President Donald Trump has tapped Scott Stump, who runs Vivayic, Inc., “a learning solutions” company in Lincoln, Neb., as assistant secretary for career, technical, and adult education at the U.S. Department of Education.
Stump has previously served as the assistant provost for career and technical education with the Colorado Community College System. And in 2014, he was president of the National Association of State Directors of Career and Technical Education consortium, now known as Advance CTE.
Stump is not the first person to get the nod for this position. The White House originally selected Tim Kelly, a Michigan state lawmaker, for the gig. But Kelly’s nomination was yanked after it surfaced that he was the author of a personal blog that made offensive statements about Muslims, Head Start parents, and federal efforts to recruit women into the sciences.
Such sentiments were “not reflective of [Secretary of Education Betsy DeVos’] values,” an administration official said at the time.
It may be awhile before Stump is confirmed. Trump has been slow to select nominees for key posts at the department. And the Senate has been slow to confirm his picks.
For instance, Mick Zais, who was tapped back in early October, as deputy secretary, still needs Senate sign-off. So does Jim Blew, who was chosen in late September to serve as the assistant secretary of planning, evaluation, and policy analysis; Frank Brogan, who got the nod in December for assistant secretary of elementary and secondary education; and Ken Marcus, who was selected in October as assistant secretary for civil rights.
Photo: Swikar Patel for Education Week