Late last month, U.S. Secretary of Education Betsy DeVos gave a high-profile speech at Harvard University on school choice鈥攈er number-one policy priority. But afterward, all anyone could seem to talk about were the protestors yelling, 鈥淭his is what white supremacy looks like!鈥�
The problem for DeVos鈥攁rguably the best-known and most controversial secretary in the department鈥檚 30-plus-year history鈥攊s that her public appearances also provide a platform for her harshest critics, even months after her rocky confirmation process made her a social-media sensation.
And often, their message drowns out hers. The turmoil that surrounds DeVos challenges her ability to leverage her position as the nation鈥檚 top education official and to push an already divisive agenda, including creating a new voucher program and revamping Title IX guidance as it relates to sexual assault.
The protests 鈥渄on鈥檛 bother me,鈥� DeVos said in a recent interview with 91直播. She still sees the bully pulpit as one of her best bets for drawing attention to the schools she thinks are providing the kind of individualized instruction that students need.
Just last month, DeVos took her most high-profile trip yet, swinging through six states to visit private and both traditional and charter public schools that offer students鈥� unique learning experiences. The tour was a chance to 鈥渞eally highlight and expose to more people the beauty of options and choices and to continue to make the case that all parents, not only ones that have the economic means, should be able to have a decisionmaking power to make some of those choices,鈥� DeVos said in her interview.
But Maria Ferguson, who served as the director of communications and outreach services at the Education Department during the Clinton administration, said the secretary has a long way to go in getting educators to take her seriously.
鈥淪he came into office with guns blasting public education. ... I don鈥檛 think people forget that,鈥� said Ferguson, who is now the president of the Center on Education Policy, a research and advocacy organization that is affiliated with George Washington University. 鈥淵ou earn the bully pulpit, you don鈥檛 just get to have it. ... People have to believe you鈥檙e there for the right reasons. I don鈥檛 think people trust her.鈥�
Only Option
Still, with DeVos鈥� school choice agenda stalled on Capitol Hill, her ability to command attention is one of few levers she has left, said Chester E. Finn, who worked at the department under President Ronald Reagan and is now a distinguished senior fellow at the Thomas B. Fordham Institute.
鈥淚 think a perfectly plausible way to foster choice is to celebrate schools that do it well and encourage states to do more of it,鈥� he said. 鈥淏ut I also don鈥檛 think she has very many alternatives right now.鈥�
Public messaging holds a particular allure for GOP education secretaries, who have ideas they want to see take root but aren鈥檛 wild about creating a spate of new programs, Finn said. And it can yield results.
Terrel H. Bell, Reagan鈥檚 first education secretary, helped launch a national dialogue on the need to improve America鈥檚 schools by commissioning the landmark 1983 report 鈥淎 Nation at Risk.鈥� Lamar Alexander who was President George H.W. Bush鈥檚 second education secretary and now leads the Senate education committee, barnstormed the country as secretary, urging districts to sign on to a set of educational goals developed with the nation鈥檚 governors.
More recently, President Barack Obama鈥檚 second education secretary, John B. King Jr., encouraged states to include college readiness and chronic absenteeism in their accountability plans for the Every Student Succeeds Act鈥攁nd the vast majority took his advice. And Obama鈥檚 first secretary, Arne Duncan, took every opportunity he could to draw attention to the impact of gun violence on children.
In some respects, DeVos may be in an even better position to use her platform as secretary to get attention. After all, she commands more media focus than almost all of her predecessors.
鈥淓verywhere she goes, she gets coverage,鈥� said Matt Frendewey, who worked on communications for DeVos at both the Education Department and at the American Federation for Children, the school choice advocacy organization she chaired before becoming secretary. 鈥淓very time she raises a point, it鈥檚 discussed and debated.鈥� That鈥檚 helped open up a conversation on school choice, he said.
But he acknowledged the secretary is fighting a polarized climate.
鈥淭he dynamic is no longer about civil debate,鈥� he said. 鈥淚t manifests itself in this 鈥榬esist鈥� mentality. As in, 鈥業鈥檓 not going to debate why a policy is good or bad, I鈥檓 going to resist it.鈥� 鈥�
Social-Media Smackdown
To be sure, some of DeVos鈥� early stumbles haven鈥檛 helped matters. After her first visit to a public school in the District of Columbia, for example, she said the teachers there were in 鈥渞eceive mode,鈥� prompting an angry response on Twitter. And she put out a statement saying that historically black colleges and universities were 鈥減ioneers鈥� of choice, ignoring their Jim Crow roots.
Other comments鈥攍ike appearing to compare public schools to old-fashioned taxis and schools of choice to Uber鈥攈ave continued to rub people the wrong way.
At least initially, DeVos, 鈥渢ended to focus more negative than positive messages,鈥� said Grover J. 鈥淩uss鈥� Whitehurst, a senior fellow at the Brookings Institution, who served as the director of the Institute of Education Sciences during the George W. Bush administration. 鈥淚 think she鈥檇 be well advised to catch the system when it鈥檚 being good and draw attention to it.鈥� And he suggested she keep showing up. 鈥淪he needs to be out and about so people get tired of protesting her.鈥�
At the same time, DeVos has to contend with a level of vitriol that no other education secretary has encountered鈥攁nd it isn鈥檛 just confined to her public appearances.
A sampling of comments on DeVos鈥� Instagram feed, responding to a picture of a sunset over a high school football field: 鈥淓vil wench I hope you burn in hell"; 鈥淵ou are a vile human being and should be ashamed"; 鈥淓veryone hates you go away!鈥� 鈥淵ou are a cancer to our educational institutions"; 鈥淵ou are repugnant and a disgrace.鈥�
That kind of bile makes DeVos 鈥渓ook sympathetic鈥� by comparison, said Mark Hlavacik, an assistant professor of communication studies at the University of North Texas in Denton and the author of Assigning Blame: The Rhetoric of Education Reform.
But he added that DeVos鈥� critics didn鈥檛 exactly invent trolling someone online鈥攁nd her boss, President Donald Trump, has elevated it to an art form. 鈥淭he administration she works for has authorized this kind of discourse,鈥� Hlavacik said, even though he doesn鈥檛 think that absolves DeVos鈥� most antagonistic detractors.
Some have wondered if sexism is at play in the response to DeVos. After all, Trump鈥檚 male cabinet members don鈥檛 seem to be the target of as many personal attacks.
Hlavacik agrees, but thinks that鈥檚 not the whole story.
鈥淚s there sexism? Yes,鈥� he said. 鈥淚t鈥檚 also the same sexism that made it OK [for Trump] to call [Democratic presidential contender] Hillary Clinton a 鈥榥asty woman鈥� and still get elected.鈥� And DeVos has advantages that many people do not, he added. 鈥淭hat DeVos is a target of sexism doesn鈥檛 wipe away the other privileges she鈥檚 had that are part of how she became secretary of education,鈥� Hlavacik said. 鈥淢ost people aren鈥檛 as wealthy as she is. She is a white woman. That matters.鈥�
Political Visits
Schools that host DeVos sometimes feel the need to do their own politicking ahead of the secretary鈥檚 visit.
Kory Gallagher, the head of school at Kansas City Academy, a small private school in Missouri that DeVos stopped by on her recent tour, said there was a 鈥渟mall but vocal minority who felt the offer to visit should be rescinded.鈥�
The school serves a highly diverse population, including a number of transgender students who were stung by the administration鈥檚 decision to rescind Obama-era guidance permitting students to use the restroom that matches their gender identity.
鈥淲e have this educational philosophy that鈥檚 really progressive,鈥� Gallagher said. 鈥淔or some of our students, what the Trump administration represents seems to be a threat to the way we live our lives every day.鈥�
Gallagher ultimately helped the school community accept DeVos鈥� visit in the spirit of 鈥渃ommunication and dialogue.鈥�
DeVos was met by more than 150 protestors outside the academy. The local television reports focused mostly on that鈥攂ut radio and print media showcased the school, Gallagher said. Some reporters who had been covering education in Missouri for years told him they didn鈥檛 know about the decades-old academy until DeVos鈥� visit.
Gallagher liked that DeVos seemed genuinely interested in getting to know his students, even when the cameras weren鈥檛 rolling. 鈥淪ometimes, she鈥檚 cast as being evil. I have a hard time seeing her as evil after watching her interact鈥� with the school. That doesn鈥檛 mean he thinks she鈥檚 on the right track from a policy perspective. 鈥淪ome of her solutions, I think, leave something to be desired,鈥� he said.
And that鈥檚 a big part of the problem, said Pedro Noguera, a professor of education at the University of California, Los Angeles, whose research focuses on how schools are influenced by social and economic conditions.
If she wants to change hearts and minds, DeVos needs to move off choice and talk about one of the 鈥渕otherhood and apple pie鈥� issues in K-12鈥擲TEM education, he said, referring to science, technology, engineering, and math, or maybe early childhood鈥攁nd back it up with policy.
鈥淚f she were to exercise leadership on one of those issues, it could help in winning some people over or at least getting them to back off,鈥� Noguera said.
But for now, 鈥淚 feel like people know who she is and what she鈥檚 about, and [they think] she does have a track record and it鈥檚 not good for public school. I think that鈥檚 what the protests are about.鈥�
