Critics Ask Where Education Secretary DeVos Is While Schools Open

Public education advocates are questioning why Education Secretary Betsy DeVos is keeping a low profile and working remotely from her Michigan estate at a time when public schools and parents are facing a challenge over whether children should be returning to in-person classes while the coronavirus pandemic continues.

Michigan-based group Protect Our Public Schools has been sponsoring a mobile billboard that calls for DeVos to "stop hiding in your mansion." The group will also travel to Holland, Michigan, where the secretary's summer home is located, reports NBC News.

Critics are also noting that a Grand Rapids aviation charter school founded by DeVos' husband, Dick, is offering an option that will be fully virtual this fall. 

"What Betsy DeVos and Donald Trump are doing is equivalent to sending our military in harm's way without ammunition or bulletproof vests. Except nobody signed up for this," the Michigan group's vice president, Ellen Offen, a former teacher at Detroit Public Schools, commented. "It is simply gambling with the lives of our children, teachers, and school parents. It is totally unacceptable."

DeVos has often come under fire while serving as education secretary, as she is a major GOP donor and a charter school advocate who had no experience with public education before being named to her position. 

In June, DeVos told The Washington Examiner that she would be working remotely from Michigan, where she also owns a 22,000-square-foot estate on Lake Macatawa. However, her public schedule has been mainly empty, including this week when schools are already starting to reopen. 

Education Department spokeswoman Angela Morabito said DeVos has been dividing her time between Michigan and Washington, and she has been in some events that are not listed on her public calendar, including several that were sponsored by the conservative Federalist Society.

DeVos has also participated in some events related to private schools, but NBC could not find a record of her participating in similar events concerning public schools. 

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