The Sconi

U.S. Education Secretary Betsy DeVos and the Trump administration are standing firm on reopening schools this fall but are receiving considerable pushback over what DeVos calls "doing what is right for students."

Steve Elliott, president of Neighbors for Public Schools, told The Sconi that he questioned whether this approach is right for students.

"How many Wisconsin children will become sick – or even die – if Secretary DeVos and Trump force schools to fully reopen?" Elliott said. "It's completely unacceptable for them to gamble with the lives of our children."

DeVos' drive to reopen schools has received much criticism, not all of it credible. Despite Internet social media posts, she never said "only" 2 percent of children will die if the schools were to reopen.

On July 12, DeVos did tell Fox NewsSunday host Chris Wallace that "there's nothing in the data that suggests that kids being in school is in any way dangerous."

"We know that children contract and have the virus at far lower incidence than any other part of the population and we know that other countries around the world have reopened their schools and have done so successfully and safely, and kids there are going back to school every day," DeVos said. "That has got to be the posture here.

"Parents are expecting that this fall their kids are going to have a full-time experience with their learning, and we need to follow through on that promise."

The following day, the New York Times published a story with a headline saying DeVos "Abandons a lifetime of local advocacy to demand schools reopen."

DeVos recently told Fox News' Bill Hemmer, in response to threatened teacher strikes, that "parents and children can't be held captive to others' fears or agendas."

"We have got to get to a point in this country where we are supporting our families and our focus is on doing what is right for students," DeVos said during the Hemmer interview.