Accepts post with national organization
Secretary Dan French will be leaving his job leading the Vermont Agency of Education next month to take a senior leadership role at the Council of Chief State School Officers, Gov. Phil Scott said today.
“Secretary French has been a critical member of my team for over four years, leading the Agency through unimaginable challenges in the wake of the pandemic,” said Governor Scott. “I could always count on Dan to provide sound advice, putting the needs of students, parents and educators at the forefront. He has dedicated his life to public service, first in the U.S. Army, then as an educator and as a public school administrator. I’m confident he will excel in his new role, bringing his experienced leadership to the national level.”
“It has been an honor to serve as a member of Governor Scott’s cabinet and his team,” said Secretary French. “It has been a privilege to serve as Secretary of Education for a Governor who is deeply committed to the future success of all of our students. I am incredibly grateful to have served with such a hardworking team at AOE, and for having the opportunity to work with Vermont educators.”
Secretary French has served Vermont and its students for years, first as a high school social studies teacher, then a K-12 principal. He served over a decade as a superintendent first in Canaan, Vt. and then for the Bennington-Rutland Supervisory Union from 2007-2016, where he was recognized as Superintendent of the Year in 2009. He also served as president of the Vermont Superintendents Association.
Secretary French was a critical leader during Vermont’s internationally recognized response to COVID-19, serving on the core leadership team of the Governor’s pandemic response task force. He has served as secretary of the Agency of Education since 2018.
Deputy Secretary Heather Bouchey will serve as interim secretary upon the departure of Secretary French.
Categories: Education
He’s done such a wonderful job here. Just look at the test scores
Dan’s Report Card….
Competent User of Zoom and Headphones – B
Leader of Learning – F
Equivocation – A
Use of Platitudes – A
Pedantic – A
Permanently Harmed Vermont Schools & Communities – A
Comments:
Will fit perfectly at a windbag national educational leadership organization. Good riddance. Please exit as soon as possible.
Not Left/woke enough?
Pandemic response task force – F
Failing up.
Please keep in mind that Dan French pushed back against the legislature’s proposed (S.66) repeal of Vermont’s School Choice Tuition statutes. In fact, he announced that the AOE would not support the S.66 legislation. Perhaps French is now being asked nicely to leave…. which may not bode well for School Choice in Vermont, because it remains to be seen how Deputy Secretary Heather Bouchey will fall on this issue.
Dan you can shuffle around but we wont forget your role in accelerating the decline in what used to be our public schools. Under your guise schools have become deeply partisan, prioritizing what you call social justice initiatives while academic proficiency continues to plunge. Public schools are now almost entirely government run. The only public is the students. Enrollment in our state is down over 20% and for good reason. The AOE’s focus on “equity” has ensured no students excel. SBAC tests have become so low the AOE has decided to change to test. There goes any longterm data. Dont want to compare 2023 to any pre-plandemic numbers…no way. Schools are more expensive then ever. Schools are heavily understaffed. Schools have become a breeding ground for students with high rates of anxiety and depression and yes prescription medication. In many schools guidance counslers are paras out number actual teachers by far. Oh and remember when you made kids cover their faces (with what it did not matter) for a year and a half. That was just great for language and empathy development. And you were in charge when the state bribed schools with money for the students to take experimental injections with no long saftey data under the proven lie it was to protect grandma and grampa. That one’s gonna come back to bite you when the lawsuits start rolling.
Re: “Under your guise schools have become deeply partisan, prioritizing what you call social justice initiatives while academic proficiency continues to plunge”. ….. etc.
Dan French certainly bears some blame for the current Vermont Public-School decline. But the dystopia began long before he became Ed. Secretary. As a former school board director, I bear some of the blame because I couldn’t convince my constituents that School Choice was our only recourse. And while I’ve been recommending School Choice now for 30 years, very few people, taxpayers, parents, students, and folks like you, appear to be listening.
Again, Sec. French put the kybosh on S.66, the legislature’s current attempt to eliminate School Choice Tuitioning altogether. And, as I mentioned earlier, I suspect that has some bearing on his resignation.
But in the final analysis, Dan French’s “role in accelerating the decline” is minimal compared to the role the rest of us have played over the years. But until folks like you figure this out, we’re condemned to being the subjects of the legislature and education special interest groups that finance them.
There’s a reason former Secretary of State, Mike Pompeo, characterized Randi Weingarten and the teacher’s unions as “the greatest overall threat to America”. And unless and until ‘we the people’ figure this out and make School Choice the governance of the day – expect more of the same.
Thank God, he screwed up education in VT enough
Thinking maybe he doesnt want to toe the line…….and so……by by
and “Council of Chief State School Officers” where does this group layer into the overall picture…..and is it needed? is the question I think, Government seems to GROW and GROW…at some point like any business ……..downsizing will be necessary…….seems to me; most groups have no idea what counterparts are doing……and this has been going on for way too long……make another group to see why those not working and on and on………just thoughts!
“Secretary French was a critical leader during Vermont’s internationally recognized response to COVID-19, serving on the core leadership team of the Governor’s pandemic response task force. He has served as secretary of the Agency of Education since 2018.”
Dear lord….this is the absolute worst.
It should read:
“Secretary French Cow-Towed to the Covid party line and closed down schools, damaged kids education, forced masked children for a disease that was nothing but a cold to them, and lastly promoted experimental vaccines and questionable medical testing on children.”
This guy should wear a shirt that says: “VT Department of Education: Sponsored by Pfizer and the Gates Foundation.”
This state has no shame.
As natureaboundsnortherngirl mentioned above, grow, grow, grow. What is it they do? I have first hand experience with public schools in VT and they are a woke joke. Proficiency Based Learning cost many millions and destroyed the traditional teaching model. No guidance from the state on the “how”, just do it. Since then, test scores plummet. More “support staff” than you can shake a stick at in high schools. Their job? High fiving the most absent and non-achieving students. Good friends, no progress. Restorative Practices: another multi-million dollar waste that has created unsafe environments in schools. Behaviors that used to get someone suspended are now just part of the every day. Telling a teacher to F#*@ OFF! is a nothing burger. French will not go down with the ship although it could be argued he’s sunk it already. Phil Scott absolutely clueless as to what’s going on.