The president of one of the nation’s largest teachers’ unions is condemning those protesters who attempted to block Secretary of Education Betsy DeVos from entering a Washington, D.C., public school she was scheduled to visit on Friday.
“We don’t condone such acts,” tweeted Randi Weingarten, president of the American Federation of Teachers (AFT) union. “We want her to go to pub schls.”
DeVos, a supporter of charter schools and school vouchers, was greeted by a small group of protesters who blocked her entrance to the front door of Jefferson Middle School Academy and then shouted at her. The secretary reportedly left the area and entered the school instead through the rear door.
Newly confirmed DeVos encountered an unprecedented amount of controversy over her nomination, which ended in a historic move by Vice President Mike Pence who broke a tie vote in the Senate to confirm her.
The teachers’ unions, allies of the Democrat Party, staged protests and urged teachers and parents to flood senators’ offices with phone calls, emails, and faxes objecting to DeVos’s confirmation. The unions and their supporters claim DeVos will attempt to privatize public schools.
Weingarten also tweeted: