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Betsy DeVos Clashed With Top Teachers During Private Meeting

Education Secretary reportedly showed no support for teachers’ strikes across the country.

Education Secretary Betsy DeVos privately met with the 2018 Teachers of the Year from all 50 states Monday afternoon—and many educators left disappointed, the Huffington Post reports. Teachers told DeVos that the policies she supports have had “a negative effect on public schools,” including school-choice programs, which Oklahoma Teacher of the Year Jon Hazell said were “draining traditional public schools of resources in his state,” the report says. DeVos insisted that school choice allows children to get out of low-performing schools, and the exchange nearly devolved into a “verbal sparring session,” teachers said. She also spoke out against the recent teachers’ strikes in West Virginia, Oklahoma, and Arizona, saying that “teachers should be teaching” and “should be able to solve our problems not at the expense of children,” according to one person in the room. Overall, teachers described her as a “friendly, attentive listener,” the report says.