Betsy Devos met with protesters on first school visit since confirmation as Education Secretary

It was the billionaire's first effort to mend fences with teachers and parents

Ms DeVos was making her first school visit since she was confirmed as Education Secretary (CNN)

Donald Trump’s Education Secretary was met with protesters shouting “stand up - fight back”, when she made her first visit to a state school in her new role.

Several dozen protesters, some of them with small children, gathered at Jefferson Middle School in Washington DC, and shouted as Betsy DeVos tried to enter the premises.

Video footage showed her leaving the door she was trying to enter and walk away. Reports said she was eventually able to enter the school by means of an alternative entrance.

ABC News said one protester shouted: “She doesn’t represent anything that they stand for”. Others chanted: “Shame, shame, shame”.

The Associated Press said the visit, which was closed to the media, was designed to try and help her mend fences with state school teachers and parents across the country.

Ms DeVos, 59, is a billionaire Republican donor who spent more than two decades promoting charter schools and school voucher programmes in her home state of Michigan and elsewhere.

The AP said she faced fierce opposition during the confirmation process from teachers' unions who fear that she intends to defund traditional state schools. Two Republican senators from rural states that rely heavily on public schools, opposed the nomination and Vice President Mike Pence had to cast a tie-breaking vote.

Randy Weingarten, president of the American Federation of Teachers, one of the groups that vigorously opposed Ms DeVos’ nomination, condemned Friday morning’s incident.

Several dozen protesters showed up (AP)

“Just heard a protester blocked & almost knocked Secy BetsyDeVos down at Jefferson,” she wrote on Twitter. “We don’t condone such acts.”

DC Mayor Muriel Bowser also said on Twitter that protests should be peaceful. “We welcome Betsy DeVos & anyone who wants to learn more about our schools,” she wrote.

Jennifer Ibrahim, 34, a humanitarian worker, brought her son to the protest.

“I want to support our local public schools, make sure that everybody gets fair treatment under the system and I don’t feel like that's where we are headed with our new education person,” Ms Ibrahim said. “Charter schools aren't necessarily better than public schools.”