Quarantine Diary #101 6/23/2020 Today the Protest Came to Us

I keep saying Len and I are not going to protests because of Covid.

But then one came to us.

Late yesterday afternoon we heard that Mike Pence and Betsy DeVos would be at a meeting this morning at Saratoga STEM school here in Waukesha. It's three blocks from our house. 

The meeting was to talk about school choice. School choice is when you take taxpayer education funds away from local schools, change neighborhood schools into “choice schools” that will attract kids from outside that neighborhood and then you underfund the neighborhood school that's left.

I volunteer at a “neighborhood” elementary school. Whittier is Waukesha's only neighborhood school and is central to much of the low-income housing in Waukesha. It was also designated as the primary school for special ed kids.  See how they did that?  Make special schools in  OTHER places while corralling kids "with issues" in one place.

Many of the kids I’ve I worked with over the years were bright little whippersnappers. The school board advice to families of those bright kids – is to send them to other schools. 

And then there’s the part where private contractors (friends of pols) can petition to open a school and get taxes to pay for it.  Or taxpayers can get vouchers to send their kids to religious schools.

The legacy of Jim Crow lives on.

There’s more to say but I am not an expert. 

Other than teachers are not allowed to talk their politics in school.  So how does a school administration meeting get turned into a campaign stop?  Here’s a clue. Outgoing superintendent of Waukesha schools is Todd Grey. Apparently his son works for the Trump administration, possibly in the White House.

…

Let's look at some photos relevant to today. 

This is Betsy DeVos' "cottage" in Holland, MI. 

 This is one of her yachts.

Betsy DeVos owns 10 boats, 2 helicopters, and has a yacht scheduler. Her yacht is registered in the Cayman Islands, so is not subject to state property tax.