Introduction to Part 2
If you're new here, I would recommend reading the intro to Part 1, and save us both a bunch of time. In fact, read all of Part 1, otherwise, you'll probably be very, very lost. I know I was, and I was there.
If you're continuing on this journey, here are the next installments to my DeVos diary. The dates are when I originally posted them on Facebook.
***
Thurs, 9-21-17
Episode Five: Saved by the Betsy
In our last episode, Tara was talking to US Secretary of
Education, Betsy DeVos. With no one else speaking up, Tara started the
roundtable discussion by asking DeVos' about her plans for Title IX, referring
to the a appalling announcement she'd made in a 30-minute speech one week
before. Tara asked the question twice, and DeVos continued to give non-answers,
so Tara decided to be direct:
"Okay, so, do you know you're not answering the
question?"
***
"When the person I'm looking at stops moving their mouth,
that's when I say the memorized sound bites, right?"
|
DeVos paused slightly. "Well, I... I think I am,"
she stammered. "I think that, very broadly, every student needs to be in a
- "
Oh, not this shit again. I once more interrupted her.
"Well, very broadly, but that includes, you know, being
able to report when they're not safe and making sure that that's taken
seriously. It's already difficult enough - for people who have been harassed
and abused, et cetera, it's already difficult enough to be taken seriously
because we are undeniably living in a rape culture, and by making it more
difficult to make those complaints heard, and take those complaints seriously,
then the children that you say deserve to be safe, are no longer safe. I
shouldn't say 'children,' I should say 'young people.' Really, it's all of us, actually."
There. Dodge it again. I dare you.
As if this was an entirely new spin on my previous four
attempts, DeVos started, "But if your question with regards to Title IX is
specifically with regard to sexual assault - "
Un-freaking-believable.
"Well, that's what you've been talking about recently."
... you spineless little...
"And I have applauded the last administration, "
she said, "for really raising this issue and wanting to address it in a
very comprehensive way, and continue to believe that sexual assault needs to be
taken very, very seriously, and never again swept under the rug, and at the
same time, it is also important that due process is taken seriously."
Hm. Sounds familiar. Oh, right. That's some of the exact
phrasing she used in her speech last week.
"Do you feel it's not?" I asked. I mean, there are
countless rapists out there, who actually got charges pressed against them
(rare), were put on trial (very rare), found guilty (almost unheard of), only
to be released because the court decided that such a conviction might ruin his
future. It's absolutely sickening.
"It hasn't been, in a lot of circumstances," DeVos
asserted, "and, in fact, a lot of students who have been victims and
survivors become re-victimized because we have situations where due process has
not been followed, and then they have to be re-adjudicated, and they become
victims again. We really need to have a balanced approach where everybody's
rights are taken very seriously and respected."
"Okay, but it seems - "
I was interrupted by a very worried-looking faculty member.
"I think we need to give some other people a chance to ask some questions,
and actually, Secretary, I have a question for you: Have you ever been in a
school this small before?"
Later that night, at a bar with many KCA community members, a
teacher who was sitting across from me during the meeting told me that this was
the point at which my knees started jumping up and down in a furious tempo.
"Furious" is an excellent word for it.
 |
| Actual photo of a KCA classroom. Apparently. |
Sat, 9-23-17
In our previous episode, Tara was asking US Secretary of
Education Betsy DeVos about her plans for Title IX. DeVos gave long and
involved non-answers, and Tara called her on the dodge. Tara continued to press
and then...
"Okay, but it seems -"
I was interrupted by a very worried-looking faculty member.
"I think we need to give some other people a chance to ask some questions,
and actually, Secretary, I have a question for you: Have you ever been in a
school this small before?"
Later that night, at a bar with many KCA community members,
a teacher who was sitting across from me during the meeting told me that this
was the point at which my knees started jumping up and down in a furious tempo.
"Furious" is an excellent word for it.
***
I was not angry at the suggestion that someone else should
have a turn to speak. Not at all.
I was angry that progress finally seemed to be made, and she
was "rescued" by the change of subject, apparently so she wouldn't
feel too uncomfortable, or leave with some sort of bad feeling about KCA. She
doesn't need protection from us; we need protection from her.
I was angry that the interruption was cloaked in the lie
that "other people" should
have a chance to talk, and then this same person took that time for themselves.
But I was absolutely livid, beyond compare, that the
interruption of a time-sensitive and dangerous conversation, like changing
federal policies on dealing with campus sexual assault, came in the form of a
question of astounding vapidity. "Have you ever been in a school this
small before?"
How insipid. How denigrating.
And DeVos answered it. "Um... I have... Probably more in my
hometown area, in Grand Rapids, in years past..."
Gross.
 |
| I'm totally not mentally pairing this image with an evil scientist laugh. |
Another teacher then introduced herself as having a long career
in public schools, and asked DeVos if she was planning on visiting any of
those. DeVos named exactly one. The teacher went on to say that she implemented
a lot of her observations of KCA, from when her child was a student here, in
her public school classroom. She expressed confidence that some of these
methods would work in a public school setting, and asked how DeVos planned on
supporting that.
In her 30-second reply, DeVos twice used each of the
following: "Rethink School," "community,"
"changes," and "embrace." I phrase it in this way because
there wasn't really an answer in any of that.
So, the teacher asked, "But how will the United States
Department of Education support that, those efforts?" She listed a number
of requirements, such as time and money, to make this happen, and also slipped
in the suggestion that we do away with some of this "onerous standardized
testing." (This is when I would have turned on the APPLAUSE sign.)
 |
| Oh, don't mind me. I'm just sitting over here with my HELL, YES. |
DeVos answered that the "Every Student Succeeds Act,
which all of the states are putting plans together right now, takes an
important step in that direction. Congress' goal was to return flexibility to
the states and to, you know, undo a lot of the burdensome regulation" ...I admit to a snort of laughter at this, but no one seemed
to notice... "oversight from the federal level. I'm very much aligned with
that, and think that states and even all of the state commissioners and
superintendents, and all of the leadership at the state level - I'm encouraging
them to grant that same kind of flexibility to local districts and even local
school buildings. I think the change is going to happen the most significantly
at a grass roots, local level, where communities address the needs that they
have, right there, and if they can do that, free of a lot of burden from higher
up, it's going to allow it to happen much more quickly."
The count for that last answer:
"State"/"states": 5
"Local": 3
"Federal": 1
It seems pretty obvious the significance that the US
Secretary of Education puts on the existence of the US Department of Education.
***
I've come to the end of what I wrote in the days following the visit. I will consult my detailed records of the visit, and be back with the rest of the story as soon as possible. Though I think it's really important to share the story, it's hard finding time for this; I'm a teacher, you know.
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