Wednesday, February 1, 2017

#11) Betsy DeVos


February 1, 2017

Dear Mr. President,

I was so disappointed to see that Betsy DeVos was confirmed as Secretary of Education since she knows practically nothing about public education and education policy.  Her tweet during your inauguration with the spelling and grammar mistakes made its' way around the Internet because people thought the irony was funny.  But I didn't think it was funny. I thought it was sad.  And then Ms. DeVos blamed the errors on her staff and I moved from sad to scared.

Can you share with us your rational for nominating her?  Is there some hidden skill or knowledge she has that we don't know about yet?  Pleaseenlighten us!  Because all I see is her $200 million in donations to the Republican Party.  Is this nomination her pay off?

Remember when George Bush put Michael Brown (his old friend, Brownie) in charge of FEMA? He didn't have the skill or experience for the job either, but he was a nice guy and Bush must have owed him something.  Everything was going fine until Hurricane Katrina hit and actual leadership was required.  Then the whole thing kind of blew up.  What an embarrassment. Well, Betsy DeVos seems to be headed down that same path.

Vice President Pence is on record as saying that gay marriage could lead to "societal collapse."  But that's not true.  That's not what you should be losing sleep over.  In truth, it's the dismantling of public education (which Ms. DeVos is on the verge of doing with her plans for publicly funded charter schools and vouchers) that will lead to societal collapse. 

The foundational beliefs of this country are that,
1)    education is key to success
2)    all children have equal educational opportunities regardless of race, religion, or ability
3)    schools are governed by public accountability

I hope that you believe these things.  I do.  But it looks like maybe Betsy DeVos doesn't.

Sincerely,
Amy Beaton

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