OPINION: An open letter to Betsy DeVos
You must be eager to get to work in your new role as Secretary of Education.
As you begin to make your transition, we welcome you any day of the week, announced or unannounced, to visit our classroom!
You will see students asking and answering questions that probe into a text’s complexities, and that challenge them to consider issues from multiple perspectives. You will see diversity, including kids of different ethnic, racial and religious backgrounds. You will see affluent students working alongside kids whose families struggle to provide them with a breakfast before school starts. You will see kids who spent the night in the trunk of a car because they don’t have a home and kids who have been the victims of bullying, even some who have experienced suicide and homicide personally. You will see students who are learning to speak English as well as many students with physical and cognitive disabilities.