That sound you hear coming from teacher unions today is likely a verse or two of “Ding-Dong! The Witch Is Dead”. Status quo leftists content to keep poor and middle-class school children in failing schools are very happy to learn that Secretary of Education Betsy DeVos submitted her letter of resignation to President Trump on Thursday evening.
DeVos points to the violent riots at the Capitol Wednesday as her reason to leave the cabinet now instead of in twelve days when Joe Biden is inaugurated. She references the fact that children witnessed it all and points a finger at Trump.
In her resignation letter, DeVos cited the Capitol breach carried out by violent pro-Trump supporters as an “inflection point.”
“We should be highlighting and celebrating your Administration’s many accomplishments on behalf of the American people,” DeVos wrote to Trump. “Instead, we are left to clean up the mess cause by violent protestors overrunning the U.S. Capitol in an attempt to undermine the people’s business. That behavior was unconscionable for our country. There is no mistaking the impact your rhetoric had on the situation, and it is the inflection point for me.”
“Impressionable children are watching all of this and they are learning from us,” she continued. “I believe we each have a moral obligation to exercise good judgement and model the behavior we hope they would emulate. They must know from us that America is greater than what transpired yesterday.
“To that end, today I resign from my position effective Friday, January 8, in support of the oath I took to our Constitution, our people, and our freedoms. Holding this position has been the honor of a lifetime, and I will be forever grateful for the opportunity to serve America and her students,” DeVos concluded.
— Secretary Betsy DeVos (@BetsyDeVosED) January 6, 2021
Teacher unions and Senator Elizabeth Warren had the same reaction to the news that today is the last day for DeVos to be a member of President Trump’s cabinet. “Good riddance” is their response. Warren calls DeVos the “worst Secretary of Education ever.”
Betsy DeVos has never done her job to help America’s students. It doesn’t surprise me one bit that she’d rather quit than do her job to help invoke the 25th Amendment.
Good riddance, Betsy. You were the worst Secretary of Education ever. https://t.co/im1IgGQVSp
— Elizabeth Warren (@SenWarren) January 8, 2021
Warren criticizes DeVos for not doing her job but that evaluation is in the eye of the beholder. DeVos is not a teacher or has any experience in classroom instruction, which is the base of union teachers’ criticism of her but DeVos does have real-world experience as a businesswoman and was active in Michigan working for education reform. She worked for school choice and is supportive of charter schools, two big no-nos for teacher unions. She worked against Title IX regulations from the Obama administration that heavily slanted against college students accused of sexual assault. She rightly made reforms that keep the process more fairly balanced to both the accused and the accuser. Joe Biden has already said he will change her reforms back to the Obama administration version. Let’s hope for the sake of young college men that Biden cannot easily do that. Everyone is entitled to due process and the assumption of innocence unless proven otherwise.
Governor Gretchen Whitmer decided to let a t-shirt do her talking in response to the news. She posted a photo of herself in a t-shirt that apologizes to America for Michigan’s DeVos. How’s that for some unifying action from a woman who was vetted as a potential running mate for Joe Biden? The t-shirt has been for sale for a while and Whitmer added a clapping hands emoji when she posted the picture.
— Gretchen Whitmer (@gretchenwhitmer) January 8, 2021
Whitmer likes to wear t-shirts with woke messages. You may remember she clapped back at President Trump when he referred to her as “that woman in Michigan” last spring. She wore a t-shirt with that phrase during a late-night television show appearance. I’ll note that Whitmer was happy to praise DeVos and her family’s company for their donations of PPE in Michigan earlier this year to protect health care workers during the pandemic.
Betsy DeVos is the second Trump cabinet member to resign since Wednesday’s insurrection at the Capitol. Transportation Secretary Elaine Chao (wife of Mitch McConnell) resigned first.
The American Federation of Teachers President Randi Weingarten released a two-word statement: “Good Riddance.” Classy. Weingarten, you may remember, was a name mentioned as a possible Secretary of Education in the Biden administration. I would argue that DeVos has the right enemies. In the Biden administration, we will go back to the status quo and heavy sops to the unions as well as putting back into place restrictions of school choice. That is bad news for America’s school children.
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