The racist cartoon of Betsy DeVos + Is anything the way it appears? | Fred Klonsky

The racist cartoon of Betsy DeVos. | Fred Klonsky:

The racist cartoon of Betsy DeVos.

The southern Illinois Belleville News Democrat editorial cartoonist Glenn McCoy drew a cartoon comparing Secretary of Education Betsy DeVos to Ruby Bridges.


 The original iconic painting of Ruby Bridges by Norman Rockwell.

 .

Ruby Nell Bridges was the first Black child to desegregate the all-white William Frantz Elementary School during the New Orleans school desegregation battles in 1960.

Judge J. Skelly Wright’s court order for the first day of integrated schools in New Orleans on November 14, 1960, was commemorated by Norman Rockwell in the painting, The Problem We All Live With (published in Look magazine on January 14, 1964). As Bridges describes it, “Driving up I could see the crowd, but living in New Orleans, I actually thought it was Mardi Gras. There was a large crowd of people outside of the school. They were throwing things and shouting, and that sort of goes on in New Orleans at Mardi Gras.” Former United States Deputy Marshal Charles Burks later recalled, “She showed a lot of courage. She never cried. She didn’t whimper. She just marched along like a little soldier, and we’re all very very proud of her.”

Betsy DeVos? Please.

A shameful racist cartoon in the News Democrat. The racist cartoon of Betsy DeVos. | Fred Klonsky:

Is anything the way it appears?

The protest of 100,000 you may not have heard about. People from 32 states turned out to protest four years of drastic state Republican initiatives in Raleigh, North Carolina, on Saturday.

Probably like you, I have been following the events surrounding the firing of Michael Flynn and Russia-Gate.

It involves so many lies, along with those that the press calls the intelligence community, Russian intelligence and multiple levels of power and interest that I keep telling myself that nothing can possibly be what it appears to be.

Less than a month ago so many of my friends were making plans to become expats that I feared Anne and I would live out our lives alone in Chicago but with plenty of invites to stay in spare bedrooms in Canada.

Now it appears that no president has had a worse opening month than Trump since William Henry Harrison died in office on the 31st day of his presidency.

I got a text from my cousin Jeff and his husband Robert yesterday. They are traveling across the country by train with a couple hours stopover in Chicago. “We are on Dearborn and looking for you in an anti-Trump protest.”

“There are two or three of those a day,” I wrote back. “At my age I have to pace myself.”

The New York Times published a Is anything the way it appears?

Special Education Teacher: What DeVos Means For Disabled Students

Special Education Teacher: What DeVos Means For Disabled Students:

‘THEY DESERVE SO MUCH’: SPECIAL EDUCATION TEACHER ON WHAT DEVOS MEANS FOR STUDENTS

The confirmation of charter school advocate and businesswoman Elisabeth DeVos as US Secretary of Education was arguably a massive blow against public education—with absolutely no background in education, 59-year-old DeVos, whose brother is the notorious mercenary Erik Prince, founder of US security firm Blackwater, will likely wreak havoc on a public education system in desperate need of hardened support.

Shadowproof spoke to Taylor Faustino, a 25-year-old education specialist for students with mild to moderate disabilities, about his struggles, how perceptive his students are of the stifling political climate, as well as what DeVos means for educators.

Faustino actively manages cases and accommodates learning for students with what the system describes as “mild” to “moderate” learning disabilities, and speech and language disabilities, as well as with those who do not have individualized education programs.

His first teaching job was in Watts, California, at Markham Middle School for summer school with the Los Angeles Unified School District, after which he was hired at an elementary school where he worked for two years.

“I work in the inner-city in one of the poorest schools in our district,” Faustino shared. “Like the elementary school I worked at, near 100 percent of my students qualify for free breakfast and lunch. The school and surrounding community is about 75-80 percent latinx, 15 percent black, with about equal parts black American and African immigrants/refugees—[especially] from the Congo and Somalia—and 5-10 percent Asian. There are also some students that are refugees from Afghanistan.”

While Faustino is only in his third year of teaching, he said he feels like he has “jumped into a bubble just waiting to burst”.

“There is constant talk amongst teachers about the conditions we work in, about increasing privatization, about [former President Barack] Obama’s “Race to the Top” being bad, even though Obama himself is very popular amongst teachers to be honest, about charters taking our students and funds, and about a growing frustration that we are not being supported.”

Faustino described having to struggle with situations much similar to teachers across the U.S., including being Special Education Teacher: What DeVos Means For Disabled Students:

 

UPDATE: Please Respond to My Poll | Diane Ravitch's blog

Please Respond to My Poll | Diane Ravitch's blog:

Please Respond to My Poll

I have mixed feelings about whether I should continue devoting so many posts to the multiple transgressions of Trump.

On one hand, this is a blog devoted to education.

On the other, I believe we are in the midst of a historic and unprecedented national crisis. We have elected a man who is angry, bitter, ignorant, vengeful, unstable, and tied to the white-supremacist alt-right and the Kremlin.

He has already turned our country into an international laughing stock.

He has appointed a cabinet composed mostly of incompetent, unqualified, or mean-spirited people at odds with the agency they are supposed to lead.

He refuses to divest himself of his conflicts of interest, and several of his appointees–including Betsy DeVos–have followed his example. He has demonstrated contempt for the norms of ethics and transparency in government.

What is the reason for his admiration for Putin? Putin is the richest man in the world. Does Trump owe him billions?

******

I love my country. I vote in every election. I am patriotic. I hate what Trump is doing to our country.

*********

My question to you:

Should I stick to education or continue to speak out on the issues of national significance, as well as education?

I find it hard to separate the two. Should I?Please Respond to My Poll | Diane Ravitch's blog:

UPDATE:

My Response to the Poll of Readers

This morning I asked you to comment on whether I should post less about Trump and more about education.

Hundreds of readers responded.

Most said that politics and education are inseparable. One reminded me of Dewey’s classic book “School and Society,” which reinforced the point that the two are inseparable. We educate children to prepare them to contribute to a better society. We teach them civility so they will be civil to others. We teach them good citizenship so they will be good citizens. We teach them to respect themselves and others so they will act that way as adults. We teach them to think and inform themselves so they will be thinking citizens. Over time, if we educate our children well, it will make our society better. We educate them because we are investing in the future of our society.

A few readers said I should write about education and leave Trump alone. This is actually impossible, because Trump wants to destabilize My Response to the Poll of Readers

Black History Month Series: #4 History and Future of Black History MonthSF Public School Mom

Black History Month Series: #4 History and Future of Black History MonthSF Public School Mom:

BHM Series #2: History and Future of Black History Month

In honor of Black History Month, I’m reposting this previous series. A few years ago, (2015 to be exact!) I challenged myself to write 28 posts highlighting African-American History. This year I finally reached my goal!!! Check out my original post below which appeared on February 5, 2015. To see more posts in this series, click here.

---

Learn about the History of Black History Month

How did Black History Month come about? Who was responsible for making it a national celebration? Why do we celebrate Black History in February?

Black History Month provides a great opportunity to recognize the significant contributions made by people with African heritage. This month we celebrate scientists, artists, musicians political figures, educators and athletes, etc. Another aim of celebrating Black History Month is to bring to raise awareness about the harmful effects of racial inequality in our country.

(Answers to these and more questions are available here.)

How Should We Celebrate Black History Month Today?

Is a Black History Month still relevant today? Should it be all year?

This past Monday night, Nets point guard Jarrett Jack wore his own special version of a Black History Month T-shirt, with “month” crossed out and “YEARS” written below it.

Here’s what he had to say about the holiday:

“I thought it was a dope shirt,” Jack said. “I thought the shirt made a dope statement, and that’s just what I believe. I just think things shouldn’t just be highlighted in any sort of time frame. I think we should celebrate everything as much as we can.”

Read more here.

Or, Should We Abolish Black History Month?

Not everyone is a fan of Black History Month. In his new documentary, filmmaker Shukree Hassan Tilghman, talks to folks across the country to find out whether the month-long celebration has created an artificial separation between Black History and American history, and whether its original purpose is still relevant today.

From the PBS website: 

Black History Month originated in 1925 when the second week of February was made Negro History Week since it contained the birthdays of abolitionist Frederick Douglass and President Abraham Lincoln. Hari Sreenivasan reports on how some African-Americans now oppose the idea of dedicating a special month to black history.

What do you think? What do you think? Is Black History Black History Month Series: #4 History and Future of Black History MonthSF Public School Mom:

BHM Series #3: Ananse and the Beginning of All Stories

by alimcollins / 15min

OK... so in case you didn't know... black people invented stories. Seriously! It's true! You can read about it by learning about one of my favorite folktale heroes... Ananse the Spider The post BHM Series #3: Ananse and the Beginning of All 

Trump, DeVos and Spicer addressed school choice — without publicly using the word 'voucher' - LA Times

Trump, DeVos and Spicer addressed school choice — without publicly using the word 'voucher' - LA Times:

Trump, DeVos and Spicer addressed school choice — without publicly using the word 'voucher'

 On the campaign trail, Donald Trump said little about education, but he did propose an expensive plan for expanding school vouchers, which allow public money to go toward tuition at private, often religious, schools.

Then he picked Betsy DeVos, a long-time voucher advocate , as his secretary of Education.

Since DeVos' confirmation, there has been a flurry of legislative activityaround charter schools and vouchers in some states.

But on Tuesday, in what was billed as a "parent-teacher conference listening session," Trump and DeVos met with educators and parents, and vouchers weren't mentioned once — at least not according to White House Press Secretary Sean Spicer's briefing, the White House pool report and atranscript provided by the White House.

"I want every single disadvantaged child in America, no matter what their background or where they live, to have a choice about where they go to school," Trump said. "And it's worked out so well in some communities."

He praised charter schools, which are publicly funded but can be privately Trump, DeVos and Spicer addressed school choice — without publicly using the word 'voucher' - LA Times:

Here’s who Trump invited to the White House to talk about schools. The list says a lot about his education priorities. - The Washington Post

Here’s who Trump invited to the White House to talk about schools. The list says a lot about his education priorities. - The Washington Post:

Here’s who Trump invited to the White House to talk about schools. The list says a lot about his education priorities.

President Trump and Education Secretary Betsy DeVos met with a carefully selected group of 10 teachers and parents at the White House on Tuesday, a list of participants that reveals a good deal about the administration’s education priorities.

DeVos is the controversial new education secretary who was confirmed by the Senate only when Mike Pence became the first vice president in history to break a tie for a Cabinet member.  Also present at the White House education meeting were Pence, presidential counselor Kellyanne Conway and senior adviser Stephen Miller.

Before the meeting, Trump praised DeVos and said she had been through a “very unfair trial” before her confirmation. As it began, he said:

“We want every child in America to have the opportunity to climb the ladders of success. We want every child, also, to have a safe community and we’re going to do that. … It all begins with education, and that’s why we’re here this morning. … Right now, too many of our children don’t have the opportunity to get that education that we all talk about. Millions of poor disadvantaged students are trapped in failing schools. … That’s why I want every single disadvantaged child in America, no matter what their background or where they live, to have a choice about where they go to school. It’s worked out so well in some communities where it’s been properly run. … ”

[Trump praises Education Secretary Betsy DeVos, saying she endured a ‘very unfair trial’]

The 10 invited teachers and parents were, according to the White House:

* Carol Bonilla, a Spanish teacher at a private school
* Bartholomew Cirenza, a parent of seven students in a public school
* Kenneth Michael Smith, a parent and president of a dropout-prevention program
* Aimee Viana, a parent of two students at a private school and a former principal
* Kathyrn Mary Doherty, a parent of a student at a private Catholic school
* Laura Lynn Parrish, a parent of a home-schooled student
* Julie R. Baumann, a fifth-grade teacher at a public school
* Jane Quenneville, a principal of a public school specializing in special education
* Jennifer Jane Coleman, a parent and a teacher of four home-school students
* Mary Caroline Riner, a parent of a student at a charter school

Keep in mind that more than 80 percent of America’s schoolchildren attend traditional public schools. According to the National Center for Education Statistics:

* About 10 percent of schoolchildren in the United States go to private schools, according to 2013-14 data, the latest available, with 38 percent of these enrolled in Catholic schools.
* About 5 percent attend charter schools, according to 2013-14 data, the latest available. Charter schools are publicly funded but operate outside traditional public districts, and many Here’s who Trump invited to the White House to talk about schools. The list says a lot about his education priorities. - The Washington Post:

CURMUDGUCATION: FL: Merit Pay (Still) Doesn't Work

CURMUDGUCATION: FL: Merit Pay (Still) Doesn't Work:

FL: Merit Pay (Still) Doesn't Work

Yes, and in other news, the sun is expected to rise in the East tomorrow.

So, Florida has a merit pay system. In fact, Florida has tried to implement merit pay for quite a while. Of course, there are issues:

The design and implementation of merit pay faces several key challenges. First, student outcomes are difficult to define and measure. Second, the contributions of individual teachers to student outcomes are difficult to disentangle from student background and prior achievement. The analysis shows serious deficiencies in several measures of teacher performance. Policy makers should be wary of adapting any measure without careful analysis of its properties and a plan to monitor how it is performing. 

That's from a RAND Corporation study of Florida merit pay published in 2007.

Florida: Why drain the swamp when you can sell swampland?

So maybe that system wasn't so great. Florida's leaders maintained their childlike faith in competitive test-based merit pay, and by 2011, they were ready with a great new law to enshrine it. Flanked by students brought in to serve as props, Governor Rick Scott signed the bill into law. It tied teacher pay directly to test results. In fact, it tied teacher job security directly to test results for all new teachers. Because the bill was suppose to help with recruiting. Because lots of new teachers say, "You know, I'd go work in Florida, but I hate the idea of having job security. I want a job where I know I can be fired every single year." Not only does the system rest on the widely-debunked VAM scores, but the majority of teachers get to be judged based on subject areas they don't even teach ("Don't like your pay check, CURMUDGUCATION: FL: Merit Pay (Still) Doesn't Work:

Three Cheers for Gavin Grimm and His Mother - Education Law Prof Blog

Education Law Prof Blog:

Three Cheers for Gavin Grimm and His Mother

A new story at the Daily Beast tells Gavin Grimm's story in a way that no other I have seen thus far does.  It is not really about the legal issues, but about the personal journey of Gavin and his mother to stand up.  It is about her evolution and Gavin finding his own mature and civil voice while controversy swirls around them:

“He’s supposed to be thinking about senior skip day,” she told The Daily Beast. “That’s not what he’s thinking about. He’s thinking, ‘I’m going to the Supreme Court so they can discuss my genitals and bathroom use some more.’"

It is a surreal position for a mother to be in, which makes Deirdre’s grace under fire even more otherworldly. The hostility directed at her son used to get under her skin. (“I would hear these nasty comments and it would make me mad and I would want to lash back out at these people,” Deirdre said.)

But now, she’s trying to follow Gavin’s advice: Ignore the blatant opponents of transgender equality and “set a positive example and educate in a positive way” for everyone else instead.

. . .

Taking the high road is a strategy that Deirdre says she learned from Gavin who, at that fateful December 2014 school board meeting, countered his adult critics with a heartfelt plea that could go down in the history books: “I’m just a human. I’m just a boy. Please consider my rights when you make your decision.”

Education law cases pose a different set of ethical and personal issues than most other cases.  A few years ago, a mother told me the story of her daughter's long term suspension from public school and assignment to alternative school.  I told her that the facts, as she relayed them to me, were the ones that I had been imaging for some time.   They did not involve dramatic events, but simply ostracizing a high-achieving student for everyday misbehavior--misbehavior that students cannot really resist because it is part of growing up and being social.  These facts drove to the forefront the irrationality of zero tolerance.  I saw them as a vehicle through which I believed a lower court, and potentially the Supreme Court, could put teeth to a substantive due process review of school discipline.  

I told the mother all of that.  I also told her that filing this lawsuit might not be something she wanted to do.  Her Education Law Prof Blog:

How Can Schools Be Voucherized? Let Us Count the Ways… and the Consequences | janresseger

How Can Schools Be Voucherized? Let Us Count the Ways… and the Consequences | janresseger:

How Can Schools Be Voucherized? Let Us Count the Ways… and the Consequences

School privatization via vouchers has been endorsed by President Donald Trump. Private school vouchers are also a favorite cause of Vice President Mike Pence and the new Secretary of Education, Betsy DeVos.  Most of us are not particularly familiar with vouchers in general because they have until now been a project of state governments. We are likely to know about what’s happening in our own state, but perhaps be unaware about trends across the states. Did you know, for example, that school vouchers are called by a number of names?

5 Names Politicians Use to Sell Private-School Voucher Schemes to Parents is a short resource that clarifies how all these programs work: “(V)ouchers divert taxpayer dollars away from public schools—starving them of the critical funding needed for students to thrive—only to use these funds to subsidize private and/or religious schools.  However, voucher proponents, like (Betsy) DeVos and politicians found in your state almost never call them vouchers. Instead, they attempt to mislead parents, taxpayers, and voters by re-branding these plots to drain and defund public education with some pleasant-sounding, flowery name plucked from the school-choice lexicon—Opportunity Scholarships—Parental Choice Scholarships—Tuition Tax Credits—Charitable Tax Credits—Education Savings Accounts.

NEA explains that Opportunity and Parental Choice Scholarships give parents public money to use for tuition (and sometimes transportation, fees, and equipment) at private and parochial schools.  Because these vouchers are insufficient to pay for tuition at a great many traditional private schools which charge as much as private colleges, vouchers are frequently used by parents of students at religious schools.

According to the National Conference of State Legislatures, the only federally funded voucher scholarship program is the one in the District of Columbia. Congress has never been able to How Can Schools Be Voucherized? Let Us Count the Ways… and the Consequences | janresseger:

What's Up With the Staffing of Betsy DeVos' Education Department - Politics K-12 - Education Week

What's Up With the Staffing of Betsy DeVos' Education Department - Politics K-12 - Education Week:

What's Up With the Staffing of Betsy DeVos' Education Department

When brand-new U.S. Secretary of Education Betsy DeVos was selected to lead the Education Department, her fans and detractors agreed on one thing: It would be really important to see who she put in other key roles, including the deputy secretary and assistant secretaries that oversee policy, innovation, civil rights, K-12 education, and more.

That's partly because DeVos, a billionaire GOP donor and school choice advocate, comes from a nontraditional background. Unlike nearly every past education secretary, she's never worked professionally in federal or state government, for a school district, or at a university.

And while her supporters say she has deep knowledge when it comes to vouchers, charter schools, and other forms of choice, she appeared confused during her confirmation hearing about other areas of education policy, including special education. That could make staffing all the more important.

So far, key roles haven't been filled. To be sure, it's still early going—the secretary herself has been on the job for just over a week. And a deputy could be named sometime soon. (Allan Hubbard, who What's Up With the Staffing of Betsy DeVos' Education Department - Politics K-12 - Education Week:

Teaching in the Trump Years (Part 3) | Larry Cuban on School Reform and Classroom Practice

Teaching in the Trump Years (Part 3) | Larry Cuban on School Reform and Classroom Practice:

Teaching in the Trump Years (Part 3)

Brett Meteyer, a fourth grade teacher at Explorer Elementary School in Williamston (MI), wrote the following letter to parents of the 10 year-olds in his class just before Donald Trump was inaugurated as President of the United States.

Dear Parents,

Because I am concerned about my students and your children being exposed to language and behavior that is not in concert with the most conservative social and family values, I have decided to show the inauguration of Donald Trump this Friday, but we will not view Mr. Trump’s inauguration speech.

Because every peaceful transition of power is a historic moment, I put in a request to the Trump team to preview the speech, but I have not heard back from them.

I showed the speeches of Presidents Obama and Bush in 2009 and 2005, respectively, but I am anxious about showing Mr. Trump’s inaugural address, given his past inflammatory and degrading comments about minorities, women, and the disabled. I am also uneasy about Mr. Trump’s casual use of profanity, so I sought an assurance that as their teacher, I would not be exposing children to language that would not appear in G- or PG-rated movies.

I do not know if Mr. Trump’s speech is something that would be provided to the press or

concerned citizens beforehand, but these plans may change if I hear back from them.

Hopefully,

Brett Meteyer

The district of four schools is located just east of Lansing, the state capitol and home to Michigan State University. There are just over 1800 students in the Teaching in the Trump Years (Part 3) | Larry Cuban on School Reform and Classroom Practice:

Advocates: End the “bitter irony” of robbing poor students to pay for charters |

Advocates: End the “bitter irony” of robbing poor students to pay for charters |:

Advocates: End the “bitter irony” of robbing poor students to pay for charters

Lawyers for Newark’s public school children have asked New Jersey’s  appellate courts to block the Christie Administration’s effort to nearly double charter school enrollment in the state’s  largest school district, warning the increased privatization of the city’s schools would deepen the system’s fiscal crisis, increase racial isolation, and deprive the neediest public school students of essential services.

The Education Law Center (ELC) is seeking to reverse a decision by former state Education Commissioner David Hespe to allow seven charter schools to increase  enrollments by 8,499 students over the next five years–putting about half of all students in the privately-operated but publicly funded  charters. Public money is taken from the regular schools to pay for students in the privately-operated charters.

And the half of the 36,000 Newark students remaining in traditional public schools would face a bleak future of increased need and reduced funding.

“The dramatic expansion of charter school enrollment authorized by the Commissioner will continue the substantial decline in funding available in  the NPS”–Newark Public Schools–“budget to educate students attending NPS schools,” the ELC brief in opposition to charter expansion charged.

“The loss of funding will exacerbate an ongoing NPS budget crisis, further diminishing the availability of classroom teachers, support staff and other resources essential to delivering a constitutionally-mandated thorough and efficient education.”

Booker and Christie wanted to make Newark “the charter capital.”

The brief also warned that expanding the charter schools would “also increase a pattern of segregating high concentrations of high-risk students in NPS schools, namely, students with disabilities and English language learners (‘ELL’). Those students require additional funding and resources for a thorough and efficient education, putting added strain on the NPS budget. Further, the expansion will perpetuate the intense racial isolation of Newark students in an already de facto segregated district.”

The brief also accuses Hespe, who has resigned and been replaced by interim 

Betsy DeVos’ Press Release About Her DC School Visit | deutsch29

Betsy DeVos’ Press Release About Her DC School Visit | deutsch29:

Betsy DeVos’ Press Release About Her DC School Visit

On Friday, February 10, 2017, US Ed Sec Betsy DeVos was in the news because protesters blocked one of the entrances to DC’s Jefferson Middle School, which DeVos had chosen to visit that day.

The situation quickly made the national news. (See here and here and here, for instance.)

What did not so obviously make the news was DeVos’ press release regarding the incident. Below is the full text of that release.

Pay attention to DeVos’ final sentence.

Statement from U.S. Education Secretary Betsy DeVos on Visiting Jefferson Middle School Academy in Washington, D.C.

FEBRUARY 10, 2017
Contact:   Press Office, (202) 401-1576, press@ed.gov

U.S. Education Secretary Betsy DeVos traveled to Jefferson Middle School Academy today and met with D.C. Public Schools Chancellor Antwan Wilson, Jefferson Academy Principal Greg Dohmann, Superintendent Natalie Gordon, Chief of Schools John Davis, and other school leaders and administrators, including Jefferson Academy teachers and students.

The following is a statement from Secretary DeVos:

“I thank D.C. Public Schools Chancellor Antwan Wilson, Jefferson Middle School Academy Principal Greg Dohmann, Superintendent Natalie Gordon and a tremendous team of administrators, teachers and students for welcoming me to Jefferson Middle School Academy today. Jefferson Academy is a public middle school on the rise and a great example of the successful collaborative innovations occurring within the D.C. Public Schools system.

“Focusing on their students and families is at the heart of Jefferson Academy’s approach, and that’s exactly what I believe is at the heart of providing an exceptional education. Great teachers and leaders help make great schools, and I was honored to speak with Jefferson’s team about our shared commitment to strengthening public education.

“I respect peaceful protest, and I will not be deterred in executing the vital Betsy DeVos’ Press Release About Her DC School Visit | deutsch29:

Should Progressives Help Secretary DeVos? | The Merrow Report

Should Progressives Help Secretary DeVos? | The Merrow Report:

Should Progressives Help Secretary DeVos?

These are difficult times for fence-sitters and for those who take a stand.  For example, the leaders of IBM and Tesla are in hot water because they continue to serve on President Trump’s Economic Advisory Council.  Why serve?  Because, as one said, it’s better to be on the inside where he might be able to be a voice of moderation.  And poor Uber: its founder didn’t resign quickly enough for some former Uber fans, who are now using Lyft or Juno instead, while others Uber users are boycotting precisely because he did jump ship.

Anheuser-Busch is being both praised and pilloried for a  Super Bowl commercial that celebrated the immigration stories of its two founders. It’s widely reported that many businesses have set up ‘war rooms’ to work out how to deal with an unpredictable President.

What about education, where the controversial Betsy DeVos is now serving as Secretary after a grueling confirmation process that required a tie-breaking vote by the Vice President, a first in our nation’s history?  Even with questioning severely limited by Committee Chairman Lamar Alexander (R, TE), the hearing revealed how little she understands public education, while her own track record in Michigan demonstrates her commitment to vouchers, for-profit and virtual charter schools, and minimal accountability.

However, she is our Secretary of Education. As such, should progressives offer to work for her and with her, to help her understand the historic purposes and accomplishments of public schools?  She’s a smart woman, and perhaps she’d appreciate assistance from people whose sense of history and familiarity with Washington could help improve all public education.

Last week a college friend (with whom I have never discussed politics) wrote and Should Progressives Help Secretary DeVos? | The Merrow Report: