How does sending children back to school during a raging pandemic serve Betsy DeVos?

[milestogo]

I don't understand what this does for her or her party to be so reckless.

[Eliot Rosewater]

1. It kills us. There are way too many liberals, POC, Gay folks, Asians, Latinos, Muslims. Jewish

people.

They want less of us, and they do NOT care how.

Do people still think I am being hyperbolic?

[matt819]

12. Not hyperbolic at all

The death and chaos is not a side effect. It’s the goal. The deaths of tens of thousands of black people is part of it. Serving trumps Russian master is another part of it.

I commented last week that it might very well be appropriate to categorize what’s happening as genocide. No one commented. But a Yale professor wrote something about this last week. There’s really no other way to look at it. It’s beyond bad policy or ineptitude.

[Eliot Rosewater]

18. Absolutely that is what it is. My frustration is we are SITTING HERE LETTING THEM KILL US

And no I do NOT know exactly what to do, but someone in a position of power or economic influence like Bill Gates or god forbid even a traitor like Moscow Mitch would act and try and stop the genocide.

Gates could get Bezos and they could run endless spots on TV and everywhere that we are in an emergency, put the pressure on traitor party so they remove him

IDK but at some point we will have to consider that we are at war...for real.

[Guy Whitey Corngood]

2. I would assume that her and her repulsive scam-artist family have found a

way to profit from it.

[treestar]

28. +1

Look for investments in masks, tests, and treatments for COVID-19.

[milestogo]

3. Aren't some of their children in public schools?

[ProfessorGAC]

4. Here's My CT

In the recesses of their tiny, privileged rich minds, they know taxes on uber wealthy people cannot stay low forever.
Thinning the herd reduces future expenditures, hopefully holding off the inevitable tax increases on people like her, who are rich despite never working for any of it.

[Wounded Bear]

5. Good for her for-profit schools...nt

[stillcool]

11. yupper...there's always money to be made somewhere

shocking how low she goes to feather the nest.

[struggle4progress]

22. +

[Ohiogal]

6. She has stated

If public schools don’t open, they will take the funding earmarked for public schools and give it to private schools

[XanaDUer2]

7. They're using the pandemic as am excuse to

Funnel money to non-public schools. My two cents

[tblue37]

8. Her plan: require it. If they don't do it, withdraw federal funding. Give that funding to

private charter and religious schools.

Basically = defund public schools.

[Nancy Waterman]

9. If they open the schools

and they open day care, people can go back to work. Then unemployment is down and tax proceeds and commerce are up. Trump can pretend the economy is growing and doing well again. No thought to the collateral damage of death and destruction he is creating. He just wants the economy back on track in order to be a "winner" again. And opening the schools is the key. Without that, the economy continues to fail.

[not_the_one]

32. "Trump can pretend the economy is growing and doing well again" for about three weeks...

That is about how long it takes the new infections to manifest, at which point the spike goes even higher, they ALL get sick, parents can't work, students can't go to school, closures are reinstated.

This is going to backfire, bigly.

[Blue Owl]

10. She's just basking in tRump's reflected glory

Only there to serve him and his infantile needs...

[Hekate]

13. That woman is a blithering idiot -- but that's not a bug, it's a feature of why she got this job...

Have you noticed that the entire Cabinet is filled with people who hate/disrespect the very departments they were appointed to run?

Dana Bash did a good job trying to pin her down, but the tape ended after she said if parents were unhappy with the way their individual school was dealing with the pandemic, they were perfectly free to move their kids to another one.

Blithering entitled idiot who hates public schools.

[3catwoman3]

20. From the very first appointments, he has chosen people who either have ZERO...

...expertise in the area for which they were chosen, or do not approve of the existence of the department, and often both.

Give an additional layer of meaning to the phrase, “To the victor go the spoils.” Everything is despoiled.

[frazzled]

14. It's not her purview anyway

It’s up to individual school districts to make these decisions. She isn’t sending anyone back to school, because she doesn’t have the power to do so.

As for threatening to withhold funds to districts that don’t fully open, let em. Federal funds represent only 8% of school spending. Since everybody is in the hole already, this isn’t going to change much.

Ignore her, and ignore Trump, listen to the plans your state and local authorities are making, and direct negative or positive attention to them, as the case may be. DeVos is irrelevant.

[soothsayer]

16. Wouldn't mind someone asking her about the home schooled

Is she recommending they get sent back to schools in person because it’s so valuable?

[treestar]

29. And some statute provides for the funding, too

She can't just withhold them per her whim, I would bet.

[KT2000]

15. She is serving trump nt

[Midnight Writer]

17. Destroying public schools by making them unsafe.

[Arazi]

19. She openly said today that private schools are managing opening just fine

And followed that up with a comment that parents should have a "safe" choice where they send their children.

She's still trying to destroy public schools. The pandemic will provide ample opportunity to further her agenda by also stripping funding to those public schools who won't re-open.

She's an evil fucker

[Talitha]

21. Everyone should call every day and say your kids are sick.

[Cicada]

23. Children at home causes parents to not go to work, hurting job stats

Many can’t afford childcare. If a parent stays home it hurts job recovery Trump needs to be re-elected. DeVos is happy to infect kids and school workers if it keeps Trump in office.

[frazzled]

24. Many parents HAVE to go to work

Or lose their jobs. And this affects the lowest-wage workers most, and essential workers. Not everyone has the luxury to work from home. Not only do many risk losing their income, and the ability to pay the rent, but finding childcare is both extremely difficult (and risky) and expensive. These people are in a very difficult bind.

Think of the people who are barely hanging on and could lose everything if schools don’t reopen in at least some form. It has to be done in each municipality according to the health metrics in their community. Schools may have to close again if another wave comes.

In the meantime, most pediatricians are saying it should happen. They are scientists. I am willing to give it a try ( and I have a cherished granddaughter ready for first grade in the fall). I’m thinking that at least for September and October, a lot of classes could be held outdoors.

[Cicada]

36. Excellent points. Of course the bonus unemployment should be extended.

This crisis proves how much we need child care subsidies.

I think support for safety nets will surge after this disaster.

[gulliver]

25. Trump's wish is her command.

[WyattKansas]

26. If you kill students and teachers, while destroying the public school system...

It allows DeVos to embezzle more money and install her fucked up religious doctrine in public education.

[smirkymonkey]

27. What would be the protocol for getting rid of her?

Can it be done without the approval of Trump or the Senate?

[treestar]

30. So many have gotten fired

it's interesting that she is able to stick.

[smirkymonkey]

31. Trump keeps her around because she is as evil and soulless as he is.

She's not going anywhere unless the action comes from outside his administration.

[Snake Plissken]

33. It's just another way for these criminals to blame public education for their fuckups

they're doing it hoping the system is overwhelmed in the inner cities so they can blame it on the Democrats.

Make no mistake about it these fuckbags are evil to the core.

[Music Man]

34. They can pit parents and teachers/schools against each other.

They hope that the inconvenience of a less-than-full return to school will cause families to side with Trump.

"If Trump had had his way, we wouldn't have to be stressed about this right now."

Never mind the fact that were it not for such incompetent leadership, we wouldn't be in the public health crisis that brought us to this point.

[salin]

35. Pleasing the Master.. and protecting all the $ that go to the immeidate and extended family by govt

grift. ? Just a theory. Keep the money train rolling.