Education Secretary Betsy DeVos told career staffers in a speech during a department-wide virtual meeting to “be the resistance” against the incoming Biden administration.
Said DeVos according to a recording obtained by Politico: “Let me leave you with this plea: Resist. Be the resistance against forces that will derail you from doing what’s right for students. In everything you do, please put students first — always.
Politico adds: “The secretary told Education Department employees on Tuesday that her goal ‘in everything we accomplished was to do what’s right for students,’ adding that ‘four years later it’s still my focus and it’s still my hope for all of you.’ She touted her overhaul of Title IX rules governing sexual assault and misconduct in schools and colleges as one of her major accomplishments.”
A 2019 report from the Center for American Progress (CAP) based on the Education Department’s data shows DeVos’s dismal failure to protect LGBTQ students throughout her tenure.
Grilled by Congressman Mark Pocan in 2019 if she thinks “it’s all right for a school to discriminate based on someone’s sexual orientation or gender identity,” DeVos wouldn’t say.
Throughout her tenure, DeVos has refused to say that schools receiving funding from the federal government would be punished for discriminating against LGBTQ students.
In response to Pocan’s questioning, DeVos dodged once again: “We have laws that cover discriminatory efforts and our office for civil rights has continued to be very diligent in investigating any allegation of discrimination, and will continue to do so.”
Throughout her tenure, DeVos refused to say that schools receiving funding from the federal government would be punished for discriminating against LGBTQ students.
