Why is Betsy DeVos afraid? In her first year in office, some protestors in Washington, D.C., objected to her visit at a public school.
Since then, she has had a special detachment of U.S. Marshalls giving her round-the-clock protection.
Other cabinet secretaries have encountered protestors. None of them are guarded by U.S. Marshalls.
Of course, she is very special. She is a billionaire.
She doesn’t leave her office much. She has many days off.
She seldom visits schools, and in the few instances where she does, it is either a religious school or a charter school.
Her public schedule indicates that she doesn’t have much to do, perhaps a meeting once a day, perhaps not.
Others have commented on her many “unexcused absences.” A year ago, the media realized that she was absent from her job about 1/3 of the time and that she has poor work habits. Presumably she still has round-the-clock protection even when she skips work. A teacher who skipped work 1/3 of the time would be terminated.
Does she lack grit?
Does she have a guilty conscience about removing protection from transgender students, indebted college students, and sexual assault victims?
My guess is that she has led a sheltered life and wants to avoid public contact to the greatest extent possible.
Diane Ravitch's blog 
. . . because she can.” CBK
But Eva Moskowitz told the country “BetsyDeVos has the talent, commitment, and leadership capacity to revitalize our public schools and deliver the promise of opportunity.” Eva Moskowitz made it her personal mission to get Betsy DeVos confirmed.
And since all her hard work getting Betsy DeVos confirmed (which certainly resulted in many nice big donations and federal grants), Eva Moskowitz has not once criticized Betsy DeVos nor said she made a mistake by doing everything in her power to make sure that DeVos would be in control of education in this country. No doubt she and her very grateful staff at her charters still believe Moskwoitz did the right thing by working so hard for DeVos.
I think the students at Success Academy and their grateful parents should thank Eva Moskowitz every day for making sure Betsy DeVlos is Secretary of Education. After all, Eva Moskowitz says she did it for them and it had nothing to do with her own selfish desires. She endorsed DeVos for the kids and parents at her charters. If they aren’t grateful to her every day for that hard work on their behalf, they obviously don’t appreciate Eva Moskowitz the way her generously rewarded staff appreciates her hard work getting DeVos confirmed.
Midterm Report Card for:
DeVos, E.
No mastery of the material. Her grizzly answer was nonsensical. It showed a prolonged lack of study, preparation, and insight. Academic grade: Fail.
Chronic absenteeism, and disregard for public property and belongings. Does not complete assignments. Work habits mark: Unsatisfactory.
Refuses to answer questions in Congress. Does not respect Others. Cooperation mark: Unsatisfactory.
Betsy is absent
In more ways than one
Her brain has gone fishing
On trip round the sun
“Be back by the New Year
Of twenty nineteen
Have nothing to do here
But fish in the stream”
The Network for Public Education is an antidote to the richest 0.1%. American oligarchs like Bill Gates and Zuckerberg plot to rob the middle class and poor of their assets i.e. their schools.
From today until Dec. 15, all contributions to NPE will be matched, 100%.
NPE made the announcement in an e-mail today.
Does she have a guilty conscience about removing protection from transgender students? Clearly not.
n my neighborhood, when I was a little, there was another kid, a gentle, kind kid whom I’ll call Casey, who was born, biologically, a boy but who always wanted to dress as a girl and to cook and sew and play with dolls. We other kids totally accepted her because we were too young to have learned to be intolerant, even though (or perhaps because) ours was a white, working-class neighborhood in the Midwest. Well, when Casey grew older, she encountered the full force of “grownup” and official Midwestern gender prejudice and took her own life. How I wish she had been born into a world with lasting compassion and tenderness toward transgen kids! I remember her, today, cooking, in her white summer dress, at the Easy Bake play oven that her ahead-of-her-time mother bought for her, and the memory breaks my heart. Casey was sweet and delicate and pretty, like a flower.
Intolerance is cruel and heartless. but then Betsy is also known as Cruella DeVos. She should do us all a favor and stay home every day.
Oooo. I like that idea!
And “Cruella DeVos,” well, that’s perfect
A former student in ninth grade was quiet and giffed beyond measure in visual art, including sculpture. He was African American and subjected to bullying in other classes–not mine– for being gay. Why not in my class? Peer to peer understanding that he was off the charts with talent. Others praised him or just left him do his art without any bullying.
The year before this student was scheduled to finish high school, he committed suicide. He jumped off a bridge into the river, at least 75 feet below. I think he had been enlisted into a male prostitution ring. That was in the 1970s.
There was no support system for him school, at home, or in the community. The school principal and vice principal were preoccupied with discipline problems other than bullying–mainly drugs and violence brought into school.
I am haunted by this experience, primarily because I did not have knowledge of his life beyond school or the capacity to be of help. I pray that the progress being made in supporting the LGBTQU community is not reversed.
It’s important to collect these “Never forget” stories, Laura. I join you in that prayer! My brother, who has been married to his fellow for 20 years now, was once beaten terribly, with chains, by a homophobic gang in Bloomington, Indiana, which was the first town in the Midwest to have an ordinance prohibiting discrimination due to sexual orientation. They broke several of his ribs. One of the guys who beat him later came out, and my brother, a forgiving fellow, and he became good friends.
“One of the guys who beat him later came out…”
Many of Freud’s theories have been refuted over the years, but his concept of “latent homosexual panic” still serves as a useful gauge and descriptor of homophobic violence. The fact that these disgraceful and frightening episodes of violence frequently have an orgiastic quality further suggests the accuracy of the term.
Because of her wealth, she is a kidnap risk. I think that protection costs should be borne, by the protectee, when possible. It is possible!
Her brother has a private army. Why doesn’t he protect her?
I’m not sure we would want her brother’s private army “protecting ” her. I seem to remember comments that indicated his recruits were rather sketchy.
Perfect fit
Yes, sketchy like a sketch of Charles Manson.
Charles Manson as portraitist of Betsy DeVos and her brother, Erik Prince- repulsive because he could capture them best.
Elijah Cummings is going to a have a field day when this hearing in Government Oversight rolls around. I can already hear her stuttering, “B-b-b-b-b-ut I don’t take a salary!”
Betsy is similar to Trump when it comes to her unexcused absences. He plays golf a lot and that has cost taxpayers millions too. Instead of golfing, Betsy must be out on one of her many yachts. These rich people that inherited their wealth don’t know what it means to work because they have never had to work.
Anything they make an effort to do that is even close to what workign is, is more like a part time passion or obsession.
Years ago, when I was running a publishing development house, I had a young man working for me who had been born into one of America’s wealthiest families. His parents had spent many years sailing from one port to another, all around the world. I said to him once, “You work like a dog for me, but you don’t have to. Why?” He said, “A person has to do something that matters in life. I want to redeem my family name.” Wow.
I think he was the exception (the good exception) to the fact that if you are born rich and never have to worry about working or money, you are probably corrupt in some way or ways.
Has anyone listed all the ways Donald Trump is corrupt?
That would be quite an undertaking. Beyond my pay grade. LOL.
To Donnie Trumpty Dumpty, with Apologies to EBB
How do I loathe thee? Let me count the ways.
I loathe thee to the depth and breadth and height
My soul can reach. I cannot stand the sight
Of thee. Disdain thou makest me embrace.
I loathe thee to the level of every day’s
Most fervent rage, by sun and monitor light.
I loathe thy morals, thy contempt for every right.
I loathe thy vanity, seeking constant praise.
I loathe thee with the passion one might choose
To heap on vandals, and with my childhood’s faith
That our decency, under thy boot, we shall not lose.
So may we curse thee with every waking breath
Thy objectification of all, thy conman’s ruse,
Thy instincts not of a man but of a wasp on Meth.
I loath this beast too. That’s why I have taken up twenty minutes of mediation every morning so I can clean out all the loathing in my head and start my day relaxed.
Betsy has a right to be afraid of all those special needs students with crutches and electric wheel chairs.
Who can blame her?
$20M is a drop in the bucket for a Billionaire. Why are tax payers footing the bill for US Marshals to protect her? DeVos is no different from other Cabinet members who think they are entitled and have spent lavishly, such as for a $30K table, a secure office “phone booth,” 1st class air fare, etc. She should be paying for private security herself if she wants personal protection –from the American citizens she’s supposed to be working for!
Thank goodness the recent Michigan elections demonstrate the voters there are onto her and her corrupt GOP cronies!
Maybe her brother could have a few of his Blackwater goons protect her?
The best thing that can happen to public education is that she phones in sick every day.
Still, I plan to call my Senator (who won’t care) to see if he’s willing to speak up (doubtful).
But imagine if he got a 1,000 calls?
And so did the other 99.
Hypocrites all
Why take a job you aren’t qualified to do? Why take a job you’re not willing to learn to do? Why take a job when you’re scared of the people you work for? And why STAY in that job with all of the above? I just don’t get it.
It only makes sense if you consider the primary goal, which is not effective government
The goal of appointing people like DeVos to head up agencies is to destroy the faith of the public in those agencies so that they can then be defunded.
It’s all part of the Grover Norquist plan to shrink government down to the size where it can be drowned in a bathtub.
Betsy shares the goal of those who are out to defund DOE and sees her position as an opportunity to not only undermine public schools but at the same time directly fund religious schools with public dollars.
in a certain sense, she is uniquely qualified for her job (which is not really Secretary of Education but Secretary of Eradication)
SDP,
you are right. DeVos was appointed not to lead ED, but to eliminate it. Friends from many years back, when I worked there, tell me that many jobs have gone infilled, that many offices are empty. She is quietly reversing the functions of ED (e.g., protecting the rights of students, protecting students who have been defrauded) and turning ED into an empty shell.
Tillerson did the same at State. Many key jobs remain infilled, including regional assistant secretaries and ambassadorships. EPA the same. Interior the same.
Trump is also appointing Myers to lead NOAA. It is clear his intention is to undermine any agency that is targeted for privatization.
his goal and the goal of his puppet master Big Money schemers
“Secretary of Eradication”
Sec of Education
Only in the name
Cuz eradication
Really is the game
and this is WHY she needs protection from the public…
Threatened Out West . . . because God called her to transform public education in America into a private corporation overseeing religious schools. But, Poor Betsy . . . God forgot to tell her that it wouldn’t be so easy. CBK
Prolly called her on the Bets Phone in the Bets Cave
“The Bets Phone”
Betsy and Robbin
The hood and the schools
Betsy’s hob nobbin
With billionaire tools
Betsy is talking
With God on the phone
Also Steve Hawking
When e’r she’s alone
Betsy has answers
To universe riddles
Angel pin dancers
And kitties with fiddles
Cows jumping over
The moon on her watch
Charter school clover
And vouchers and such
20 million taxpayer dollars for security? Must be grizzly season…. There’s no way Whittaker can fit into Trump’s clown car when it’s this full.
“Grizzly Scat”
Things are grizzly
This is true
Betsy’s busily
Flinging poo
Betsy isn’t flinging poo. She is the poo. The only poo pile bigger than her is Trump.
When I think of what I could do in my classroom with just a tiny fraction of this sum….
What’s her code name, National Treasure?
If taxpayer money is saved from eliminating security for members of the extended DeVos family, is there a down side?