Mobilizing a proud school community
By Mary Symkowicz
When Betsy DeVos publicly insulted our school community in remarks before Congress last month, she reignited a passion shared by our students and our entire education team. Her mean-spirited remarks awoke paraeducators, teachers, support staff and administrators to the need to demonstrate our true commitment to a high-quality learning experience for all our children.
DeVos relayed an anecdotal story to a U.S. House Appropriations subcommittee, claiming a former student was passed through East Hartford (Conn.) Public Schools despite failing his classes. She asserted he was given “D” grades, describing them as a message that he wouldn’t “amount to much” and claimed that he “got a diploma, but not an education.”
This shameful attempt to exploit the personal struggle of a former student didn’t simply anger educators and our community; it moved us to take action.
Within days of initial testimony, we organized a rally outside the school with hundreds of educators, students, parents and local elected leaders to show our “East Hartford pride.” Our representative in Congress, John Larson, captured the sentiment shared by all in attendance when he said, “You attack one of us, you attack all of us.”
“The education secretary’s comments sounded more like shameful political opportunism than any sincere concern for the children.”
The news media was there to amplify our message, and editorials and opinion pieces published in the days since have echoed our call for respect from the federal education secretary. Several students spoke at our rally, and their presence reaffirmed the real reason that our district’s teachers and paraprofessionals were so offended by DeVos’s remarks: the children we educate.
While we can be proud of our whole community for coming together in response, it’s the reaction of our students that offers the most hope for the future. They not only turned out for our rally, but many also have reached out directly to DeVos to set the record straight on our schools.
In a joint letter, five of our students invited her to visit East Hartford, explaining “how our experiences in public schools have helped shape who we are today.” The juniors told the education secretary that they believe their teachers and support staff have positively impacted their lives, and they offered Betsy DeVos a tour of our high school.
Not only did she refuse their invitation, but she doubled down on her insults of our school community during a follow-up appearance before Congress. DeVos actually told members of the Senate Subcommittee on Labor, Health and Human Services, Education, and Related Agencies that her offensive remarks were “worth repeating.”
DeVos’ comments show that she has no idea about the progress our students have steadily made over the past two decades. Worse, her remarks demonstrate a total lack of understanding about how the White House’s budget blueprint would undo those gains.
Under the president’s proposal, our community would lose nearly $200,000 from an annual grant that supports vital before- and after-school programs and summer services through the 21st Century Community Learning Centers fund.We would also lose another $225,000 in resources for class-size reduction and teacher development efforts — critical to East Hartford, which has struggled in recent years with an educator shortage.
The education secretary’s comments at both hearings sounded more like shameful political opportunism than any sincere concern for the children of East Hartford. They came across as cover for President Trump’s proposed scheme to pay for vouchers with deep cuts to resources for traditional public schools like ours.
While our community would be particularly hard hit under the president’s budget, DeVos is promoting a special interest-driven agenda at the expense of all traditional neighborhood schools.
The Trump administration is asking Congress for $250 million to pay for a national competition to incentivize privatization of our public schools. This, despite recent research finding worse student outcomes in Indianapolis, Washington, D.C., Ohio and Louisiana after private-school voucher programs were implemented.
Despite DeVos’ dangerous agenda, it may not foretell the future of America’s schools if the nation rallies in the same way East Hartford has. Our high school valedictorian said it best at this year’s graduation: “We have shown we are people who consistently do the right thing.” He added that, “Our ability to respond the way we did is something we should all be proud of.”
This proud public school paraeducator couldn’t agree more.
Mary Symkowicz is a special education paraeducator at East Hartford Middle School, where she provides classroom support for students with severe developmental disabilities. She also serves as president of the East Hartford Federation of Paraprofessionals, AFT Local 4257, which represents about 140 paraeducators who support the district’s 8,000 students.
