Dems Send Bicameral Letter Pressing DeVos on Head of Office for Civil Rights

Dems Send Bicameral Letter Pressing DeVos on Head of Office for Civil Rights
Fifty Democrats in Congress -- led by Senators Cory Booker (D-NJ) and Mazie Hirono (D-HI), as well as Congressman Jared Polis (D-CO) andCongresswoman Lisa Blunt Rochester (D-DE) -- are urging Secretary of Education Betsy DeVos to nominate a "qualified individual" to run the Department of Education's Office for Civil Rights. In a letter sent yesterday, they singled out Candice Jackson, the acting Assistant Secretary for Civil Rights, for displaying a "hostility towards the very mission and functions of the office she is charged to lead." Citing the department's approach under her watch to policies involving students of color, English-language learners, LGBTQ students, among others, the members call for an OCR nominee that has “an unrelenting belief that every student regardless of race, religion, disability, country of origin, sex, sexual orientation, or gender identity has the right to be at school every day, feel safe, and treated with dignity without the burden of discrimination.” Education Week has more here.