“I thought that she would at least give us her ‘thoughts and prayers,’ but she refused to even meet/speak with students. I don’t understand the point of her being here.”
This entire administration is completely tone-deaf.
On Wednesday, the Secretary of Education, Betsy DeVos, visited Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School, the site of a mass slaughter less than a month ago. And it didn’t go well.
The event itself was closed to the press. But DeVos said afterwards that she was accompanied by student reporters the entire time she was at the school. According to the students, that was a lie.
Student senior reporter Carly Novell said on Twitter:
One student from each publication (tv prod./newspaper/yearbook) was able to see her and take pictures of her, no one followed her. We are part of a school publication and it's our job to report on a public figure visiting the school. https://t.co/zE48UAFZky
— carly (@car_nove) March 7, 2018
Novell said that, despite what DeVos said, the Education Secretary didn’t talk to any of the MSD students.
I thought she would at least give us her "thoughts and prayers," but she refused to even meet/speak with students. I don't understand the point of her being here
— carly (@car_nove) March 7, 2018
And Joy Resmovits from the Los Angeles Times said that DeVos’ press conference following her visit to the school ended abruptly.
DeVos leaves the press room after answering only a few questions following her visit to MSD:
OH from reporters:
"Hmm?"
"Are you kidding me?"
"That was so abrupt."That's all, folks. I'll be looking to see what @car_nove and #MSDstrong Eagle Eye reporters write.
— Joy (@Joy_Resmovits) March 7, 2018
The Daily Beast’s James LaPorta posted a video of the press conference saying it lasted only 8 minutes.
Education Secretary @BetsyDeVosED only answered around five questions during her press conference here in #Parkland #Florida I was lucky enough to get one of them along with a follow up. You can watch here https://t.co/6IWW7kn0Jr #BetsyDeVos
— James LaPorta (@JimLaPorta) March 7, 2018
You can see in the video that DeVos refused to even address any of the specific gun safety policies like banning assault rifles. She also avoided Trump’s asinine idea of arming teachers.
I guess the Trump administration wanted a cheap photo-op at the Florida high school that just suffered an unimaginable tragedy. But sending Betsy DeVos was a stupid mistake. This whole event was an epic fail.
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