REDMOND, OR -- Around 150 Ridgeview High students, in Redmond, spent part of their Wednesday morning peacefully protesting the confirmation of Betsy DeVos as U.S. Education Secretary. RVHS senior Delos Erickson organized the walk-out. he tells KBND News, "My main criticism of her would be the privatization of public schools and schools itself that are private. And, really what I'm afraid of is public schools not getting the attention that they really need to succeed."

Despite efforts by Democrats to stall the Senate vote, DeVos was confirmed as Education Secretary and sworn in by Vice President Pence on Tuesday.

Erickson says he initially wanted to organize a protest against her nomination but wasn't able to coordinate an event before her confirmation. "What really inspired us was the way we saw staff or family members react to this because it's kind of scary for some people," says Erickson. "The day she was confirmed, we were sitting in our Government class. To see, honestly, everyone's reaction in the class was in support of not having her as the Secretary. So, that day, I went to administration, I set up Facebook events, group chats, all that kind of stuff to get the word out that it's happening." He adds, "So, what we did was we gathered info, we gathered as much people and we organized a time, which was third period. And, what we all would do is we'd walk out, walk around the school and just peacefully march around."

Local school districts respond to DeVos' nomination as Education Secretary