But watching the CBS evening news tonight, I was outraged (actually, violently p—ed off) when I saw the graphic introducing the story on this: “Bullied at School”!!!! (I hope you saw the HuffPo story on her first tweet and the responses I mentioned in another post today.) DeVos has literally “bullied” public education for her entire life and a national network dares to frame the discussion about today’s events this way?!? A bottle of red is waiting to hopefully calm me down.
Saw the tweets not CBS . She came to school without a pencil an eraser or any qualification.
Vern… I applaud your optimism but I think of this scenario… free range chickens are living life in a meadow. They have food and room to move on the land; life is not perfect but the chickens are always striving to thrive. So, do you invite a fox onto the land to convince this animal that the chickens are thriving and hope that this will dissuade the animal from eating them? DeVos is heavily invested in “eating up” the school system with her open goal of privatization. This will ensure that her pet and profitable project (infusing religion and state) absolutely succeeds. And the ultimate irony is that she is taking a position that is supposed to oversee an American institution – the public school systems in the US – but her aim is its destruction. Go figure! It would be like electing a Fascist to office in a nation that holds DEMOCRACY in highest esteem. 🙂
I don’t see how preventing De Vos from entering a public school could serve any constructive purpose. The only possible outcome I can imagine is her supporters having a reason to chant, “What are public schools hiding?”
But don’t you think that’s backward? The point of the visit is so public schools can prove to the Secretary of Education that they have value?
I reject that. I think DeVos has to sell her reforms to public schools. She has to explain to public school parents and staff how her reforms are worthwhile.
We have choices. We can follow some advice and reject other advice. She doesn’t actually run public schools. This is 90% consent.
Excellent point.
I see your point also. That doesn’t justify barring her from public schools, however; it just suggests that there should be a dialogue. The approaches aren’t mutually exclusive.
NO DIALOGUE with people who plot and, proclaim their intent to takeover the common good, so that it can be turned over to the richest 0.1%. The Koch’s, DeVoses, Bill Gates, Walton heirs, etc. are all cut from the same suffocating, slick oilcloth.
We owe it to America, we owe it to the nation’s children, we owe it to the future, to stop oligarchs intent on destroying OUR country, out of personal greed..
George W. Bush, Michelle Rhee, Arne Duncan… a few of many reformsters who visited public schools and walked away no more informed or enlightened than when they entered. John Deasy once visited my school and left with a plan to bulldoze the green space to make way for a collocation. He visited another school on his first day and wrongfully terminated a substitute teacher. Rhee visited schools to pick out principals to fire. I agree with Chiara. Privatizers are not just opponents of public education, they are enemies of public education, enemies who will never change. Treat them as such. Fight them as such. We’re not hiding anything other than our young from those who would hurt them — from hungry wolves. And grizzlies.
I agree such a hostile strategy could backfire. DeVos has a right to enter any public school where people can engage her in meaningful conversation and where she can see the students and teachers at work. There is nothing to be gained from overt hostility. It looks petty and feeds the “union thug” image.
Let them call us thugs. Here’s what angry lib thugs look like nowadays:
https://cbsmiami.files.wordpress.com/2017/01/pink-cat-hats.jpg?w=300&h=200&crop=1
Highly controversial people make poor choices for jobs requiring unity building. That’s the point made, in barring DeVos’ entry. Mrs. DeVos should have the decency to resign.
I’m not sure either, but there is a part of me that says she had decades to find out how public schools work while she was doing her best to dismantle them in Michigan. If I was still teaching, I wouldn’t want her anywhere near my special ed students. I can feel my nostrils flaring at the thought. Probably not terribly productive but emotionally satisfying.
She got into the school. She was merely slightly delayed.
Lenny… it shows her that SHE DOES NOT HAVE SUPPORT FROM THE PEOPLE. At every turn she MUST be made aware of this and her steam-rolling over the public school system must not be a cake-walk for her. She didn’t walk into that school to figure out how to help public schools. She walked in for PR. I am glad she met difficulty getting into the building and hope that she will meet like encounters in every public school she tries to enter. She does not have to be banned. She just has to understand the message that her money cannot BUY EVERYONE.
ENDORSING CORRUPTION
artseagal: “She just has to understand the message that her money cannot BUY EVERYONE,”
. . . even though that money bought her the position of head of the Department of Education.
DeVos is already on corrupt ground. Anything else WE do that avoids that fact not only normalizes corruption, it makes us perversely complicit in it. Unless we see immediate and solid signs of change (that is not merely for “show” and for OUR benefit) by NOT resisting at every turn, we tacitly endorse that corruption.
DeVos is not going to change her position just because she is entering a public school. This is for P/R–nothing more. You’re talking of a woman who spent the last 20 years promoting vouchers. And as my mother used to tellme when I wa sa kid,”A leoppard cannot change his spots!” This is for show, She knows she ‘s made enemies with public school proponents. This is nothing but a strategy of bamboozling the public into thinking that she “cares.” Give me a break…And always on a Friday afternoon, before a weekend, are these stunts done…
She would not care one way or the other. She has two goals: gut a federal department of education and prevent all parents from having to pay for school at a religious institution.
I support the protestors. DeVos isn’t going to see anything in a public school that impresses her unless someone happens to have a huge wad of cash. And I mean YUGE. That woman belongs nowhere near any school, public or private.
Visiting a public school was a PR stunt to save her brand, as if helicoptering into a school for 10 minutes will improve her public image. The Republicans have no intention of slowing down privatization & neither does she.The more she encounters peaceful protests & resistance the more her brand is tarnished. The Trumpsters will lie about alleged violence to justify police action and intimidate other citizens from participating in their lawful rights to protest. People are waking up to the fundamental sickness in the system. Until the Democrats offer a viable alternative the protesters won’t go away.
Notice that Arne jumped on the bandwagon of those denouncing “violent” protesters.
This is not so easy. DeVos is a grandmother unlikely to change. She has been for almost her entire life a True Believer in the free market for ANY school, particularly Christian schools.
DeVos in person is a charmer, and there is nothing as dangerous as a charmer, with fixed ideas, determined to change the world.
If you think she will change, of course invite her in.
But if you believe she will just use you (by saying she has visited Public Schools all over the country, met with and/or consulted with all sorts of special education and other groups, etc.) to be able to say she has done all those things AND then, based on those visits and meetings, fail to enforce regulations (which can be done in a subtle manner), promote vouchers in every way possible, and act as a public voice (since she could then say she had done all of her research) for essential Parental Choice (vouchers) as the ONLY way to change education, bar the door.
This. It’s just a photo op that she’ll use against public schools. She has no intention of being changed.
We made that mistake for eight years assuming we could change Obama. If we couldn’t change him, what makes anyone think Trump or any of his goons are changeable?
Diane:
De Vos concerns are not the quality of what is taking place in the Public Schools. Her eye on the ball is MONEY and CHRISTIAN SCHOOL VALUES. Public money in Vouchers are her concern, not childrenâs experiences. She does not even know how to value what she sees from our perspective.
Sorry, but it is what it is!!!
Shirley Rausher
Srausher@nyc.rr.com
But it’s a good question, I think.
DeVos really has spent 30 years bashing public schools.
If she had spent 30 years bashing charter schools would they be thrilled about a visit?
I feel as if it’s just taken for granted that public schools have some duty to listen to ed reformers. They really don’t. This relationship is supposed to be beneficial to both parties.
What does DeVos offer public schools? She offered nothing at her Senate hearing. Does she plan to offer something positive and worthwhile? What? Our schools have value. They’re not just some default system where ed reformers check a box and get back to their passion, which is charters and vouchers.
Does ed reform have to offer value to public schools? If not, then why do they visit? Are they just professional public school critics?
Doors may be open, but her mind is not. She’s been focused on privatization for 30 years.
Keep the doors closed to DeVos!!!
Sent from my iPhone
What a total mess. The woman comes to visit a public school and is blocked by some political morons, prob not even teachers, etc. What an embarrassment. They should’ve all been arrested for interference. People are just protesting to protest, something to do. Get a life. I actually like DeVos more today than yesterday. She scored points today and the losers were the protestors who got it wrong!
She was hardly blocked – she ran away after encountering criticism. Oh, heavens to Betsy! She could have had the protestors cleared, but it was evident that she wasn’t going to get the flower throwing reception she was hoping for and anything else wouldn’t make for a nice photo op, so she hightailed it. Good riddance and good on those “political morons”.
“heavens to Betsy”
One of my great aunt Mildred’s favorite sayings. She who was still hand churning butter at age 90 not that long ago. But I like this version:
The self-serving billionaire, intent on the takeover of America’s most important common good, so that it can be turned over to the richest 0.1%, met with protest. She’s divisive. She should have the decency to resign in favor of a public servant- a concept she wouldn’t recognize if it was grisly standing right in front of her. America is obligated to stop her, for the future of democracy.
We must try to warm DeVos stone cold heart by showing her need of our schools she hardly knows first hand. Let her see.
IF, and I mean IF, Betsy DeVos is allowed to set foot in public schools [I’m not yet convinced she should be allowed inside], her job description should require her to substitute teach for a whole week in an elementary school, another week in a middle school/junior high, and another week in a high school. And I don’t mean in a high-performing, wealthy district with easy-to-educate children with supportive parents. She should substitute teach in rural and inner-city schools. Ms. DeVos should be exposed to middle- and low-income environments. She should be able to experience the love and affection of children, but also the difficult minefield of dealing with children who are hard to love.
She should see what it’s like to be on the front lines, and she should fight the same battles that teachers (and substitute teachers) fight daily.00
Her appearance should not be a photo-op either. She should come in without a staff, without the press and cameras, and without fanfare (practically unannounced). She should be treated like a regular sub from the local community, not some educational hot shot or reformist amateur who is going to make a splash and use the appearance to make a statement. It should a learning experience.
Since she is going to need to learn on the job, let’s give her an education that will help her saddle up for the road ahead.
I haven’t read all the comments in this article, so I would welcome comments (pro and con) about my suggestions above.
Bilgewater,
I like them but she will never do it. Neither would Arne.
Bilgewater: As with Trump’s “give him a chance” supporters, you are assuming a reasonable and responsible person in Betsy DeVos who came by her position authentically. Unfortunately, not, and the ideological silos in her head, evidenced by and coupled with her long history of working from them, prevent me from such speculative, and most probably fictional, assumptions.
On the other hand, Catherine, now that I slept on this, one can ask, should schools give her one chance to change her mind? If she doesn’t change her mind, we could use this single chance as a weapon: “We tried, but she wouldn’t listen.”
For full disclosure, it pains me to have written down the above, since even as I was writing it, I imagined her aid busily making a strategic plan to implement vouchers, intelligent design and other glorious programs for her God. How many of you think, that this planning hasn’t started?
Mate: Yes, I think that would be the reasonable thing to do, except for the wall of evidence that says if you WANT to be critical of something, especially if you think you are working for God, you’ll find it. And if you don’t find it, you’ll manufacture it. From reading the notes here, I really don’t think it matters in terms of outcomes.
So you are probably right–at least protect our own integrity and try not to give DeVos something substantial to complain about. Whatever we do, they are going to claim it’s sour grapes and merely political anyway. So at least let her know, constantly, that it’s not okay what she is doing. Maybe some religious leader can talk to her about what’s really wrong with her plan, in terms of Christianity’s basic tenets. I wonder what she thought about that open letter from all of those clergy?
A little of my history: I’m a veteran teacher (32 years of experience) in Indiana. I’ve seen my share of education wars, not the least of which was my ex-governor and ex-state school superintendent practically called us teachers the sworn enemies of children. I was a Republican voter for almost 30 years before I turned my back on them (because they’d turned their backs on teachers and public education). I will never vote GOP again unless they reclaim their principles. They can pound sand down a hole forevermore in my opinion.
I issued the above challenge to the lickspittle GOP state representative in my school district [I live in an adjacent voting precinct].. I told him he would be welcome as a guest speaker, visitor, or substitute speaker. I think most of these legislators and educational reformers and office holders are secretly frightened of children.
“I think most of these legislators and educational reformers and office holders are secretly frightened of children.”
Well, not so secretly. If they don’t control children (the next generation of workers) in public schools, then who knows with what kind of socialistic ideas about worker-employer relationship they will grow up with.
http://usherald.com/this-is-how-liberals-use-schools-to-indoctrinate-children/
Mate I read the first three paragraphs of your link. If that’s what so many of us are reading, to the exclusion of other readings, and along with watching Fox “News” (the REAL faux news), then it’s no wonder. . . .
If we don’t let her in, the orange one will tweet that we have something to hide inside our public schools. She needs to be educated. I say let her in and let her learn. Perhaps she could teach a class or two, since she’s such an expert.
Let her in, but set the terms so this cannot be just a publicity stunt and photo op.
It should be part of a visiting and listening tour focused on public schools–not corporate schools (charters).
Have her come early, stay the whole day. Have the principal, teachers, students and parents plan her day.
Have at the ready suggestions on what she and USDE could do to enhance their work.
Diane is right, if it is a public school, it is open to all who pass security tests and “follow the rules of the road.”
The protesters in this instance are not well-identified. Some seem to have been from Black Lives Matter. The protests will probably be blamed on all of those overpaid teachers who are flush with cash and who teach nothing.
Laura: And if she’s nit-picking, she’ll FIND something wrong regardless.
No photo ops with family products featured prominently.
Laura ” if it is a public school, it is open to all who pass security tests ”
How could Betsy pass the security test? She has been public enemy number one of public schools in Michigan, and she wants to allow guns in schools—in MY kids’ schools!!!!
I think ponderosa and Lloyd agrees with me: Betsy needs to be disciplined; she’s been given enough warnings throughout her life and during the senate hearing, but she doesn’t get it, so there is nothing left for us to do but tell Betsy’s parents to have their naughty girl report to Lloyd for bootcamp duty within one week. .
I still haven’t heard one word about how the US Department of Education under DeVos plans to benefit public schools.
Not one word.
I guess it’s gracious to provide photo ops but as far as I’m concerned that’s up to the school. I think they’re well within their rights to politely decline a visit from a person who has made it clear she opposes “government schools”, those dead ends, those Model T’s, those places where the “Best and Brightest” stay away. These are the things she said. So why visit one? How does that benefit the children in that school?
So let’s unpack this….You say she is anti public schools so she should be banned and literally attacked trying to enter one. Can anyone really believe this will help the cause?
I’ve watched the CNN video 3 times & did not see DeVos attacked, assaulted, or “almost knocked down”. I don’t think she was even touched by a protester. We can’t allow lies to discredit the people protecting themselves & their children from this predator.
If this comment sounds harsh it isn’t nearly as harsh as what DeVos has in store for our public schools.
This was a flashpoint for me also. No one touched her or even came close to a “shove”. So, to see that put out there and then passed around as if it really happened, is deliberate and diabolical.
Three days out of the gate and they drive her to an inner city school in DC? She went out looking for an opportunity to cast herself as someone who was “attacked” and kept from getting “in there” to see what “THEY” are really up to.
She is a highly divisive person in a job that requires a person who can build unity. Apparently she is incapable of assessing her qualifications for a job. Barring her, may make her take a second look at her woefully lacking resume. (Belonging to 7 country clubs and yachting clubs doesn’t count.)
How many W-2’s has she filled out, in her lifetime?
The only reason she is “career ready” is that her family made huge political donations to the senators that mattered..
Linda: The other point is that, please someone tell me HOW DeVos is legitimate? . . .insofar as she bought her way into the Department of Education and wouldn’t be there had that not been the case. The whole thing is so corrupt, such questions seem bizarre to me. I don’t know how she doesn’t hang her head in shame.
The doors ARE open and Betsy got in and had her meeting with the community group. But she also must be protested every step of the way.
That does not mean she cannot visit schools. Have at it, Betsy.
But be certain, that nothing she sees will deter her from her “assignment”.
A wake of destruction and demoralization will follow her performance over these next however many years and many will wish they had protested louder and longer.
Yes It’s not ignorance. She doesn’t CARE how good our schools are. She is on a mission and can not be swayed with “knowledge.”
Sorry….photo op is all it was. Look at her acting all scared and having to be ushered to her car. If my children were at that school, they would have been taken out of school to stand and protest. As a parent it is my job to make sure that amoral and unethical people are not allowed access to my children (and this would have been a teachable moment for them). This woman will never change her mind about public schools. Any person making money off the backs of children deserves an extra hot place in hell when they’re dead and gone. She has a twisted view of religion….and education!
I agree with you in theory. However, she obtained her position despite ignorance about all things educational and her malice toward public schools and their teachers. In her perfect world, students with issues can be sifted out. We public school teachers embrace the diversity and use it as a powerful tool. Public schools are a more accurate microcosm of the society in which children will all one day live and find their happiness. I am proud to have been educated in public schools and to have served in them as an educator for over two decades, but I truly don’t see DeVos having an epiphany. Having said that, she should be allowed and even encouraged to visit as many schools as she can.
She should be. And we need to make sure the community gathers at the school and sends a strong message. Everywhere she goes. Maybe we need a toolkit schools can access in anticipation of a visit from Betsy. We need to be consistent and united in our message.
Bernie Sanders was absolutely right. Other than her family’s $200M in donations to Republicans she has no other qualifications for the position. Her thinking is, “In a land of freedom no white billionaire should be forced to support the education of brown skinned children.” The folks in DC did the right thing in keeping her out!
I agree, fellow Memphian.
Agree.
The Senate’s only Black Republican, like his other Republican colleagues, betrayed America with the appointment of an unqualified billionaire. The filthy rich, like the Koch’s, Gates and DeVoses loath common goods that, we, the 90%, bought and share for the benefit of our kids and future generations.
DeVos should high tail it back to her 7 country/ yacht clubs.
Let’s not forget her relevant crime here is not that she spent her life screwing public schools, but she is completely incompetent, unqualified, and she still think, she should be secretary.
So if we open public school doors to her, would she suddenly become competent and knowledgeable in educational matters?
Diane,
My reaction is negative. The fact that she’s actually stepping into a public school is a first step. I agree that we should invite her to see how dynamic our schools are, not bar the door. It also sets the other side against us. We can protest all we want, but we can’t block the door.
I think it’s a bad tactic.
Tell the readers what actions you’ve taken, ssteven2, to prevent the richest 0.1% from taking over public education so, that the wealthy can make a killing, at the expense of communities, kids and taxpayers.
Wall Street takes its cut, of 10-18%, from charter school debt.
No school door in America will be blocked from those seeking to help our nation’s school children.”
But what if they honestly believe she isn’t helping? Who decides what “helps our nations school children”?
She said yesterday in an interview that the way she helps public schools is because she helps children leave public schools and then the schools learn to get better. But what if these children don’t want to leave?
If 20 billion in voucher funding for children to leave public schools is all she’s offering, isn’t she in the wrong place? Are they supposed to persuade or reassure her they actually want to stay there?
“the schools learn to get better” with gutted funding, with teachers paying for supplies, with chronic turn around, with nonsense never ending hoops to jump through… DeVos will make no positive dents in public education, only continue to put the whole camel into the tent.
Let’s not forget, she is from the strict father figure culture. Would she respond to anything else but a powerful voice (preferably from high above)?
In fact, if we are nice to her, she’ll take it as weakness, and she’ll respect us even less.
We could as realistically give Sessions a chance:
“I believe, if we show some nice colored folks to Sessions, he’ll change his mind about them.
Or let’s give Trump some more chances
Yeah, Little Orange Donnie misbehaved during elections, but many of us said, it’s just election talk, but he’ll be better as president, and we were wrong, but now let’s give him yet another chance. In fact, let’s give him the full treatment of us, let’s give this naughty boy a new chance every day, and eventually our niceness will get to him and he’ll see what valuable people we are, and he’ll start respecting us.”
So sorry, I have to agree with the commenters who believe no real – substantive – purpose can be served by the new Sec of Ed’s paying pro forma visits to public schools. The past thirty years have amply demonstrated where her priorities and preferences lie. She is not, frankly, the Sec of Public Education, but the Sec of soon-to-be-charterized-and-privatized education. I’m shocked that her handlers thought she could begin public middle school visits on the third day of her tenure – someone hasn’t been paying attention.
“I’m shocked that her handlers thought she could begin public middle school visits on the third day of her tenure…” She would be damned if she did and damned if she didn’t. I don’t think she really had a choice although no one should be surprised that she isn’t a welcomed visitor. She has earned the disdain.
She’s damned for other reasons. While Michigan’s poor suffer from the concentrated wealth, inflicted on America by a rigged system, devised and funded by the richest 0.1%, she pays memberships to 7 country and yacht clubs.
I agree. What DeVos needs to be educated on is how people feel about their public schools. Parents, kids, teachers are the grizzly bears, and she should be afraid to go against them.
Based on her face in the video I just posted, she won’t last long. She already wished, she’d be back screwing public schools from the safe background of her castle. But the image she experienced today will stay with her, will wake her up in the middle of the night. As people on BAT wrote today,
She now realized, while she can buy senators, she cannot buy love.
People literally are willing to go under a car for their school. Wow. I am proud of those guys.
Agree Agree. Proud of them also. Her money won’t buy her anything but TROUBLE from here on out.
If you’re an ed reformer entering a public school don’t you have to offer something?
Or is “I’m here to help our nations school children” enough? Because literally anyone could say that, and mean it.
Okay. How? If you’re in a public school and the only answer you have is “vouchers” I would suggest you should come back when you have something to offer THIS school and THESE kids. Otherwise you’re really just wasting their time. Your “solution” doesn’t apply to them at all. It’s irrelevant.
The Secretary of Education should be welcome in all public schools. She has a great deal to learn. In New York, she should visit New Rochelle schools to learn how a small city public school system with highly diverse students do well working together.
I have a bridge in Florida I’d like to sell you.
I could save him the plane fare, there is a bridge on Center street Right by City Hall park that goes to Brooklyn . These people are destroyers not builders . Including the billionaire bankruptcy specialist.
A few years ago, I was at the home of a friend, of a friend. The lawyer’s home had a framed award on the wall. It was for being best at bankruptcies. No kidding. I couldn’t stop laughing. I didn’t want to be rude but, really, being best at failure!
Her confirmation hearing smirk was a tell that what she said didn’t matter, she’d already bought that job. She can pay to enter schools now, too.
“School Fundraising”
Bakesales might be good or fair
But charging Betsy’s really great
Cuz Betsy is a billionaire
With million$ for a visit date
Agree completely about how we respond to her smirk–and to Lamar Alexander’s indefensible protecting of her from a second round of embarrassment answering questions for which she did not have a clue how to respond.
Educators should not be cooperative in any activity that might contribute to DeVos being seen as credible. If she addresses any large meeting of public educators (unlikely) when she approaches the podium everyone in the audience should shun her by turning their backs. Resist! Resist! Resist! Stakes are too high for any other approach/action!
This is not so easy. Betsy is not a young person likely to change. She has been an absolute True Believer in the free market for ANY kind of school, particularly Christian schools.
She is a charmer in person, but one with a very defined AGENDA.
If you think you can change her, invite her in.
If not (to avoid being used when she later states she has visited
numerous public schools, consulted with special ed and other
organizations, etc.), when she promotes in subtle ways lack of
enforcement of regs, or new initiatives for vouchers, or simply is
a public spokesperson for the causes to which she has devoted
herself for almost her entire life, you will not have helped her.
https://www.washingtonpost.com/local/education/protesters-rally-at-dc-school-ahead-of-visi t-by-education-secretary-betsy-devos/2017/02/10/faad4962-ef06-11e6-b4ff-ac2cf509efe5_story .html?utm_term=.553c92845de0
According to several staff members, teachers at the school were upset by her visit and planned to wear black to show their feelings.
One staff member at Jefferson said she and many of her colleagues are troubled by DeVos’s decades-long campaign to promote vouchers as a way to escape public schools, which the staff member said work hard to serve all students.
She said she feared that the new education secretary would use Jefferson students — most of whom are African American and come from low-income families — for a photo op to burnish her image.
I say welcome her into public schools. Visits should be accompanied by smiling lines of parents & kids toting signs “We love our school,” “We love our teachers”, “We could use $ for a full-time school nurse (or librarian, or school supplies, or new textbooks, etc)”.
Or, they could put their hands out, begging for a pittance.
I think Betsy DeVos is going to do exactly what she wants to do no matter what and this does not fare at all well for public schools. There is no other reason why she would accept a job without ANY QUALIFICATIONS and especially no knowledge of public schools (other than volunteer work). So perhaps protesting peacefully by making it known how the public-at-large feels and by making it challenging for her at every turn is the way to go. Maybe then she will have to ask herself how much she really wants this job! She still got into the school but it was not easy. Nobody was harmed or hurt. But she sure knew where they stood. In NYC, Cathy Black had no experience for the chancellor position yet Bloomberg appointed her to it and she lasted 3 months???
I just hope if they do let her in, they check her purse for guns.
Grizzly bears are an endangered species in DC.
Currently she better be “packing” bug spray and rat traps as rodents and bedbugs just might find this “esteemed” jewel – the ultimate in tasty and come out to greet her unlike the DC students and staff.
I totally agree with opening our doors. I would welcome her in my school and classroom to see what amazing things my students are doing around project-based learning in a public school. I believe what is done is done and now we must be the example to our young student onlookers and make her a believer.
Would you like to buy a bridge in Florida? I have one for sale.
Karl, you have every right to be proud of your school, but Betsy simply doesn’t care. She wouldn’t even know what project learning is or why it’s an effective approach. She only cares about making $$$$. Nothing is going to sway her. We need to protest and fight back.
The most remarkable part of this story was that she able to successfully recognize a public school, much less attempt to enter one.
I think it was probably the grizzly bears milling about in the parking lot.
The most “remarkable” part of the story has yet to come… Trump will be getting on national news saying, “It was great everyone… just great… super how exciting the DC students and staff at Jefferson were when they saw Betsy. I sure can pick only the best and brightest for my team”! Meanwhile, Conway while wearing Ivanka Trump clothing will follow up his comments including the fact that it was a resounding success. “Did everyone hear the crowds chanting go go go… we love you DeVos???” Then Spicer will be left to give the official answer to the question posed, “Was the president aware of the protesters when he made false statements attesting to the crowd cheering her on at Jefferson High?” To which Spicer will respond, “The media is constantly twisting the reality; it was clear by the roar of the crowd and all those wonderful signs, that DeVos was being hailed as she tried to enter the building. There were so many people at the front and they all wanted her autograph… so many people that security drove her around the side”. Now that is success! Anyone doubting this falls prey to false news! “But Press Secretary Spicer…” No, no, no… no more questions on the subject…”
Thanks for the laugh. To Poet, as well, for the follow-up.
Diane: DeVos’ response to the experience of a public school (if it’s real) will tell how strong her contrary ideological bent is–in other words, whether she is open to change or not according to the cognitive dissonance that occurs when she visits a well-run PUBLIC school.
Please tell me that she won’t be able to disrupt Title one funding. Most of the schools I work in are Title one.
They didn’t need grizzlies to make her turn away. Just regular folks, whom she probably has never met in her life.
I wish I had come up with one. Very good!
that one
Let’s keep track of how much DeVos’ wardrobe costs, to visit public schools, where the median American family income is less than $50,000.
Are those carpet samples in her brief case?
Oh my gosh. Why would it be a good idea to grant a member of a fascist regime entry to any space, especially the space she wishes to dismantle? If open doors and meaningful dialogue with fascists were enough to change their minds, not only are we not having this conversation today, but the world would have been spared countless atrocities throughout time. This isn’t just a person who bashes public schools. This is a person who advocates policy rooted in white/christian supremacy. To not resist is to give a free pass.
I think I have a new crush.
Excellent. Thank You. Fascism it is and we must continue to respond accordingly.
Well said.
Diane,
I too have mixed views. However, in normal times we would welcome the opportunity to show off what we really do in hopes of educating and possibly influencing a change.
Unfortunately, we are not in normal times. We are war. The very fabric of our national values are under attack. DeVos is now one of Trump’s generals that will be looking to destroy our most important asset, our public schools.
Why let her in? Bar the doors, build the barricades, man the trenches, and be prepared to defend. The future of our nation depends on it.
I am not interested in a dialogue with her or any of these so called reformers. I am interested on blocking everything they do, resist, disrupt and destroy their credibility. Let them try to drag us out, one by one. There are more of us then them.
Watching Lamar Alexander, run his sham of a hearing for her, his message was crystal clear. He doesn’t give a damn what the majority of us have to say. None of them do.
To pretend that when she visits our schools things will change is pie in the sky thing.
Bar the doors.
RR
How could she not be impressed? Well, if she’s a fanatical ideologue she will see only what she wishes to see. We all know well what that is.
When she comes back, she will bring the vouchers.
Amen. It is counter productive. I was a red Republican turned purple Independent primarily because of the Republicans positions on (and against) public education. We need to stand tall and debate DeVos and the others on the merits of our case. We should be DEMANDING that DeVos spend as much time as possible inside public education institutions. We need to educate her on the challenges of educating ALL American children.
Folks, please, a little less emotion and more reasoning is in order. We are on the winning side because of our positions on the issues. We stand for educating ALL students. Anything less is not good enough.
The most important thing DeVos might accomplish…..an awareness of the democrats, as they survey the damage done to their party over the last decade or so…..is that Obama made terrible mistake in allowing Bill Gates to set the direction of public education. With that, comes an awareness by republicans that he set a direction with which they can be somewhat comfortable, but which now might demand more assertion, likely to be met with hostility. Democrats cannot count upon their elected leaders to show much courage….they will have to inspire them.
What do the kids think? Do the kids want her to visit their public school so she can see how wonderful it is and play hostess instead of letting the adults bully her and keep her out?
Kids are very good at seeing when they’re being used.
Dienne, having seen many charter rallies and instances where charter kids were put on buses to pack legislative hearings, I don’t agree that kids don’t know when they are being used. The charter industry uses them shamelessly to lobby for more money, not for the kids but for the operators.
“What do the kids think?”
What do you think? In Betsy’s world, everything needs to be earned, there is no free lunch. Has she earned the kids’ trust?
Laura Chapman is right that the schools should welcome her, but they need to set the terms. Any and every public school in the nation should now issue an open letter inviting Ms. DeVos to visit, but (a) no media, including and especially photographers or camerapeople, (b) she attends alone or maybe with just a single aide, (c) she agrees to stay for an extended period of time – at least half a day, if not a full day and (d) she is there to listen and observe, not to speak.
The message needs to be, we have nothing to hide, you are welcome to enter, explore, learn about, and interact with our public schools to your heart’s content, that’s your right. You are not welcome, however, and it is not your right to use our public schools as a prop or pawn in your privatization game and we will prevent you from doing so.
We must learn to control the narrative. Trump and his ilk are experts at manipulation (and the media are willing whores), but that doesn’t mean we just lay back and let them do the framing.
I agree that school doors should be open to all who want to observe (in small enough numbers, and not unannounced). I was not happy that Betsy was not welcome, because now we have the task of educating her. I hope they will invite her to return, and show her their accomplishments.
Marcia
I saw all of this on the news, & it would seem to be parents/community members blocking her entrance? (Pretty sure school personnel would not/ & would not be allowed to do that.) IMO, if parents & community members–taxpayers who PAY for their schools & who want their children in those public schools–don’t want her in their schools, I feel that it is their choice to protest, & even to block her from entering. (She will, as she did today, probably get in anyway.) And–it doesn’t really matter who bars her entry (&, to reiterate, it wouldn’t be school personnel, I can assure you)–those “alternative news” providers from the White House will blame teachers & unions anyway, as they have been blamed for years (& for my money–& I’m retired, parent of an adult, but I DO, indeed, pay taxes–so it IS MY money that pays for our local schools {unlike some–ahem–who don’t pay their taxes–or at least we don’t know if they do or not}–Arne should have been kept out of the schools. Honestly, to believe that a DeVos visit would change her attitude is fairy dust from Glenda*, the Good Witch. It is a movie, a fantasy, a good dream.
And we all know that we are far from that scenario now.
The only purpose for her visits (aside from photo-ops) will be to size up the best real estate for the charters that will push out the publics (just as Eva & others have done).
I’m curious to know what Leonie Haimson’s opinion on this is–if you’re reading, Leonie, please weigh in (& thanks for all you’ve done & continue to so).
I have pretty thick skin, but this appointment really sickens me.
*Thinking of the REAL “Good Witch” (of the midwest): Glenda Ritz. Just look what they did to her. Glenda, you fought the good fight for the Indiana publics. On fact, YOU should be the Secretary of Education.
retirnedbutmissthekids Interesting take on Betsy’s “choice.” The parents and community members CHOSE to block her from their school.
Yes, CBK, & GOOD for them! Let them continue to advocate for the
sake of their children & their communities. They persist!
I had received an e-mail from an organization (“largest online racial justice organization”)
called Color of Change https://colorofchange.org/
The e-mail was about DeVos & the “throwing of black children under the bus.” They are training people to organize & fight for their schools (the campaign was spelled out in the e-mail). They’re running a number of campaigns, but I was unable to find this one on their website. If you are interested, go to the site, & there is info. on how you may contact them.
Young turks weigh in. “Our leaders should be afraid” (if they do something against the public will)
That was at 4min 30sec but could be watched from beginning for context if needed.
Suppose everyone sent DeVos a letter describing the great things they are doing in their schools… all on the same day (a positive version of the Trump idesofmarch postcard project)?
This event seems like a turning point to me: the public is finally vigorously rallying to defend the public schools.
In reading all of the comments, I would just say: people, get out there & continue to bar those doors–especially parents & community members. This is in line with “never forget & “never again.” This is where it all starts–suppression of education, book banning, etc.
“She persisted.” (NOT Betsy, of course, Elizabeth.)
And WE resisted!
We have so much to lose now from a right-wing Congress, Trump and his appointees –who were hired in order to destroy the very departments and programs they are supposed to be leading, jeopardizing all that those departments protect for us. This includes public education, civil rights, the health of our planet, labor laws and livable wages, women’s rights to choose, Social Security, Medicare and Medicaid, public land and parks, regulations that rein in the finance world of banksters, etc. Even the Corporation for Public Broadcasting, PBS, NPR, and the National Endowment for the Arts, are on the line, at risk of losing government funding and being privatized.
In our personal lives, many of us are accustomed to choosing our battles. But there is just too much at stake now, all at once. and I really can’t think of anything on the last that should be sacrificed. So I believe that people had better get used to fighting to defend ALL aspects of the common good that right-wingers are aiming to take away from us, sell off or shut down. And plan on your skin being in the game for the long haul….