Up until now, you probably thought of Betsy DeVos as an entitled billionaire who cares about nothing but charters and choice. You may have even concluded that she was indifferent to civil rights, since she has refused to say whether she would cut off federal funding to schools that discriminate against students who are black, gay, or whose religion does not conform to that of the school that want to attend. You may have gotten a negative impression of her because she has been energetically protecting student debt collectors, not students, or because she supports Trump’s proposal to cut $10 billion from the Department of Education.
But the New York Times assures you that she is not the hard-right fundamentalist you thought. For one thing, her appointment of Candace Jackson as acting head of the Office of Civil Rights should not alarm you, even though she has vociferously opposed affirmative action. Jackson is gay and married, so her policy views are no longer relevant.
And then there is her appointment of Jason Botel as deputy assistant secretary of elementary and secondary education. He supported President Obama and served as Trump’s chief education advisor. But he earned his stripes running a KIPP school in Baltimore, where he fought the teachers union.
The New York Times calls upon two outside experts to confirm that Betsy DeVos is actually a complex person, perhaps even a secret liberal: Mike Petrilli of the Thomas B. Fordham Institure and Tom Toch of Future-Ed, both of whom support charters.
This is surely a story made up out of whole cloth; the fact that Candace Jackson is gay does not qualify her to enforce civil rights if she does not believe in enforcement of civil rights. By his experience in the privatization movement, Jason Botel seems perfectly suited to the Trump-DeVos agenda.
The title of the article: “Some Hires by Betsy DeVos Are a Stark Departure from her Reputation.” Someone please explain this title. I fail to see the stark departure that these two people represent, nor do these two hires change anything about her destructive agenda.
Diane Ravitch's blog 
The only bright side of DeVos is when they shine a light in one ear and the light comes out the other side. This is one POS of a person.
alphawolf.. . ha ha ha someone should make DeVos Head flashlights where you push a button at one ear and light shines from the other!!!!
As far as I can see it, the only “bright” side of DeVos will be the energy she gives back to the earth when she (like we all) succumb to our immortality one day! Calling her “bright” is about as “correct” as calling Hitler “angelic”!!!! She recently visited a charter school dedicated to science in DC and had this comment when asked about her views on global warming:
““Certainly, the climate changes, yes,” said DeVos, before skirting around a follow-up question on how to address the effects of global warming.
“I don’t have an answer,” she said. “I’m here to talk about students and schools today, and I would hope that we could focus on the opportunity that these kids have in this unique environment and this unique school with amazing teachers and administrators…”
What a hopeless Dunce in a very powerful and important position – in Trump’s own words, “How sad”!!
Well, obviously the Grey Lady is delusional, perhaps even senile, in this matter. DeVos has no bright side – she isn’t bright in any sense of the word. I agree with alphawolf1.
I read this article earlier. Sickening.
One of the most important lines in the article is this.
“the department (USDE) declined to make any of the appointees available for interviews “…..
Why is that, especially when these are high profile positions.
Did Devos restrict access or is this blockade of the press come from the White House.
Is the same policy in place at other agencies?
Is the NY Times not even interested in those questions about press access?
It’s not a coincidence, if you ask me.
If you legitimize Betsy DeVos, you legitimize the people who strongly endorsed her as a terrific choice for Secretary of Education. And the billionaires who love charters and “reform” are desperate to legitimize the corrupt and dishonest charter CEOs who have told us that Betsy DeVos is someone who will help all of the most vulnerable school children! See, those charter CEOs weren’t lying through their teeth. They weren’t demonstrating a lack of judgment that makes them look about as smart as Donald Trump. Nope! They were right! And honest! All those charter CEOs who kept telling us that Betsy DeVos was such a terrific choice were telling the truth! They deserve our thanks and our lifetime gratitude for helping get Betsy DeVos in office!
The fact that this article AND the puff piece in Politico are coming out at the same time just tells me that the very highly paid PR firms are working triple time to buy themselves some positive coverage for Eva Moskowitz, who is the public face of the entire charter school movement and should be admired by all charter folks as the perfect educator!
Those billionaires are terrified of Mayor de Blasio’s re-election. He is about the only Democrat left telling the truth about charters and willing to tell the truth about the most dishonest of them. He’s paying a high political price and the attacks on him are starting to mirror the attacks we saw when Hillary was the candidate. He isn’t just a lefty. Mayor de Blasio is corrupt, self-dealing, just wants to enrich himself — anything to attack his character because his policies are just as popular as the policies that were in Hillary’s platform were. That means his character must be destroyed. And the character of Eva Moskowitz must be rehabilitated. Eva Moskowitz worked very hard to endorse Betsy DeVos and she told the American people that Betsy DeVos cared as much about poor children as Eva herself did. But the billionaires want us to believe that Moskowitz is not the corrupt liar here, Mayor de Blasio is!
So now the billionaires who need to rehabilitate Eva Moskowitz and her lies about how great DeVos is must now try to normalize DeVos. Because as DeVos’ utter corruption starts to become more and more apparent, the utter corruption of the reformer who lied to the American people about how great DeVos is becomes more apparent to the public as well.
We had to know this was coming sooner or later. The so-called DFERs and their type have to build an excuse bridge to justify their inevitable support for the privatization that the conservative billionaires in the White House bring. Using stereotypes will do the job. It has in the past.
Would this qualify as fake news?
Hate to disappoint you, but no it does not . As Dean Baker points out daily while ripping into the Times and the Post, this would fall more under opinion whether it is written by an opinion writer or not. As opinion we can argue about the conclusions while agreeing on the facts. Fake news is a child sex ring in a pizzeria run by Democrats with no proof.
We can prove who the people in this story are . What their back rounds are. We can not extrapolate from there what there policy positions or motives will be. That is opinion it always has been and it is why we need a diverse media to help us decide which opinions are more valid. When they start creating policy we will have uncontrollable facts .
incontrovertible
backgrounds love the edit button
So running opinion as news is okay. As long as it’s a liberal rag doing it. Got it.
Typical.
Not what i said, you as the consumer of that news nave to have the ability to discern the difference . This is not something new . What is new is the consolidation of media sources . i
“And then there is her appointment of Jason Botel as deputy assistant secretary of elementary and secondary education. He supported President Obama and served as Trump’s chief education advisor. But he earned his stripes running a KIPP school in Baltimore, where he fought the teachers union”
The whole ed reform world is populated by former Obama people. There isn’t a one of them who work as advocates for public schools. They left that administration and went directly into The Club.
Look at any ed reform site and try to find a positive mention of a public school. You won’t find one. It’s all this litany of public school DISASTER and then carefully cherry picked charter stories.
It’s almost comical if you’re an outsider. They’ll bend over backward not to give a public school credit. ANY successes of public schools are due to 1. imitating charters, or 2. the “competition” provided by charters.
They actually use public schools to justify vouchers. If a public school has improved in a given area the assumption is that is DUE to vouchers. It is unimaginable in ed reform that a public school improved for reasons OTHER than ed reformers 🙂
It’s this weird upside down world, where public schools are only valued in the context of what they mean for “choice” schools.
The LA school board charter candidates have to promise they won’t OPPOSE the public schools they’re over-seeing. This doesn’t seem bizarre at all in ed reform. It’s just the norm. They consider allowing public schools to EXIST a gracious concession on their part.
If your “movement” has to reassure the majority of kids and parents that you don’t seek to actively destroy their schools your movement has gone off the rails.
I haven’t heard a word from Jason Botel in defense of kids in public schools.
I bet he’s an “agnostic”. In other words, another potted plant who rubberstamps the whole ed reform agenda while throwing in “support public schools” as an afterthought.
If this is what public school kids get stuck with as “advocates” they are in a world of hurt.
We should hire one. Find someone who loves public schools the way ed reformers love charters and vouchers. They deserve a real advocate. It isn’t a fair fight without at least one in DC.
Isn’t it weird timing for a re-branding of DeVos? She spent all of last week trashing public schools and promoting a giant voucher program. 3/4’s of her stump speech is tales of how horrible public schools are and how they’re a ticket to prison.
I can’t think of a single benefit this person has provided to a single public school student since she was appointed. She’s been super duper for charters and vouchers, though!
Please. This is in NO WAY “agnostic” and it hasn’t been for years.
It is weird timing. But isn’t weird timing for the re-branding of Eva Moskowitz who is uniquely identified with Betsy DeVos as her biggest champion.
There is a Mayoral election coming up and the pro-charter folks are desperate to smear Mayor de Blasio who represents the only thing standing between the wholesale takeover of the NYC public school system. Gov. Cuomo would be cheering them on.
The fact that the Mayor’s biggest critic — Eva Moskowitz — is now identified as Betsy DeVos’ biggest cheerleader is a huge problem for them. Moskowitz has spent the last 4 years attacking de Blasio and holding herself as the SAVIOR of poor children. And then she goes and tells the world that Betsy DeVos represents her views of all that is good and helpful to poor children.
Moskowitz’ criticism of de Blasio falls flat when you realize she adores DeVos. So now the powers need to make DeVos someone who isn’t as hateful as she is. I sure hope it doesn’t work.
DeVos and Moskowitz are now two peas in a pod. The reformers need to make DeVos seem acceptable.
Looking for the “bright side” of DeVos is the same as looking for the bright side in Cruella de Vil.
Cruella de Vil had a son, Carlos, who became good when King Ben (son of Beauty and the Beast) allowed the children of the Island to come to Aurodon and experience a different kind of life. Watch “Descendants” – it’s a pretty good flick, just a shame it never came out on the big screen. Kind of a cult hit among the tween set.
The likelihood of any spawn of Cruella DeVos turning good is somewhat lower, though.
We have something we can agree about . Moskowitz bad very bad. .and de Blasio quite a bit better. Follow the money
Joel, Mayor de Blasio is about to receive the exact same nasty attacks on his “character” that convinced so many of your friends in the midwest that Hillary Clinton is corrupt.
And suddenly instead of being like Obama, where other Democrats would talk about the policy differences they had with him but didn’t smear his character, Mayor de Blasio will be like Hillary who is only in politics to make himself rich and is more corrupt than any politician in history.
The Mayor will be attacked on the appearance of corruption just like Hillary Clinton was attacked on the appearance of corruption for doing things that don’t even begin to be questioned when a Republican does it because it’s normal practice.
She made a speech! Shocking! Lock her up! He helped raise money for Democrats through the state so that Gov. Cuomo wouldn’t be able to push through right wing policies! Lock him up!
De Blasio didn’t earn one penny, but lock him up! People donated to his campaign to elect more progressives statewide so lock him up! People donated to Hillary’s foundation so lock her up! Every article about them must contain the words: “the corrupt Hillary Clinton, the scandal-ridden Hillary Clinton, the scandal-ridden Bill de Blasio” — whatever it takes to imply they are corrupt and did something wrong is good. And when the billionaires find their pro-reform “Democrat” to challenge him, I won’t be surprised to hear the same character attacks repeated by other Democrats because “even those Democrats” know de Blasio is just as corrupt as they knew Hillary Clinton was. That’s how Hillary lost and that’s how de Blasio will lose at a time that crime is down, schools are improving, universal pre-k is helping tens of thousands of students. It doesn’t matter because Mayor de Blasio’s “character” is so corrupt and he has no one to blame but himself when he loses. It will be all his fault for being so corrupt and such a lousy candidate. Isn’t that how it works?
By November, I won’t even be surprised by you telling me how corrupt de Blasio is and how it’s all his fault he lost to the right wing candidate. You will definitely have heard it enough as the media picks up the meme that the de Blasio haters get out there.
Some day I hope you will take a good look through your old posts and see the difference in the way you characterized Obama’s neoconservatism and the way you characterized Hillary Clinton’s. You disagreed with both of them on policy, but the one who had the enormous character flaw and no redeeming qualities was Hillary.
That’s what you are about to see happen with Mayor de Blasio. And when it works to bring him down, it will likely be the end of NYC public education as the new pro-reform Mayor works to undermine public schools as parents get the “choice” of well-funded Success Academy charters for well-behaved and easy to teach children, or underfunded, decrepit, overcrowded public schools for the unwanted ones.
The only reason Eva Moskowitz has not been able to lead the attack against the Mayor in the last few months like she has been doing for the last 4 years is that her many very strong endorsements of Betsy DeVos gives Mayor de Blasio a very powerful weapon to point out her extreme hypocrisy and the untrustworthiness of anything she says about education. This critic of the Mayor’s education policy is the person who told NYers that Betsy DeVos was going to be good for all kids? Hmmm, she sounds like a liar to me because we all know who DeVos is. That’s why you see this huge PR effort to rehabilitate DeVos as a relatively mainstream politician instead of far to the right of the most right wing Republicans. The anti-de Blasio folks want to take that weapon away from de Blasio and let Eva Moskowitz start doing their dirty work attacking him again and they need to make Moskowitz’ very strong admiration for Betsy DeVos acceptable and not the sign that she lacks both a conscience or moral center.
Two articles within a few days designed to normalize Betsy DeVos and Eva Moskowitz? I doubt that is a coincidence. And once their corrupt reputations are rehabilitated, the attacks on Mayor de Blasio will begin again in earnest. I hope New York City voters are smarter than your friends in the midwest but I won’t be surprised if they are fooled by the same propaganda and vote against a Mayor whom they now consider as corrupt as you consider Hillary Clinton.
NYC public school parent
There is not a pigs a$$ chance in hell that de Blasio will lose to a Republican. Living in Suffolk (after 35 yrs and a whole career in NYC) I can not vote for him . But I like anybody who goes to Cuba on his honeymoon (lol)
Now that the campaign finance thing has been settled. A republican getting elected in NYC with Trump in the White House ain’t ever,ever,ever gonnnnnnnna happen. So you can lay off Xanax.
Was I really that tough on Hillary because the things I said about Obama to friends can not be printed here . No worry though if your a Trump supporter or even a Republican you would not be my friend, not since Reagan.
Joel,
de Blasio doesn’t have to lose to a Republican. He just has to lose the primary to one of those DFER Democrats that the billionaire reformers are encouraging with promises of all the support they want. Quite a few were ready to go but Preet Bharara, to his credit, didn’t play the Comey game and try to smear him. Believe me, the paid trolls post all the time about how corrupt de Blasio got away with corruption and their posts sound exactly like what they said about Hillary all last summer and fall. It is still very possible that the pro-privatization billionaires will convince another pro-charter Democratic hack about how financially rewarding it would be for them to challenge the Mayor anyway. Or maybe they haven’t found any takers yet and that’s why they are desperately trying to rehabilitate Eva Moskowitz’ image with this new PR push. Seriously – the education reform movement HATES Mayor de Blasio because he has the power to show how false their claims really are. He has the power to support public education and he does and he fights for it, too. Are there other Democrats that do? Tim Kaine? Not very many, that’s for sure. So the Mayor is at the top of the reformers’ “got to go” list.
“A republican getting elected in NYC with Trump in the White House ain’t ever,ever,ever gonnnnnnnna happen. So you can lay off Xanax.”
That’s what people said to me all fall as I was watching “even the Democrats” trashing Hillary’s character and trying my best to make them stop talking about Hillary in a way that they didn’t talk about Obama. Because I know what that kind of character assassination does to a candidate. I’ve watched it too many times — Dukakis, Gore, Kerry — and I knew that kind of trashing was dangerous. So while I hope you are right, I’m not going to stop worrying until the election is over.
NYC public school parent
National polls showing a 2% lead were very accurate . That is not a comfortable margin . Every swing state poll was in or close to the margin of error .
The polls were very accurate . What was wrong were the conclusions .Mainly that there was no way Trump could win all the toss up states .
Take two Xanax and go to the march for Truth at Foley Square . I can’t be there due to a wedding upstate, I would rather not attend .My wife does have Trumpsters as friends . Second thought I might need the Xanax .
Crime is down the economy of NYC is theoretically good,even if uneven .
DE BLASIO has a 60 % approval rating and it is already June . “They could find a nude picture of him on the phone with Anthony Wiener and people wouldn’t care “
Even if ed reformers succeed in getting rid of teachers unions they’re aware that there are private sector unions that will seek to organize charter schools, right?
Do Democrats than seek to eradicate ALL unions, or what? At what point do they stop calling themselves “Democrats” and just be Republicans? This affiliation has no meaning. They stand for absolutely nothing.
Actions speak louder than words.
Sent from my iPhone
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I really dislike Donald Trump and I voted for Hillary Clinton but I’ll admit I was glad to see rank and file labor union members abandon Democrats. Democrats take them for granted. I’m sure Clinton assumed they’d be out there pulling the D lever like good soldiers. So much for assumptions, huh?
Always look on the bright side of life
Wheehoo, who-who-who-who-who-who
SomeDAM Poet… thanks for including this Monty Python gem!!! In the worst of times, laughing is a great escape!
Any wonder why many people do not respect news reports?
If only it was an actual news report, as opposed to the propaganda piece that it actually is.
It belongs on their editorial pages.
The only bright side to Betsy Devos is when she looks at the sun and the reflection off of her pale, white face is blinding. Once you get inside her head, you will discover pitch black darkness and rancid brain cells.
You made me laugh, Lloyd, after a long week at work. Thanks.
I presume that the NYT does not realize it’s reasoning is racist and sexist. These are political appointments based on the conservative agenda. When the result of this agenda does not close the “gap” and most black and brown and low income whites are “forced” to attend public schools, if any still exist, will the Times fall over itself to back track.
In the world of “upside down”… DeVos’ hirees are a stark departure indeed from her ways in that it required a bit of crafty “thinking” for her to come up such a dumb yet transparent “strategy”. She is usually so dumb as to not even have the capacity to form strategy- how starkly rad! It took what little “gray matter” she had to come up with the appearance of being open-minded… by holding her “nose” and hiring a … drum roll… “ggggay” person… And the very idea of hiring someone who was a “pseudo” supporter of Obama when this would be considered highly disloyal to her status as Trump groupie.
Lately, some media outlets, like MSNBS and the NYTimes, appear to be pandering to Trump and conservatives, like this article and the way Lawrence O’Donnell’s contract was not going to be renewed until many people petitioned the network in support of him this week. Could these be some of the reasons why this is happening?
“Get Ready: Right-Wing Trump TV Is Coming to a Market Near You” (Actually, it’s not just TV) https://www.alternet.org/media/trump-tv-coming-market-near-you
and
“Trump White House Orders Federal Agencies to Blow off Requests for Info from All Democrats” https://www.alternet.org/news-amp-politics/trump-white-house-orders-federal-agencies-blow-requests-info-all-democrats
If there was ever a time when this country truly needed honest, straight forward reporting from the media, it would be now, since Trump is a vindictive authoritarian and he and his GOP enablers are hell bent on ignoring the majority of people in this country who did not vote for Trump.
There’s a lot more happening than just ignoring us though: “In an Unprecedented Court Escalation, Trump Protesters Could Be Facing Decades in Prison for Inauguration Demonstrations” https://www.alternet.org/activism/unprecedented-court-escalation-trump-protesters-could-be-facing-decades-prison-their
Today, Trump, the Republican party and their billionaire backers are horrifying examples of precisely how “absolute power corrupts.” At every turn, the media needs to call out these self-serving wheeler dealers whose priority is virtually always profits over people, even at the expense of passing along a dying planet to their progeny, before the voices of the press and the people are silenced by these tyrants-in-residence.
homelesseducator
I do not think it’s the calls. The network has captured the top spot from 7pm to Midnight .
I hope that says something about where the American public is at .
Time to make right wing fake media a target of massive demonstrations. But I would stay away from DC. .
OMG, now I know for sure she’s nuts. The D.C. drama is a comedy. Too bad it’s for real.
Come on folks, we’re talking about the world of opposites here. That rag is trying to make a point….that even when Betsy DeVoid appoints people “on the left” the left can’t accept it. Betsy appointed a gay? Oh my. She appointed a KIPP fella who worked with Obama (to dismantle public education, lets not forget that). Oh gee.
Well whattya know? Betsy is a LIBERAL. Who’d a thunk it?
Betsy DeVoid calls non-believers in her bait and switch charter/voucher scheme “flat earthers.” Ain’t that a hoot?
I wonder how long it’ll take Betsy to untangle her panties when religions besides her chosen religion start opening up schools with all that taxpayer cash.
This story just goes to show ya folks – pay no mind to that man behind the curtain. Nothing to see here…move along…cuz day is night and up is down in Ed Reform land.
They are masterful wordsmiths, but the kicker is…we’re onto them.
Therlo… I think DeVos will have to do more than “untangle” her panties… she will get “strangled” by them when (by her very own “laws”) a bunch of schools start opening which are dedicated to Islamic studies :)! Then perhaps some white supremist group will invent their own religion and start opening “white love” schools. Aah… DeVos better be careful of what she orchestrates in self interest.
The DeVos and Trump clans are like the Beverly Hillbillies and Green Acres combined, only without insight and without redeeming values.
“The Gates Foundation’s desire to introduce more markets reinforces structural inequities even if it closes in on inequities at the margin, which adds up to a profoundly undemocratic initiative…vulnerable citizens at the mercy of plutocratic generosity.”
Lyle Jeremy Rubin (University of Rochester) reviewing Nicole Aschoff’s book, “The Profits of Capital”.
correction- “Prophets of Capital”
Linda–Freudian slip!