Detroit Experts: Secretary DeVos and President Trump Gambling With Lives of Students, Teachers, and Parents By Forcing School Reopenings

DETROIT, Aug. 7, 2020 /PRNewswire/ -- Detroit experts heavily criticized U.S. Education Secretary Betsy DeVos and President Trump this week on a webinar hosted by the non-profit, Protect Our Public Schools (POPS). The webinar, "How Do We Safely Reopen Schools? Detroit Experts Weigh In," explored the current challenges and issues facing the Detroit Public Schools Community District (DPSCD) with the start of the new school year roughly a month away.

"Given the level of prevalence of COVID in the community right now, opening the schools [means] there will inevitably be cases," said Dr. Eric Kessell, a lecturer at Wayne State University specializing in public health and epidemiology. "If the decision is made to reopen in person, it'll be important to have those plans well-developed and published and vetted within the community."

President Trump and Secretary DeVos are pushing to force all schools to reopen across the country without a safe plan—regardless of local infection rates. Secretary DeVos has done little to ensure public school districts have personal protective equipment, school nurses, adequate building space, proper HVAC systems, or the expertise to guide schools through this crisis.

"Betsy DeVos, as well as Trump, the puppet master, is playing games with the lives of people all over the country," said Michigan Representative for District 8, Rep. Sherry Gay-Dagnogo. "You can't market your way into convincing parents that it's safe, or teachers that it's safe. There should be a rubric or some type of guideline to highlight checkoffs that show that the HVAC systems are up to date. If they're not new, that they are being serviced regularly."

President Trump and Secretary DeVos are pushing to force schools to reopen at a time when experts such as Dr. Deborah Birx, a member of the White House Coronavirus Task Force, are warning of increased and widespread COVID-19 transmission. Earlier this week, Dr. Birx said, "The epidemic right now is different, and it's more widespread and it's both rural and urban."

LaMar Lemmons, who served as President of the Detroit Board of Education and a former member of the Michigan House of Representatives, slammed the federal approach to reopening schools. "As the billionaire sports entertainment enterprise owners, and their millionaire players cannot protect themselves from COVID…if they're still continuously having outbreaks, how can we protect the least of [us] in the Detroit area," said Lemmons.

Parents, teachers, administrators and public school advocates have pointed to under-investment in education by the Trump Administration as an issue impacting public schools across the country. Out of the roughly $2.2 trillion in the CARES Act, only $13.5 billion of that went to K-12 public schools, or less than one percent.

U.S. Education Secretary Betsy DeVos is currently being sued by a coalition of attorneys general, including Michigan Attorney General Dana Nessel, for unlawfully diverting CARES Act dollars to wealthy, private schools.

"If the President's son's school is not opening, I don't understand why Betsy DeVos is sending money that should be for COVID protection to private schools that are going to do virtual learning," said Dr. Jimmy Womack, a retired physician and former President of the Detroit Board of Education. "What are they doing with that money?"

About Protect Our Public Schools

Protect Our Public Schools (POPS) is a community of teachers, retired educators, students, parents, and citizens who are dedicated to protecting our public schools. Protect Our Public Schools operates as a section 501(c)(4) tax exempt organization.

SOURCE Protect Our Public Schools

Related Links

https://protectourpublicschools.org