If you support Public Education - please vote no on Betsy Devos

[candygirl200413]

Don't forget, someone asked her if climate change exist and she said "why yes, the climate changes

[GreyhoundFan]

"What we just learned from Betsy DeVos’s painful appearance before Congress"

Spoiler

Education Secretary Betsy DeVos said Tuesday on Capitol Hill that she won’t offer protections to ensure that public money is not used by for-profit education companies to make their owners rich.

She also said that private schools accepting federal funds in a voucher program would have to follow federal laws but would not promise to protect LGBTQ or other students from discrimination if the law on the issue is foggy.

These were just some of the things DeVos said in defense of the Trump administration’s proposed 2018 Education Department budget, which cuts more than 13 percent, including programs favored by both Democrats and Republicans. After appearing May 24 before a House appropriations panel to talk about the proposed budget, this time she went before the Senate Subcommittee on Labor, Health and Human Services, Education and Related Agencies.

And this time, DeVos was put on notice at the very start of the hearing that it was going to be a painful appearance. Sen. Roy Blunt of Missouri, the Republican chairman, told her that the proposed budget proposal was unacceptable to his committee, saying:

“This is a difficult budget request to defend. I think it’s likely that the kinds of cuts that are proposed in this budget will not occur, so we need to fully understand your priorities and why they are your priorities.”

Other Republicans challenged her priorities, too, with some of them criticizing the budget for halving the work study program that helps students get through college, cutting a popular college preparation program called TRIO, and slashing funds for career and technical education. Blunt also cited “the outright elimination of several large formula grant programs — like the 21st Century Learning Centers — I think will be all but impossible to get through this committee.”

And Democrats went after her hard. Sen. Patrick J. Leahy of Vermont called the budget proposal “abysmal.” Sen. Chris Murphy (D-Conn.) said that DeVos was throwing students “out into a market-driven system that seems mostly about enriching the salaries of the CEOs who run” for-profit education companies. And Sen. Patty Murray of Washington, the top Democrat on the panel, accused DeVos of refusing to compromise or “work with us in good faith,” allowing potential conflicts of interest and ethics “to exist in your department,” and refusing to answer questions asked by Democrats — and that was just for starters.

In the past, the Michigan billionaire has been pretty blunt about a few things — that she thinks, for example, that traditional public schools are a “dead end” and that school choice is the most important reform — but sometimes she is vague, and it is hard to know if it is because she doesn’t know the answer, doesn’t want to answer for ideological reasons or just likes being vague. On Tuesday she was both direct in some answers — repeatedly bringing discussions around to her biggest priority, the right of parents to choose the education for their children — and vague in others. Here’s some of what happened:

• She was asked repeatedly whether private schools that would be part of the administration’s proposed program to fund and study a new voucher program would be subject to federal discrimination and special education laws, and she repeatedly said, “Schools that receive federal funds must follow federal law.”

But in an exchange with Sen. Jeff Merkley (D-Ore.), he noted that she did not accept his invitation to promise that she would protect LGBTQ students from discrimination if the federal law on the subject was “foggy.”

Merkley: Earlier you said if a charter school or private school gets a dollar of federal aid, they have to follow all the federal laws regarding discrimination. Is that correct?

DeVos: That’s correct.

Merkley: But those laws are somewhat foggy in that area. So I want to be absolutely clear about what you are saying. Are you saying that if you have a private school — private schools generally set their own admission policies — that they will not be allowed under your program to discriminate against LGBTQ students?

DeVos: Senator, I said it before and I’ll say it again, that schools that receive federal funds must follow federal law.

Merkley: And I just said federal law is foggy. So in your understanding of federal law, will such discrimination be allowed?

DeVos: In areas where the law is unsettled, this department is not going to be issuing decrees. That is a matter for Congress and the courts. …

The two talked over each other at this point about unsettled law, and then Merkley said: “You are refusing to answer the question. … I think you just said that where it is unsettled, that such discrimination will continue to be allowed under your program. If that is incorrect, please correct it for the record. How about discrimination based on religion? Will such discrimination be allowed with charter or private schools?”

DeVos: Again, for schools that receive federal funds, federal laws must be followed.

Merkley: Will such discrimination be allowed? Answer the question.

DeVos: Schools that get federal funds need to follow federal law.

Merkley: Okay, you are refusing to answer the question. I think it is very important for the public to know that today the secretary of education before this committee refused to affirm that she would put forward a program that would ban discrimination based on LGBTQ status of students or ban discrimination  based on religion.

DeVos: Sir, that is not what I said. That is not what I said. Discrimination in any form is wrong. I don’t support discrimination in any form.

Merkley: Does your program ban such discrimination? Yes or no?

DeVos: What program are you talking about?

Merkley: Your charter school and private school grant program.

DeVos: As I said before, and I’ll say it again: Schools that get federal funds need to follow federal law, period.

• She would not offer any protections on public funds that go to for-profit schools and companies.

Murphy asked DeVos about a plan by the administration to spend $1 billion in Title I funds for a school choice “portability” program. He specifically wanted to know in one exchange whether she would do anything to make for-profit education companies be more transparent in their operations or whether she would cap the sometimes huge salaries of their top officers.

What specific protections, he asked, would be in the proposal to make sure taxpayer dollars won’t end up “enriching the pockets” of  those who own for-profit schools?

DeVos: I think your question more broadly is better framed around, “What are students achieving?” And I think the question is not what the tax status is …

Murphy: … No, that was my question.

DeVos: … In in my view, the question is not the tax status of the school.

Murphy: You can have any view of my question you want. My question is, “Will there be protections on taxpayer dollars to make sure that the heads of these companies don’t end up becoming millionaires or billionaires off the operations of these schools?”

DeVos: If parents are making choices regardless of the tax status of the school to which they are sending them, whether it is a for-profit-managed institution or a not-for-profit, if students are achieving and parents are making the choices on behalf of their children, I think those are the better measures to be oriented around.

Murphy then said it was clear that she would institute no protections regarding for-profit schools. She did not respond.

• DeVos said repeatedly that federal cuts to programs that senators believe help children can be made up by state and local governments and private entities because of new “flexibility” to create their own education plans under the Every Student Succeeds Act, the successor K-12 education law to No Child Left Behind.

Sen. Brian Schatz (D-Hawaii): You are imagining revenue not in evidence. You are imagining flexibility that does not exist at the local level. So to say, for instance, 21st Century Learning Centers or what is happening in career and technical education, or these dollars that support $40,000 teachers across the United States, to say that will be handled by the private sector, that will be handled through flexibility, you reduce the flexibility that education systems have by reducing the funding that they have. And it’s sort of a rhetorical device to say they will be basking in new flexibility. But anybody who runs a government or anybody who runs a school doesn’t want flexibility. They want resources. ...

DeVos: Actually, what I’ve heard from a lot of state and local leaders is that they do want and need flexibility.

In other testimony:

•  When Murray asked her why the Office of Civil Rights was being cut by some 60 positions, DeVos said the funding of the agency was not being cut. They then had a debate about which numbers were being used to determine whether there was a cut. But DeVos did not deny that positions were being cut.
• When Sen. Richard C. Shelby (R-Ala.) told her it was difficult for families in rural areas to exercise school choice, and he proposed allowing institutions of higher education to open alternative schools, she said she hoped the students in those areas would be provided with more opportunities to engage in virtual learning.

Bonus quote: Murphy said the following in reference to a comment by Sen. John Neely Kennedy (R-La.) that choosing a school should be like going to the store to choose from six kinds of mayonnaise:

“Education is not mayonnaise, and, frankly, the day we start treating the education of our children like we do the marketing of a condiment is the day we have given up on our kids.”

She is a menace to society.

[candygirl200413]

When I saw the clips it honestly really put a damper on my day. She honestly needs to rot due to her not wanting to protect any type of child unless they go to her failing choice schools. My heart aches.

[sawasdee]

And she refuses to acknowledge that charter schools actually underperform public schools.

[AmazonGrace]

http://thehill.com/homenews/administration/345922-devos-says-she-wishes-she-had-decried-racism-more-forcefully

Betsy DeVos is really sorry she didn't know racism was huge but mind you, only in the past
 

Spoiler

 

Education Secretary Betsy DeVos said on Wednesday she regrets not being more forceful in her condemnation of the impact racism has on education in the United States.

She "should have decried much more forcefully the ravages of racism in this country," she said in an interview with The Associated Press.

Controversy surrounds President Trump's education chief over her comments in February calling historically black colleges and universities "real pioneers when it comes to school choice."

On Wednesday, DeVos acknowledged that in the past "racism was rampant and there were no choices" for African-Americans to pursue higher education.

DeVos also told the AP that she has advocated on behalf of minority children for decades. 

DeVos's previous assertion that historically black colleges and universities marked an early example of providing school choice drew widespread backlash from African-Americans, who noted that such colleges and universities — known as HBCUs — were established because African-Americans were not welcomed at other institutions. 

DeVos was booed in May while delivering a commencement speech at Bethune-Cookman University, an HBCU in Florida.

 

 

[candygirl200413]

She is finally speaking up about this, MONTHS later?! She is such a waste of space.

[GreyhoundFan]

5 hours ago, AmazonGrace said:

Betsy DeVos is really sorry. she didn't know racism was huge but mind you, only in the past

There, I fixed it for you.

[AnywhereButHere]

Quote

http://www.cnn.com/2017/09/07/politics/betsy-devos-education-department-title-ix/

Quote

Education Secretary Betsy DeVos said Thursday that the Trump administration believes Obama-era guidance regarding sexual assault on college campuses denied due process against accused perpetrators and is planning to overturn those guidelines.

"In order to ensure that America's schools employ clear, equitable, just and fair procedures that inspire trust and confidence, we will launch a notice-and-comment process to incorporate the insights of all parties in developing a better way," DeVos said at George Mason University's Arlington, Virginia, campus.

Title IX is a federal policy that prohibits discrimination based on sex for schools and programs that receive federal funding. This includes protection from sexual harassment.

In 2011, the Obama administration said that under Title IX, schools had to address sexual violence in order to provide equal access to education. Critics have said the guidance is unfair toward the accused.

DeVos met with groups impacted by Title IX policies in July, including representatives from a men's rights group, as well as sexual assault survivors and representatives from educational institutions.

She's still around - wreaking havoc in the education system.

[candygirl200413]

She spoke at my alma mater's law school and it makes me extra nauseous. Tired of his BS use of both sides.

[GrumpyGran]

22 hours ago, candygirl200413 said:

She spoke at my alma mater's law school and it makes me extra nauseous. Tired of his BS use of both sides.

Why? She's not a lawyer, is she? I mean she doesn't know fuck-all about education, what is she doing speaking at a law school? Did she come out and say "Yeah, this law thing? Don't get too attached to it"?

[candygirl200413]

@GrumpyGran That was my next question! I'm thinking because the law school leans really conservative and I'm assuming proximity to DC as well?

[GrumpyGran]

11 minutes ago, candygirl200413 said:

@GrumpyGran That was my next question! I'm thinking because the law school leans really conservative and I'm assuming proximity to DC as well?

Did she give this speech for free because Hillary Clinton, Barrack Obama, huge speaking fees, blah,blah, you know.

[Howl]

Here's a heartwarming story about how one boy overcame tremendous odds to make his dream come true.  Really, it's so darn touching. 

Hard Work Pays Off by Josh Marshall

Quote

A feel good story of one of the GOP tax cuts top beneficiaries, Dalton DeVos, nephew of Education Secretary Betsy DeVos, son of Amway President Doug DeVos and grandson of Amway co-founder Richard DeVos. Sailing is a tradition in the DeVos family and Dalton has just returned from a two year trip circumnavigating the globe on the 76 foot Reliance along with a small crew. From Michigan Live: “He was still a student at Grand Valley State University when he approached his parents about the idea in 2013. The following year he bought the boat and hired a captain. Nine months after graduating with business and marketing degree in December 2014, he began the journey.”

From another article titled Rich DeVos' grandson takes 2-year voyage around the globe. I don't blame you for reading this as "Rich DeVos Grandson", but Richard (founder of Amway) is the grandfather's name.

Quote

As Dalton DeVos transitions back to West Michigan, he has been spending his days going through his photos and writing down memories in the journal he took with him on the trip. He plans to sell his multi-million dollar boat.

The Reliance somewhere on Earth. 

Edited December 31, 2017 by Howl

[GrumpyGran]

9 minutes ago, Howl said:

Here's a heartwarming story about how one boy overcame tremendous odds to make his dream come true.  Really, it's so darn touching. 

Hard Work Pays Off by Josh Marshall

From another article titled Rich DeVos' grandson takes 2-year voyage around the globe. I don't blame you for reading this as "Rich DeVos Grandson", but Richard (founder of Amway) is the grandfather's name.

The Reliance somewhere on Earth. 

Wow. The rich really are different. How do they eat with their heads so far up their own asses?

[Howl]

The Amway/De Vos tongue bath in the second article clearly demonstrates who pulls the strings and pays the bills in Grand Rapids.  

The Nordhaven 76 cost roughly $3 - 4 million (based on a few web sites), plus the cost of hiring  and feeding a crew of three for two years and add on a few miscellaneous expenses.  

[GrumpyGran]

"spending his days going through his photos and writing down memories" because he doesn't have a real job, but don't worry, when he sells his yacht, he'll have plenty to live on as he drifts toward another aimless lark. Most people just come home from a trip but this one's transitioning back to West Michigan. Can you imagine what a nightmare it is to be around this man-child?

[GreyhoundFan]

I was thinking about what torture it would be to be trapped on a 76 foot vessel with such a douche for two freaking years.

[fraurosena]

After staying out of the news for months (this thread was way back on page 3!), Betsy's back with a stupendous show of stock-photo stupidity.

Teachers fire back at DeVos for using stock photo in claim about classrooms' structure

Quote

Teachers have hit back at Education Secretary Betsy DeVos after she used stock photos to make a claim about how classrooms in public schools are currently structured.

DeVos tweeted an image of an older classroom next to what appears to be a stock photo of a current classroom, with the caption, “Does this look familiar?”

“Students lined up in rows. A teacher in front of a blackboard. Sit down; don’t talk; eyes up front. Wait for the bell. Walk to the next class,” she tweeted. “Everything about our lives has moved beyond the industrial era. But American education largely hasn’t.”

But teachers quickly fired back at DeVos, sharing photos of their own students to show that their classrooms weren’t structured in the way she claimed they were.

“Don’t you know that stock photos aren’t real? How many classrooms have you visited in the past year? Classrooms don’t look like that anymore. Students don’t work like that anymore,” one teacher tweeted at DeVos.

“Rows and lectures are NOT the norm in public school,” another user replied to the secretary.

The U.S.’s two major teachers unions have repeatedly slammed DeVos since her confirmation.

The American Federation of Teachers and the National Education Association were among groups that attempted to deliver report cards with "failing" grades to DeVos last month to mark her first year as secretary, but were blocked from entering the building.

 

 

Edited March 7, 2018 by fraurosena
attempted to put tweets behind quote where they belong and failing miserably

[GrumpyGran]

18 minutes ago, fraurosena said:

After staying out of the news for months (this thread was way back on page 3!), Betsy's back with a stupendous show of stock-photo stupidity.

And in her perfect world, we'd be keeping them in the chapel praying all day, only allowing them out for beatings and trips to the firing range?

[Howl]

I've seen footage of Betsy De V. a few times, as recently as last night where she was speaking, and she doesn't come across as genuine because SHE  HAS NOTHING TO SAY, just shallow empty phrases.  

[GrumpyGran]

1 hour ago, Howl said:

I've seen footage of Betsy De V. a few times, as recently as last night where she was speaking, and she doesn't come across as genuine because SHE  HAS NOTHING TO SAY, just shallow empty phrases.  

Well, her entire life is a pyramid scheme.

[quiversR4hunting]

8 hours ago, fraurosena said:

After staying out of the news for months (this thread was way back on page 3!), Betsy's back with a stupendous show of stock-photo stupidity.

Thank you for sharing! My 4th graders classroom has pie shapped table the fit together for cooerative learning. She also has a beanbag reading area and these rocking type chairs that stack to be out of the way when not in use. https://www.wayfair.com/Viv-Rae-Yessenia-Kids-Scoop-Rocker-Novelty-Chair-VVRE2716-L359-K~VVRE2716.html?refid=GX175102919490-VVRE2716&device=m&ptid=321518440537&network=g&targetid=aud-352581794766:pla-321518440537&channel=GooglePLA&gclid=Cj0KCQiAuP7UBRDiARIsAFpxiRJOBd9EbEPE9IjVaRwXDUzVLl8TNmJVCTjMy6IUMVBF_Pg3CO6usnMaAtMLEALw_wcB

Another classroom uses these https://www.walmart.com/ip/Hokki-Stool-15-Light-Blue/969331043?wmlspartner=wlpa&selectedSellerId=369&adid=22222222228086126225&wmlspartner=wmtlabs&wl0=&wl1=g&wl2=m&wl3=200588871038&wl4=pla-349318735194&wl5=9017335&wl6=&wl7=&wl8=&wl9=pla&wl10=111830502&wl11=online&wl12=969331043&wl13=&veh=sem

And my kindergartener has half moon tables that the teacher (or parapro or classroom parent) can sit on one side and help 5 kids at the same time 

[fraurosena]

This is what you get when you accept bribes for official cabinet positions. 

 

[Howl]

I saw that last night.  It was truly, utterly cringeworthy.  Even more to the point, De Vos has had PLENTY of time to bring herself up to speed on the main issues in education and the data behind them.  What's intriguing is that Leslie Stahl's little intro at the beginning of 60 minutes made it sound like she was going to do a softball interview.  Then the bloodletting began and Leslie didn't back off or let up.  That aspect was awesome.  And Leslie Stahl did do her homework, was well prepared  and was up to speed on the data. 

Here's a fun link: Betsy DeVos Gets Brutally Owned After Painful 60 Minutes Interview  My favorite tweet: 

Quote

Betsy DeVos is the human version of when you didn't do the reading but you get called on. https://t.co/LtlWVPcVJX

— Bess Kalb (@bessbell) March 12, 2018

 

Edited March 12, 2018 by Howl

[laPapessaGiovanna]

10 hours ago, fraurosena said:

This is what you get when you accept bribes for official cabinet positions. 

 

My favourite bit:

Uppity Rich Lady Secretary of Education Betsy De Vos"I have not, intentionally, visited schools that are underperforming."

Sane person "Maybe you should"