CommentsEDUCATION POLITICS--Why is Betsy DeVos afraid? In her first year in office, some protestors in Washington, D.C., objected to her visit at a public school.
Since then, she has had a special detachment of U.S. Marshalls giving her round-the-clock protection.
Other cabinet secretaries have encountered protestors. None of them are guarded by U.S. Marshalls.
Of course, she is very special. She is a billionaire.
She doesn’t leave her office much. She has many days off.
She seldom visits schools, and in the few instances where she does, it is either a religious school or a charter school.
Her public schedule indicates that she doesn’t have much to do, perhaps a meeting once a day, perhaps not.
Others have commented on her many “unexcused absences.” A year ago, the media realized that she was absent from her job about 1/3 of the time and that she has poor work habits. Presumably she still has round-the-clock protection even when she skips work. A teacher who skipped work 1/3 of the time would be terminated.
Does she lack grit?
Does she have a guilty conscience about removing protection from transgender students, indebted college students, and sexual assault victims?
My guess is that she has led a sheltered life and wants to avoid public contact to the greatest extent possible.
(Diane Ravitch is a historian of education at New York University. Her most recent book is Reign of Error: The Hoax of the Privatization Movement and the Danger to America's Public Schools.)
-cw
