Tag Archives: public education

This is the galvanizing moment we’ve been waiting for… Democratic Senators are filibustering, teachers are outside the Capital protesting, and we’re effectively shutting down the offices of those who haven’t yet come out against Betsy DeVos

By Mark | February 6, 2017

[above: Photo by Evan Sutton from today’s protest in D.C. against embattled Secretary of Education nominee Betsy DeVos.] The Senate vote on Betsy DeVos, the pyramid scheme billionaire turned anti-public education crusader who’s attempting to buy her way into Trump’s Cabinet, was supposed to happen today. And, the way things looked this morning, she was […]

Posted in Civil Liberties, Politics, Uncategorized | Also tagged Betsy DeVos, buying influence, buying politicians, charter schools, confirmation hearings, Dean Heller, Deb Fischer, Debbie Stabenow, Department of Education, dismantling of public education, education reform, filibustering, for-profit charter schools, get the money out of Washington, John Hoeven, Pat Toomey, Patty Murray, protests, Secretary of Education, Senate, threats to public education | 20 Comments

Ypsi People Safeguarding Immigrants (Y.P.S.I.) to address the Ypsilanti School Board on Monday

By Mark | February 6, 2017

This Monday evening at 6:30, a number of concerned Ypsilantians will be gathering at the Ypsilanti Community Schools Administration Building [1885 Packard] to demand that the Ypsilanti School Board take aggressive action in the face of recent executive actions targeting immigrants. Kira Berman, Natalie Holbrook and Liz Dahl MacGregor, three of the women behind this […]

Posted in Civil Liberties, Uncategorized, Ypsilanti | Also tagged anti-immigrant, anti-immigration, discrimination, immigrant rights, immigrants, immigration, Kira Berman, Liz Dahl MacGregor, Muslim, Natalie Holbrook, non-discrimination, Washtenaw ID Project, YCS, Ypsi People Safeguarding Immigrants, Ypsilanti Community Schools, Ypsilanti School Board | 8 Comments

We’re just one Republican vote away from stopping Betsy DeVos from taking over the Department of Education

By Mark | February 1, 2017

Today, Republican Senators Susan Collins of Maine and Lisa Murkowski of Alaska announced on the floor of the Senate that they would not be voting to confirm President Trump’s nominee for Secretary of Education Betsy DeVos. Assuming neither Senator changes her mind between now and the vote, which is expected to happen as early as […]

Posted in Education, Politics, Uncategorized | Also tagged Betsy DeVos, Dan Sullivan, Dean Heller, Deb Fischer, dismantling of public education, education reform, Jeff Flake, Jerry Moran, Kansas, Lisa Murkowski, Nevada, Pat Toomey, Pennsylvania, school vouchers, Shelley Moore, Susan Collins of Maine, threats to public education, West Virginia | 16 Comments

The fight over the future of public education in America moves to the full Senate, as Betsy DeVos’s nomination for Secretary of Education passes out of committee

By Mark | February 1, 2017

The above photo was taken by my friend Al Hoff today outside an elementary school in Pittsburg. While I imagine it’s possible that someone could have hung the flag upside down by mistake, I suspect it probably has something to do with what’s happening right now in Washington relative to public education. [The upside down […]

Posted in A2Awesome, Education, Politics, Uncategorized | Also tagged Al Hoff, Alaska, Anchorage, Betsy DeVos, Cabinet, charter schools, confirmation hearings, Dick DeVos, dismantling of public education, education reform, for-profit charter schools, Lisa Murkowski, Maine, PTA, religious fundamentalism, religious intolerance, Secretary of Education, Senate, Senate Committee on Health Education Labor and Pensions, Susan Collins, threats to public education, virtual charters | 22 Comments

Elizabeth Warren grills Secretary of Education nominee Betsy DeVos, saying she’s unprepared to protect American tax-payers against the waste, fraud and abuse of higher ed swindlers like Trump

By Mark | January 18, 2017

There’s a lot to discuss about DeVos’s performance during yesterday’s confirmation hearing in front of the Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee. There’s one part in particular, however, that I’d like to share. It’s an exchange between the billionaire anti-public education activist and Senator Elizabeth Warren on the subject of how, as Trump’s Secretary […]