Thread by @NBCNews

As public schools grapple with the challenge of reopening, public education advocates are criticizing Education Sec. DeVos for working remotely from Michigan, where she owns a sprawling waterfront estate.

nbcnews.to/31FVuwy

By @HeidiNBC

(1/6) #NBCNewsThreads

@HeidiNBC DeVos is the nation's top education official as school administrators deal with one the biggest health crises facing the nation: how to safely bring 51,000,000 American children back into classrooms or administer virtual education during a pandemic. (2/6)

@HeidiNBC Questions persist as to why DeVos requires full-time protection from the U.S. Marshals Service — the only Cabinet official with such an arrangement.

In all, her security detail has cost taxpayers at least $25,000,000, @NBCNews has learned. (3/6)

@HeidiNBC DeVos told the Washington Examiner in June that she was working mostly remotely from Michigan — where she owns the 22,000-square-foot estate on Lake Macatawa — with a public schedule that has been mostly empty for the past several weeks. (4/6)

@HeidiNBC DeVos' press office says she has been in constant contact with governors and state superintendents virtually and in person.

Yet @NBCNews couldn't find a record of similar events with public school officials. (5/6)

@HeidiNBC Sec. DeVos declined to appear at a House coronavirus subcommittee hearing on safely reopening K-12 schools, Rep. Clyburn says.

"I offered to accommodate her schedule. But she refused to appear." (6/6)