Philadelphia educators out in force against DeVos; 1 raises $40K for the cause

Jessica Tilli's days are packed as a teacher leader at Meredith Elementary School in South Philadelphia, but she spends spare minutes calling, emailing, and even faxing lawmakers to stop what she believes is a looming crisis for the children she teaches.

"I really can't believe that an incompetent billionaire is buying oversight of 50 million schoolchildren," Tilli said.

Progressives of all stripes have mounted an all-out attack on President Trump's nomination of prominent Republican donor and school-choice and voucher advocate Betsy DeVos as education secretary.

In Philadelphia, teachers have taken her selection particularly seriously.

Tilli said she has long been passionate about public education, but has no experience planning protests. Still, she scheduled one for Friday after school, and hundreds converged outside Sen. Patrick Toomey's Philadelphia office to demand he vote against Trump's pick, who has never attended or sent children to a public school.

It's far from the first Philadelphia action aimed at Toomey. It wasn't even the first one this week.

Toomey has pledged support for DeVos, whose nomination will go to a final  Senate vote next week. Although two Republicans have said they will oppose DeVos, it appears she will win confirmation.

But no votes have been taken, Tilli points out, and as long as that's the case, she and other teachers — and parents and others — will rally in every way they can imagine.

"If teachers and students and families and supporters of public education do not protest DeVos, then we're sending a message that we do not object," Tilli said.

DeVos has been criticized for her performance at her confirmation hearing, appearing confused about key provisions of federal law. She was not clear, for instance, on the Department of Education's role in enforcing the federal Individuals With Disabilities Education Act, saying it should be left to the states to decide how to handle it.

Opposing DeVos feels personal to Dave Malone, a teacher at Widener Memorial School.

Widener is the Philadelphia School District's school for children with medical and physical disabilities, and that a potential education secretary would appear to be unfamiliar with the federal law that guarantees rights for its children is beyond frightening, he said.

So he's spending his spare time dialing to protest DeVos — mostly phoning Toomey, whose offices have been so blanketed by calls that getting through is usually impossible. Malone might eat his lunch while making calls, or spend time after school trying to get through. And he's enlisted help.

"I'm trying to fire up the teachers in my building, getting them to call senators around the country to let them know that we're not happy," Malone said. "Every phone call counts. I encourage them to call several times. Some of them may not hear us — they oppose what we think — but they're taking note that we're calling."

Teachers' unions across the country have been pushing hard on DeVos, and Hillary Linardopoulos, the Philadelphia Federation of Teachers' legislative representative, said Philadelphia teachers have shown up in force.

By PFT estimates, teachers have logged 5,000 calls to senators urging them to vote her down, Linardopoulos said — one teacher recently sent her a screen shot from her phone, noting that the teacher had made 100 calls to Toomey's office in a day, getting voicemail only once.

The rest of the calls, she said, yielded busy signals or were not answered.

"I think our members really see the significance of calling out our elected officials when they are not standing up for our kids," Linardopoulos said. "It's about our moral compass. People are furious, and they've shown that they're willing to fight.

"Until the final vote is in taken, this is in play."

Katherine Fritz, a South Philadelphia teaching artist and adjunct community college professor, has also taken up the cause. Furious at the DeVos nomination, she launched a GoFundMe campaign to raise $55,800 — the amount DeVos' family donated to Toomey's campaign — to "buy Pat Toomey's vote," she wrote breezily on the GoFundMe page.

"Betsy DeVos has never set foot in a classroom, did not send her children to public school, cannot distinguish between proficiency and growth, and thinks that guns should be allowed in schools in the event of grizzly attacks. That fictitious grizzly is about as qualified as Ms. DeVos to run the Department of Education," Fritz wrote.

As of Friday afternoon, she had raised over $40,000. (She will donate the funds to a girls' leadership camp in Philadelphia, the Children's Literacy Initiative, and the Pennsylvania Arts Education Network -- organizations that will need the funds in the Trump era, she said.)

Fritz said she watched every minute of DeVos' confirmation hearing in horror, pretty sure that she knew more than DeVos about public education.

And that Toomey seems "poised to vote for her despite the fact that every educator I know has been calling and faxing his office every day begging him to listen to them, I just — it seems like such a blatant display of conflicts of interest," Fritz said. "This shouldn't be OK."

She is astounded that her online, jokey plea for funds has gone viral.

"But I think it speaks to the anger and frustration and passion that a lot of people are feeling on this issue right now," Fritz said. "They've already tweeted, Facebooked, emailed, petitioned, called, faxed, sent letters and protested, and when you don't feel like your voice is being heard, well, maybe if I get out my credit card, it will send a message."

City Councilwoman Helen Gym, a longtime public education activist, has also been vocal on the issue. On Wednesday, she and disability-rights advocates scored a coup, rallying outside Toomey's Philadelphia office and even managing to hand-deliver a letter to a Toomey staffer.

Thought it looks like DeVos will be confirmed, Gym said, this is not the end.

"Whoever gets confirmed doesn't even know what they've got coming," Gym said. "When we can organize our communities at this level, it is setting the parameters about how we're going to fight for public education. The fight is being shaped by the communities."