Letters: Education nominee needs schooling

It seems that anti-Common Core protesters who rallied for President Donald Trump have gotten exactly what they asked for with his nominee for Secretary of Education: billionaire donor and conservative activist Betsy DeVos [“Wrong leader for education,” Editorial, Jan. 27]. When asked about Common Core, she states, “I am not a supporter — period.”

I hope the #TeamOptOut isn’t too hasty in celebrating.

In watching the recent confirmation hearings and interviews, we’ve learned DeVos also wants to practically eliminate traditional public schools through issuing vouchers and reduce regulation of charter schools. She didn’t appear to have done her homework on the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act, the rights students with disabilities in all schools are entitled to, nor the differences between proficiency scores and growth scores.

I don’t blame the opt-out crowd fully for Trump’s election and his ability to damage our public school systems and education process. But those desperate to knock out Common Core and standardized testing may be getting more than they wished for.

Melody Butler, Lindenhurst

Now we have a president whose millionaire father sent him to private schools and who has nominated as secretary of education a billionaire who never attended a public school — and neither did her children.

New York has a lot of school choice. In New York City, for example, there is the Automotive High School, the High School of Graphic Communication Arts and the Manhattan High School of Aviation Trades. In Nassau County, BOCES provides myriad options.

“Failing schools” occur in neighborhoods that are largely transient, not those that are relative stable. We in the business of education have a greater understanding of the complexity of the problem than those who never sat in a seat in a public school.

Arnold Holtzman, Plainview

Editor’s note: The writer is a retired teacher.