‘Talked to Three People and Pet a Dog’: Parkland Student Survivors Say Betsy DeVos’ Visit Was ‘Just for Publicity’

‘You Came to Our School Just for Publicity and Avoided Our Questions’

Student survivors of the Parkland, Florida massacre are speaking out against Secretary of Education Betsy DeVos who visited Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School Wednesday morning but met with few students and refused to discuss gun control or her desire to arm teachers.

Upon learning that DeVos at the last minute had decided to visit her school, student survivor Sarah Chadwick posted a tweet Tuesday evening saying, “Literally no one asked for this.”

After DeVos’ very short visit – possibly just 90 minutes – and even shorter press event – 8 minutes, several students posted tweets denouncing the Education Secretary.

In response to this tweet from DeVos:

Student survivor Aly Sheehy wrote:

Alanna, another survivor, posted this tweet which quickly went viral:

DeVos did, perhaps, pet a dog.

“For students who were actually in the building and involved, it’s very tough,” she told reporters after her visit. “I did note, however, that there are a number of helper dogs around the school.”

Another student survivor who goes by Kyra on Twitter said that “Devos spoke to me and only a hand full of students.”

After NCRM and other news outlets reported that DeVos spent little time with students and didn’t actually have any actual dialogue with them, her office put out a press release.

“Today, U.S. Secretary of Education Betsy DeVos met with students, teachers and administrators at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Florida,” the statement claims. It says she spoke “with school counselors and “greet[ed] support staff who have been temporarily working at Stoneman Douglas.”

Secretary DeVos then “arrived at the auditorium for a ‘Personalization Course’ and to talk with students and teachers who were working on individual projects.”

It’s unclear what a “personalization course” is, although it likely relates to individualizing instruction and tailoring approaches based on how each student learns. So, it’s unclear why that would have been part of the Secretary’s visit.