BETSY DEVOS/EDUCATION/JUSTICE DEPARTMENT/TRUMP PEOPLE: “Education Secretary Betsy DeVos held sessions with supporters and detractors of an Obama-era school-discipline policy on Wednesday [4-4-18] amid signs the department is weighing the rule’s repeal. The 2014 discipline policy, developed jointly by the Education and Justice departments, directed schools to ensure that they didn’t disproportionately punish black and Hispanic students. It recommended that schools look to cut the use of out-of-school suspensions, a directive that rankled some conservatives who say the policy has created a less safe environment. Also Wednesday, a report by the Government Accountability Office, Congress’s research arm, found that black students, boys and students with disabilities continue to be suspended and expelled at disproportionate rates. Districts nationwide undertook efforts to curtail suspensions began before the Obama administration policy was enacted, the report found.”
–Michelle Hackman, “DeVos Hears Arguments on Obama-Era School Discipline,” The Wall Street Journal, April 4, 2018 7:51 pm