No to DeVos & Other Unqualified Candidates
This morning* (in Thailand), I got an email my mom forwarded from the ACLU, asking me if I had submitted an email message through their site to our Senators.
I clicked through, input my information, edited / added to the text provided (my version below), and submitted my message. I urge you to do the same as soon as possible:
I find it deeply disturbing that more of our civil servants and representatives aren’t taking a stronger stand to ensure that we have competent, capable, and qualified people in positions of power.
Nothing about DeVos or her background and experience warrants this appointment, and, beyond her lack of qualification, she is a threat to our public schools and students around the country.
DeVos’ support for vouchers could drain public schools of desperately needed resources, and it would likely deprive some students of civil rights protections they would otherwise get in public schools.
Her support for states deciding on protections for students with disabilities could undermine hard-won laws like the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act and the Americans with Disabilities Act. And DeVos made no specific commitment to protect LGBT students in her confirmation hearing. It’s shameful that we need a reminder that LGBT and disabled students are equal to all others and are America’s children too.
Please have the strength of character and devotion to your duties to ensure that the heads of our country’s education and other departments are qualified for their roles and will work to move all of America into the future — not back into the past.
