Betsy DeVos and her school safety commission (three other Cabinet members) will consider all the possible causes of gun violence in schools, except guns.
Alia Wong writes at The Atlantic:
“What should be on the list of tasks for President Trump’s newly minted school-safety commission, charged with studying what can be done to prevent campus violence?
“Perhaps the commission, chaired by U.S. Education Secretary Betsy DeVos, should look at mental-health resources and student-discipline practices. And perhaps it should consider the design of campus facilities. One thing that would seemingly be an obvious candidate for the commission’s scrutiny is guns, as guns have been the weapon of choice in every major school-violence incident this year.
“And yet it became clear on Tuesday, as DeVos testified in front of a Senate subcommittee to answer questions about the Education Department’s fiscal year 2019 budget request, that will likely not be the case. Amid mostly peaceful exchanges about charter-school expansion, the recent wave of teachers’ strikes, and Pell grants, among other topics, a handful of Democratic Senators repeatedly asked DeVos how gun policy fits into the commission’s duties. She didn’t verbalize the G Word once, and at one point—in response to persistent questioning from Vermont Senator Patrick Leahy about the role of guns in school violence—DeVos dismissed that question as outside the commission’s charge. It’s up to Congress to debate gun control, she indicated; she and the commissioners are instead focusing their research on other potential sources of violence.”
Any ideas?
Diane Ravitch's blog 
Gun laws = less money for Erik Prince.
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Leave it to Devos and voila another screw up. Lets face it Devos is the biggest disaster to hit public education in the history of our country. Devos is really bad. I mean I do not want to trounce on this neophyte in education but she really is a quirky character.
The constant bull crap she is feeding congress refusing to answer any questions directly with a simple yes or no answer is appealing. Instead Devos consistently will answer the yes or no question with bull crap and its really getting annoying to the American people as well as many members of congress.
Finally, a story out today revealing public schools in Detroit are closed this week. Why are the Betsy Devos Detroit schools closed this week you ask? Well, the schools are too hot and the students had to be released due to high extensive heat in the school buildings primarily because the public schools in Detroit have very little air conditioning.
Devos, you have single handily ruined Detroit and its really sad. Sad in the fact that the US of America has people like Devos who are so out of touch, out of reality with the realism of our public schools today and yet this person some how is sec of education. My question is how does this woman do it? How does Devos stand there with a smirk and give bogus answers to everyone while the public schools burn to the ground! In the beginning it was humerus with Devos but now its really getting sickening.
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Please no French words. The DeVos commission has determined use of foreign words in every day discourse adds to the incivility causing school shootings. Please replace “voila” with one of the selections below:
a) …and—big surprise here—another screw up!
b) …and watch the chaos unfold!
c) …and enter the “Final Cost of the Commission (rounded to the nearest $500,000)” contest.
d) All of the above depending on context.
Winner gets a $5,000 voucher to be used at school of choice.
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You do understand that politico announced this today
DEVOS EMBARKS ON EUROPE TOUR DURING LISTENING SESSION FOR SCHOOL SAFETY COMMISSION: Education Secretary Betsy DeVos kicks off a 10-day trip to Europe today that will take her to Switzerland, the Netherlands and the U.K. The trip is billed as a “learning tour” during which she will examine apprenticeship programs, vocational schools and the U.K.’s decentralized, K-12 education system, according to the department’s.
IN other words, she will be absent from further “listening” in the US, at least for a while.
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…”the budget DeVos was promoting on Tuesday proposes cutting by $25 million funds designated for national school-safety activities compared with 2017 levels; it also would do away with a $400 million grant program that can be used for violence-prevention efforts.”
So, guns aren’t the problem and schools don’t need money for security. DeVos is making her usual amount of sense. It’s amazing how awful she is. It proves that having billions doesn’t make one smart. It does prove that giving money to the GOP does buy a position with power.
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What you don’t understand is that Betsy DeVos is VERY smart. She knows exactly what she is doing and how she wants it done. Never under estimate this woman (and her family) and what she is capable of doing. She might look like a ding-dong in those meetings, but that is a facade she has designed well for herself and uses to her best advantage. That smirk she wears says it all!
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Exactly right, Lisa. Betsy puts that face on to pretend she is a dingbat. She is not.
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I”ve read that DeVos is smart like a fox. She speaks and doesn’t say anything and doesn’t answer questions. She pushes for choice and the worthlessness of public education. She works to destroy policies that help protect students.
She talks without saying anything. She is not qualified in any respect for her job. She works to continually show that public schools are worthless and decries anyone who stands up for real education.
What is inside of her? It definitely is a form of intelligence I don’t understand. Destroy and smile a smirk.
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I believe the next March for Our Lives should take place at the U.S. Department of Education.
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What possible purpose would that serve? Publicly-financed and publicly-operated K-12 education is a state/municipal responsibility. The responsibility to provide for a safer (not safe) environment, is not a federal mandate.
The states/municipalities should be taking the lead to provide for safer schools, and not look to brainless Washington bureaucrats for solutions.
Another reason to abolish the federal Dept of Education.
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You are right about that, Charles. Don’t expect anything from the DeVos “school safety commission” except word salad.
The commission held a meeting, invited education leaders, and Cabinet secretaries were too busy to attend. They sent staff instead.
To quote the great Emma Gonzales, I call BS.
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A march at the U.S. Dept. of Ed. could serve many purposes, which include a) demanding policies — federal and state — that ensure safe schools nationwide; b) protesting the school safety commission’s willful failure to address the role of guns in school violence; c) protesting Betsy DeVos’s “leadership”; d) publicly celebrating our solidarity as public school educators; and e) irking President Trump.
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Great idea!
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The commission was set up so politicians could avoid accountability and lay the whole thing on public schools, which is what they always do.
It doesn’t matter the issue- guns, poverty, drugs, they make a few televised visits to the public schools they ignore otherwise, scold them, and then everyone calls it a day’s work and goes back to fundraising and lobbying.
Ed reformers have done more the promote these political charades than anyone.
Are you a politician who seeks to appear to be addressing a problem while actually doing nothing? That’s easy! Head to a public school (you’ll need a map) and dump it there!
We’ll fix gun violence like we’ve “fixed” everything else- by dropping it at the door of public schools. Then we’ll be treated to stern lectures when public schools can’t fix it.
Because they won’t be able to fix it. It’s a popular dodge, blaming them for everything under the sun, but it’s delusional.
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Here’s the headline DeVos and the rest of them wanted:
“Positive schools are safe schools”
They got that headline. I hope you get it too- it means “schools have to fix school shootings” and if they don’t (and they won’t) these same people will be in front of microphones blaming them.
I just hope public schools don’t fall for this again, and earnestly vow to fix another societal problem. It’s a crock. They set you up to fail. Don’t play.
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More like “Private schools are safe schools.”
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See the report on CNN:
https://edition.cnn.com/2018/06/05/politics/betsy-devos-school-safety-guns/
The commission will not focus primarily on gun laws. Having the commission draft proposals for new firearms legislation, which will surely be “dead on arrival” at Capitol Hill, is not going to do anything to enhance school safety.
The secretary is “spot-on”, with this realization.
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Nonsense, Charles, and you know it.
The commission should disband and save us all the angst of watching this garbage, this nothing burger.
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This commission is not going to accomplish anything. Almost everyone knows it. Everyone also knows, that having the commission come up with recommendations for new firearms legislation, which this Republican congress will NEVER pass, is an exercise in futility.
If the commission disbanded, it would be no loss to anyone.
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None of the commission members bothered to attend the today’s meeting of the commission. DeVos is traveling in Europe, learning about choice in other countries. A nice junket.
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It’s really comical how out of touch they are. Blissfully unaware that every public school student in this country regularly lines up for school shooter safety drills, and have FOR YEARS.
My son’s public school has been evacuated twice just this year. They did nothing, because as usual public schools were there to frantically try to fill the gaps left by the complete and utter lack of government action.
What do they do all day? Is scolding teachers and principals an actual job description? If it is we sure have that covered!
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I sometimes wonder what will happen to all our political leaders when they get their wish and public schools are gone.
They better watch what they wish for- without public schools they won’t have the punching bag they all rely on to abdicate all responsibility for everything.
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Put her in a rocket and send her into outer space!
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This insanity — investigating gun violence, but refusing to explore guns themselves as a cause, or access to guns as a cause — is reminiscent of Michelle Rhee’s incredibly farcical “investigation” into cheating at D.C. schools while she was in charge.
She hired a group Caveon, but in writing, specifically forbad them from asking any questions such as:
“Did you or anyone you know cheat by changing answers on answer sheets?”
“Did you hear of anyone — teacher or administrator — who cheated by changing answers, or who pressured others to do so?”
… and on and on …
Instead, the investigators asked inane question like, “Other than cheating by changing answers, could you come up with alternate theories on why there were such a statistically high number of wrong-to-right erasures?”
Teachers said stuff like, “Well, the students may have caught their mistakes while checking the test over, then corrected them?”
Big surprise! No evidence of cheating was found.
Rhee’s authorized investigation of cheating in her schools was like a homicide investigator being banned from asking witnesses:
“Did you shoot so-and-so to death?”
“Did (NAME) shoot so-and-so to death?”
“Do you know who shot so-and-so to death?”
“Do you have any information, or evidence, or leads as to who shot so-and-so to death?”
… and on and on…
But instead, the homicide investigators can only ask:
“What are the alternate theories about how those bullets ended up in so-and-so’s body?”
“Other than guns, are there any alternate explanations as to what caused those bullet holes in so-and-so’s body?”
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