It has been suggested to me that I’m dead wrong about Zoie Saunders’ prospects in the Senate. I would like nothing better, and I can see the argument although I’m not entirely convinced because, well, I have so little faith in Our Solons to do the right thing.

My take was that the Senate was likely to rubber-stamp Saunders’ nomination as education secretary after a brief, polite interrogatory. The latest piece of evidence: a press release from the Agency of Education touting Saunders’ first day on the job and blithely ignoring the Senate’s duty to ratify her selection.

I interpreted the press release as an expression of confidence. But it could also be seen as whistling past the graveyard. Like, maybe the administration is worried about the Senate process and trying to pretend it isn’t a real thing.

This would be of a piece with the Saunders rollout from the very beginning. She was introduced at a hastily-convened press conference on a Newsdump Day. Her nomination was announced a bit more than three weeks before her first day on the job, which is a very short time frame for an executive who has to exit an important position elsewhere and make a 1,500-mile relocation. The administration snapped back, perhaps too aggressively, at initial skepticism of the pick with overblown accusations of misogyny and anti-Florida prejudice. And then the administration asked the Senate Education Committee to hold off on a Saunders hearing until next week, giving her a faint aura of incumbency in advance of the Senate vote. Every step seems to line up.

Plus, I have a new piece of evidence that the administration isn’t feeling too secure right about now.

It comes in the form of a press release from the White River Valley Education Association about Saunders paying a visit to the White River Elementary School under carefully controlled conditions. “Members of the press were not allowed to accompany her on her tour, but her photographer was,” the union said, and slammed the administration for using “our place of work as a device in their PR machinations.”

I have also heard that admission to a scheduled round table was limited to students, although initially adults had been invited as well. Perhaps the change had something to do with the fact that members of the teachers’ union showed up wearing shirts saying “”Wildcats* For Public Ed.”

*The school’s mascot

If the WRVEA tells the truth, then Team Scott is being awfully touchy about Saunders’ introduction to Vermont. Which lends credence to the idea that they are not as confident as they appear.

Take it for what it’s worth. In my view, the next time the Senate stands up to the administration in 2024 will be the first time. So I’ll believe it when I see it. But this alternate narrative makes sense, and should give Saunders skeptics a reason to keep contacting their senators between now and confirmation day.

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Text of the WRVEA press release as I received it:

White River Valley Education Association Says No to Zoie Saunders

It’s well known by now that there has been significant pushback against Governor Scott’s nominee for Secretary of Education, Zoie Saunders. The Democratic and Progressive parties, Vermont-NEA and other unions, and people of all stripes who support public education have raised concerns about her background in charter schooling and her record of initiating school closures.

Opposition to Saunders’ record – and the governor’s pro-private school agenda – is well known and is making Scott try to focus on anything other than her record. Likely worried that the state Senate would decline to confirm her, Scott asked for extra time to allow Saunders to pursue a charm offensive. Her next week is chock full of meetings with senators and journalists in an effort to win needed support. Saunders kicked her PR tour off by visiting our school – the South Royalton Elementary School – this morning.

In order to highlight our opposition to Saunders’ appearance at our school, our union wore shirts bearing the slogan “Wildcats For Public Ed,” which we printed as soon as we found out she was on her way. We resent the fact that the governor and his team would use our place of work as a device in their PR machinations. Members of the press were not allowed to accompany her on her tour, but her photographer was. The images they captured will purport to show Saunders engaging with the community, ready to learn from us and act in our interest. Missing from this storv will be a genuine account of our communitv’s point of view.

Our community knows that we thrive when we work together. Public services, especially public education, exemplify our communal effort. As public schools face unprecedented challenges – filling gaps left as other social services are defunded, facing underfunding of our own, addressing systemic inequalities, continuing to deal with the aftermath of Covid – now is the time to confirm a secretary of education who is committed to enabling public school to work as they should, not one who appears to be qualified only to dismantle them. We urge our members, union siblings across the state. and all community members to oppose Saunders nomination and demand that our government instead revitalize our education system.