Where is Betsy DeVos?

US Education Secretary hiding in ‘sprawling’ Michigan mansion while demanding schools reopen: Report

 August 11, 2020 By David Badash, The New Civil Rights Movement


Where is Betsy DeVos? The Education Secretary is under fire for demanding schools reopen while not giving them the assistance they need to protect students, teachers, administrators, and staff, yet she is working remotely from her “sprawling” 22,000 square foot “waterfront estate with a round-the-clock security detail paid for by taxpayers,” NBC News reports. That security cost taxpayers $25 million over the past year

DeVos “insists that it isn’t her job to help localities determine how to [re-open] safely.”

The Education Secretary’s’ public schedule “has been mostly empty for the past several weeks, including no events on her public schedule for this week,” NBC’s Heidi Przybyla reveals.

Yet DeVos “has been holding events not listed on her public calendar, including several sponsored by the conservative Federalist Society, according to Federalist Society postings. She has also participated in a few events related to private schools and advocacy for vouchers, including a roundtable July 23 at a private Christian school in Ohio and two events in the Carolinas with Vice President Mike Pence.”

Przybyla says DeVos is “not touring those public schools that she’s demanding reopen.”

.@HeidiNBC: “Even as DeVos is following Trump in demanding that schools reopen, Mika, she has a public schedule that has been empty for weeks … She’s not touring those public schools that she’s demanding reopen.” pic.twitter.com/KFZxkpidXa
— DNC War Room (@DNCWarRoom) August 11, 2020

The Education Secretary also “declined to appear at a House coronavirus subcommittee hearing on safely reopening K-12 schools ‘so she could explain why she is pressuring schools to fully reopen, despite the risks,’ James Clyburn of South Carolina, the No. 3 House Democrat, said Thursday.”

Here’s what some are saying:

Going AWOL during a national school crisis means another guaranteed grade of “F” for Secretary DeVos https://t.co/rqhaE4ZmqE
— Congressman Raja Krishnamoorthi (@CongressmanRaja) August 11, 2020

Betsy DeVos has spent $25 million in tax dollars on her own security, but wants to send children back to school without spending anything to keep them safe?
Yep. Sounds like a Trump appointee to me.
— Annie Gabston-Howell- (@AnnieGabstonH) August 11, 2020

Sec. DeVos declined to appear at a House coronavirus subcommittee hearing on safely reopening K-12 schools, Rep. Clyburn says.
“I offered to accommodate her schedule. But she refused to appear.” (6/6)
— MSNBC (@MSNBC) August 11, 2020

While educators and families are contemplating putting their lives at risk for their students’ education, DeVos is relaxing in a taxpayer-funded cocoon of protection in her mansion. https://t.co/QzQyORF1rD
— NEA (@NEAToday) August 11, 2020