Outgoing Education Secretary Betsy DeVos encouraged officials within the Department of Education to keep their “focus on students” as they transition from the Trump administration to the Biden administration during a department-wide meeting Tuesday.
DeVos told career employees of the department, who will serve across multiple administrations of both parties, to “keep your focus on students. Keep your focus on their aspirations and their achievements.” She stressed the importance of avoiding distractions from that mission, according to a transcript from Department of Education press secretary Angela Morabito.
DeVos characterized a tendency of some in Washington to focus on schools, not students, which she said was too common in D.C.
“Many of you know well that most everything in this town, when it comes to education, is focused on schools—not students. So, let me leave you with this last plea: resist. Be ‘the resistance’ against a familiar force that will distract you from doing what’s right for students,” she said. (RELATED: We Asked Teachers Unions Nationwide Why They Oppose Reopening Schools. Here’s What They Said)
It is unclear whether DeVos will vacate her post prior to Jan. 20, as some other members of the Trump administration have opted to do. President-elect Joe Biden has yet to name his choice to be the next education secretary.
Latino lawmakers are lobbying Joe Biden to nominate Lily Eskelsen García for Education secretary.
She’s the former president of the country’s biggest teacher’s unionhttps://t.co/Z5kBqi4Jtl
— POLITICO (@politico) December 8, 2020
DeVos summarized her tenure in the meeting by saying “our aim in everything we accomplished was to do what’s right for students.” Notable policy changes that occurred under her leadership include Title IX reform and increased promotion of school choice.