• Home
  • About
  • Blog
  • Contact

Nancy Bailey's Education Website

Revive, Rally and Recover Public Schools

  • Activism
    • Anti-Charter Schools
    • Anti-Common Core State Standards
    • Anti-Corporatization of Schools
    • Anti-High-Stakes Testing
    • State Action Groups
    • School Buildings
  • School Curriculum
    • General Education
    • Educators
    • Parents
    • Reading
    • Writing
    • Math
    • Science
    • Social Studies
    • The Arts
    • Technology
    • Behavior
    • Diversity
    • English Language Learners
    • Special Education
      • Autism
      • Emotional and Behavioral Disabilities
      • Learning Disabilities
      • Developmental Disabilities
      • Gifted
      • Other
    • Early Childhood Education
    • Elementary School
    • Middle School
    • High School
    • Student Careers
  • Other Countries
    • England
    • Finland
    • Australia
    • New Zealand
    • Canada

Is She Focused on Grizzlies Again? DeVos Fails to See the Covid-19 Danger to ALL Schools!

August 7, 2020 By Nancy Bailey 2 Comments

Post Views: 130

Sidestepping Covid-19 to focus on school choice is like DeVos skipping over gun safety concerns about schools to focus on the threat of grizzly bears. I’m of course referring to comments made during her confirmation hearing.

Once again, she fails to focus on the real risk. Covid-19 is not going to discriminate between schools. It doesn’t care if students attend the most expensive private school, the holiest parochial school, the poorest charter school, or a wealthy segregated public school in Georgia!

President Trump and Education Secretary Betsy DeVos are an example of poor leadership during the coronavirus. They want all public schools to open and never discuss how to address the problems school officials face during a pandemic.

DeVos has turned the virus into a school choice issue, blaming the mean teachers and their unions for keeping some public schools running remotely. She shows no sympathy or understanding for the confusion and fear this virus creates for everyone. Instead, she capitalizes on this terrible time to attack public education and teachers, pushing her choice agenda.

Like sidestepping the gun and school safety issue to focus on grizzly bears, she doesn’t attempt to tackle the coronavirus problem as it relates to public schools. She creates conflict between parents and teachers, hoping parents will sign their students out of public school. She offers no solutions and blames teachers as they try desperately to help students from afar.

One can argue that some schools will be better prepared or have fewer students. But that’s still a gamble since many of these schools follow the in-your-face lead of the President and DeVos concerning the virus. They refuse to take it seriously. Sometimes they wear masks. Other times they don’t. They don’t seem to be social distancing.

In a recent picture of a Georgia school’s crowded hallway, few students wore masks. The student who took the picture was later suspended! After concern from the public, she was unsuspended. (Note: This student might enjoy Jamie Margolin’s Youth to Power: Your Voice and How to Use It. She understood how to use her voice well here. But I digress.)

DeVos’s ideas resonate with parents who believe like she and the President that public schools should open. It might provide a false sense of comfort, thinking those in leadership positions know what’s best. Unfortunately, Covid-19 doesn’t discriminate between schools. Just like all schools still need better safety solutions involving guns and gun control to protect students!

For example, V.P. Pence and DeVos recently visited Thales Academy a private school, which afterwards announced it’s now quarantining fourth graders for fourteen days because a student there tested positive for the virus. In pictures of that original encounter, Pence and DeVos entered the classroom with masks, then removed them. Some students were not wearing masks.

DeVos recently tweeted, Many parents say they feel like they’re part of a silent majority, whose desire to have their children back in school has been pushed aside by school officials who are buckling to pressure from teachers unions. She was in part referring to Chicago, where teachers fought to work remotely and won. Teachers are looking out for the safety of their students and themselves due to coronavirus concerns.

Some parents there, like DeVos, say schools should open because they’re focused on the mental health concerns of students, but they are sidestepping the virus too. We all understand that closing schools creates problems for students. We need to think of better solutions to address student mental health and keep students safe from the virus. The virus is the problem, not the teachers.

Today DeVos again tweeted:

The #COVID19 pandemic has made clear the antiquated one-size-fits-all approach to education is no longer tenable. Education going forward must be more adaptable and student-centered. It’s time to unleash a new era of innovation & drive unprecedented achievement. #SchoolChoiceNow

This virus doesn’t care what school your child attends. This isn’t about choice, like the gun problems facing schools were never about grizzly bears.

We can only hope that in the short time remaining for her to be education secretary, DeVos rebounds and sets her sights on the real problems facing America’s students and their families during this pandemic.

Filed Under: Featured Tagged With: charter schools, covid-19, Education Secretary Betsy DeVos, Parochial Schools, President Trump, private schools, public schools, School Choice

Comments

  1. Lawrence J. D'Amico says

    August 8, 2020 at 1:56 pm

    It’s not just that hypocrisy is not nice, it undermines the spirit of cooperation and trust we need to work toward the greater good. If we can afford bank bailouts, endless Asian land wars, and cartel subsidies while cutting taxes on corporations and rich people we can properly fund schools.

    https://news.yahoo.com/barron-trump-not-going-back-163018909.html

    Reply
    • Nancy Bailey says

      August 8, 2020 at 2:03 pm

      Thanks, Lawrence. I think this is the latest on Barron’s school. https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/politics/2020/08/03/barron-trump-school-can-open-following-maryland-govs-order/5574383002/

      I think safety is an issue at this time for children in any school! I thought maybe NY would be fine, but I know teachers concerned about building ventilation, over-crowdedness, etc. http://nyceducator.com/

      Certainly more concerns that aren’t addressed by school choice.

      Reply

Leave a Reply Cancel reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.

front cover

An education glossary with an attitude.

Buy Now

front cover

Do we really want an America where we no longer own our public schools?

Buy Now

front cover

This book says “no” to the reforms that fail, and challenges Americans to address the real student needs that will fix public schools and make America strong.

Buy Now

Follow me!

Enter your email address to subscribe to my blog and receive notifications of new posts by email.

Connect With Me!

  • Email
  • Facebook
  • Twitter

Nancy E. Bailey Follow

Author, Ph.D. Ed. Leadership and longtime teacher, Blogging for Kids, Teachers, Parents & Democratic Public Schools.

NancyEBailey1
Retweet on Twitter Nancy E. Bailey Retweeted
plthomasedd Paul Thomas @plthomasedd ·
1h

The Science of Scarcity and Sleep that Education Reformers (Want to) Ignore https://radicalscholarship.com/2023/03/20/the-science-of-scarcity-and-sleep-that-education-reformers-want-to-ignore/ via @plthomasEdD

Reply on Twitter 1638146543768174597 Retweet on Twitter 1638146543768174597 3 Like on Twitter 1638146543768174597 3 Twitter 1638146543768174597
Retweet on Twitter Nancy E. Bailey Retweeted
doctorsam7 Dr. Sam Bommarito @doctorsam7 ·
21h

Things to ponder about the current discussions around SOR. From ChatGPT @ChatwithGPT
https://nancyebailey.com/2023/03/19/what-does-chatgpt-say-about-the-science-of-reading-it-may-surprise-you/?fbclid=IwAR0Fhkczq46nJq8n5ob1q2xF5Q9aFc9ya04TEgYCaVTyEElEQg_UbWfoROY

Reply on Twitter 1637853806833590275 Retweet on Twitter 1637853806833590275 8 Like on Twitter 1637853806833590275 26 Twitter 1637853806833590275
Retweet on Twitter Nancy E. Bailey Retweeted
nancyebailey1 Nancy E. Bailey @nancyebailey1 ·
19 Mar

I asked ChatGPT "Is the 'science of reading' settled science that determines how reading should be taught?" Here's the response. https://nancyebailey.com/2023/03/19/what-does-chatgpt-say-about-the-science-of-reading-it-may-surprise-you/

Reply on Twitter 1637502147515351043 Retweet on Twitter 1637502147515351043 18 Like on Twitter 1637502147515351043 45 Twitter 1637502147515351043
Retweet on Twitter Nancy E. Bailey Retweeted
deguire_mike Mike DeGuire, Ph. D. @deguire_mike ·
14h

"The privatization movement has been strategically designed...by billionaires and their fellow investors for specific purposes: to lower their own tax burden, and ideologically to dismantle public education." @NPEaction @NancyEBailey1 @TheAndySpears
https://medium.com/@jfiske80/billionaires-and-their-investors-are-impacting-education-policies-in-colorado-and-especially-in-c523579674af

Reply on Twitter 1637957759751831558 Retweet on Twitter 1637957759751831558 10 Like on Twitter 1637957759751831558 10 Twitter 1637957759751831558
Retweet on Twitter Nancy E. Bailey Retweeted
nepctweet NEPC @nepctweet ·
20h

"Let’s honor our students by providing them free quality democratic public schools that reject no one." @NancyEBailey1 https://bit.ly/3FE0KFA

Reply on Twitter 1637870110840094721 Retweet on Twitter 1637870110840094721 3 Like on Twitter 1637870110840094721 2 Twitter 1637870110840094721
Load More

Archives

Tag Cloud

Arne Duncan Autism Betsy DeVos Bill Gates charter schools class size Common Core Common Core covid-19 disabilities dyslexia early childhood education Education Secretary Betsy DeVos Florida high-stakes testing kindergarten learning disabilities Online Learning parents Personalized Learning phonics preschool private schools privatization public schools reading recess retention School Choice school libraries School Privatization school reform schools Social Emotional Learning special education students Students with Disabilities Teacher Preparation teachers Teach for America teaching Technology testing the arts vouchers

Copyright © 2023 Nancy E. Bailey · Website powered by Standing Pine Media.