Education Secretary Betsy DeVos Calls For In-Person Learning 'As Much As Possible' During Garland Charter School Visit
GARLAND, Texas (CBSDFW.COM) - U.S. Secretary of Education Betsy DeVos made a stop in North Texas Thursday for a roundtable discussion at International Leadership of Texas' high school in Garland.
She spoke to students, parents and educators about the challenges they're currently facing during the coronavirus pandemic and how they're addressing them.
The purpose of Secretary DeVos' trip was to see how this public charter school is handling the pandemic.
Only about 15% of the high school's 650-plus students are currently attending in person.
The rest are still participating in at-home learning, so there's been a big priority put on improving technology.
During the roundtable, Secretary DeVos pointed out because of the pandemic, parents are more aware of what's going on with their child's education.
She says across the country, many are opting to make different choices for their children's schooling this fall based on a variety of factors.
DeVos has long been a proponent of school choice and reiterated that Thursday.
She said she believes because of the pandemic, the options will continue to expand, which she said she supports.
As coronavirus cases again increase in several North Texas counties, DeVos she was asked what should happens if this continues.
"I think the key is that kids have the opportunity to keep learning full-time and we know it's important for most kids to be learning in person and really the goal needs to be to do that as much as possible," she said.
During her visit, Secretary DeVos said multiple times, schools need to be nimble and flexible when addressing the pandemic and leaders at the local level should be making the decisions for their specific situations.