On September 22nd, Secretary of Education, Betsy DeVos, announced new and temporary guidelines regarding how schools should be handling sexual violence on college campuses. The changes are concerned directly with how individuals are found guilty of sexual misconduct. While DeVos stated that “We can’t go back to the days when allegations were swept under the […]
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Posted inCurrent Events in Education
What “School Choice” Means for Students, Teachers, and Everyone In-Between
The words school choice have been heard a lot in 2017. Specifically, “school choice” is a phrase most often associated with controversial Secretary of Education, Betsy DeVos. As an educator with experience in virtual education, higher education, and in brick-and-mortar secondary education, many friends and family members have been asking my thoughts on DeVos and on the Trump […]
Posted inCurrent Events in Education
Trump’s First 100 Days in My Classroom
When I reflect on Donald Trump’s first 100 days I think back to May of 2016. At the time I wrote that teachers had a moral obligation to stand up to Donald Trump’s hate speech. I did not write this as a Democrat or because of any other partisan or political affiliations. I wrote this […]
Posted inCurrent Events in Education
Not My Secretary of Ed (Why the butt that Occupies the Federal Seat Matters to my Classroom)
There is a difference between “government” and “politics.” The former regards the design of a specific seat in our system; what power is vested in it, and what checks balance that power. The latter regards what butt happens to occupy that seat at a specific time. The butts change, typically per Presidential administration, but […]
Posted inCurrent Events in Education
“An Education System Flush with Cash [and] Students Deprived of All Knowledge”
“An Education System Flush with Cash [and] Students Deprived of All Knowledge” In President Donald Trump’s Inaugural Address, these were his first official words about American public education. While it’s all too easy to jest that President Trump could have been possibly referring to his Education Secretary choice Betsy DeVos (who has donated $5.3 million to campaigns […]
Posted inCurrent Events in Education
The U.S. Secretaries of Education, A History: Part I
As President-Elect Donald Trump has been nominating his Cabinet appointments, plenty of contention and consternation has swarmed and surrounded his selection of Mrs. Betsy DeVos as Secretary of Education. While plenty of articles have been written about her, I was curious to learn more about the Secretaries of Education who preceded her. The Department of Education […]
Posted inCurrent Events in Education
Can Public Schools Survive the Era of School Choice?
Last week Betsy DeVos was tapped as the Secretary of Education by the incoming Trump administration. Now many educators in traditional public schools are cringing and bracing for the worst because DeVos is known in Michigan for her support of school vouchers and charter schools, often called “school choice.” The charter school topic can be a very […]
Posted inCurrent Events in Education
No Right to an Education: Detroit Schools and the Secretary of Education Nominee
In September 2016, seven students in the Detroit school system filed a lawsuit against Michigan governor Rick Snyder and other state education officials. In their complaint, the students allege that over the last several decades, there has been systematic disinvestment in and “deliberate indifference” to the Detroit schools, which has fundamentally denied Detroit school children […]