The dangerous game of Betsy DeVos

Education Secretary Betsy DeVos waits to testify before a House subcommittee hearing on Capitol Hill in Washington on March 20.AP PHOTO

While it was laughable to see Education Secretary Betsy DeVos mocked on “Saturday Night Live,” or struggle to answer even basic questions about the American educational system during an abysmal interview on “60 Minutes,” the potential for long-term damage to the nation’s education system should be even more concerning. Her ideas, or more likely the marching orders she gets from the Trump administration, put schoolchildren, especially students of color, at risk.

Testifying before Congress this week, DeVos seemed perplexed when asked by California congresswoman Barbara Lee how President Trump’s proposal to arm teachers might impact kids of color, who are disciplined at disproportionate levels compared to white students.

“Should the president’s view prevail, do you see why black and brown students are really worried and anxious about this?” Lee said. “Very clear to me.”

It was less clear to DeVos, who is leading Trump’s federal school safety commission. This much, however, is clear: DeVos will probably repeal President Obama’s “Rethinking School Discipline” policy.

Hoping to break the school-to-prison pipeline, Obama’s education secretary, Arne Duncan, in 2014 announced guidelines to help administrators mete out discipline that would not discriminate against students on the basis of race, color, or national origin. According to federal statistics, black students are four times more likely than white students to be suspended or expelled for similar offenses. Students with disabilities are also more than twice as likely as their peers to be suspended.

Earlier this month, Senator Marco Rubio of Florida sent a letter to DeVos and Attorney General Jeff Sessions, who is also on the school safety commission. He claimed, “federal guidance [on discipline] may have contributed to systemic failures to report [the Parkland Florida high school shooting suspect’s] dangerous behaviors to local law enforcement.”

Rubio overlooks the fact that the Parkland shooting suspect had been expelled from Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School and, according to his caretaker, had been reported to police on multiple occasions.

This is yet another diversionary GOP tactic meant to look like meaningful action against gun violence. It’s been more than a month since 17 people were shot to death at Stoneman Douglas, and the Republican-controlled Congress has done nothing to address gun reform. While Trump blames school violence on video games, Florida, in defiance of the NRA, recently signed into a law a ban on so-called bump stocks; raised the assault-rifle purchase age to 21; and created a waiting period for prospective gun buyers. These are incremental moves, but compared to inaction on the federal level, they look like giant steps.

If history is any guide, minority students will be targeted for harsher penalties, though no students of color have committed any of the school shootings fueling the current debate. Rescinding the Obama-era discipline policy won’t deter mass shootings in schools. Meanwhile, DeVos, charged with protecting students, will do little as weapons of war continue to terrorize a generation of schoolchildren already too familiar with active-shooter drills and vigils for the dead.