Randi Weingarten is the president of the American Federation of Teachers and a member of the AFL–CIO, but she is perhaps best known for being a key proponent of school closures during the start of the Covid pandemic.
Weingarten was called to task this week on CNN’s Don Lemon-less by top political commentator Scott Jennings, who excoriated the union boss after she he devoted himself to historical revisionism for his role in school closings – insisting before the Select Subcommittee on the Coronavirus Pandemic, which had instead advocated reopening schools as soon as possible.
AFT President Randi Weingarten: “We spent every day starting in February trying to open schools. We knew distance education was not a substitute for opening schools.” pic.twitter.com/1qNL05VD3u
— Washington Free Beacon (@FreeBeacon) April 26, 2023
Not so fast, Randi…
“Speaking for millions of American parents, I had to teach them at home,” Jenning said. “My wife had to teach them at home. I’m surprised by what you said this week about your claim that you wanted to reopen schools.”
In 2020, Weingarten called attempts to reopen schools in the fall of 2020 “reckless, callous and cruel.”
It’s more, their union aggressively pushed for closures at the local levelwhile areas with high trade union influence it remained closed much longer.
CNN’s Jennings continued to tear Weingarten apart, stating: “I think you’ll find that most parents think you’re the spearhead of school closings. There are numerous statements you made during the summer of ’20 scaring people to death about the possibility of opening schools. And I feel no remorse for the generational damage that has been done to these children.”
“I have two children with learning differences. Do you know how hard it is for them to learn at home and not in a classroom designed for them? And for you to sit in front of Congress and the American people and say, ‘I wanted to open up the whole time.” I’m shocked. I’m shocked. I’m shocked,” he continued. “And there are millions of parents who feel the exact same way.”
I will see:
.@ScottJenningsKY to @rweingarten: “I’m shocked by what you said this week… I think you’ll find that most parents think you’re the tip of the spectrum on school closures… I feel no remorse for the damage generational that supposes. has been done…” pic.twitter.com/gVCDgpP3dN
— Kevin Tober (@KevinTober94) April 28, 2023
Additionally, the NY Post reported last week that one epidemiologist claimed Weingarten even “falsified a scientific study” which showed low levels of Covid transmission in schools in order to keep schools closed during the pandemic.
Study co-author Dr. Tracy Høeg wrote on Twitter last week: “We saw very low school transmission and no transmission known to teachers.”
She added: “The fact that [CDC] I was following the advice of the [AFT] and not the scientists who publish on this subject in their own journal and without taking into account the data from Europe seems to have played a role in the massive error that left millions of people. [of] American children don’t go to school unnecessarily.”
Weingarten had used the study “multiple times as evidence that schools needed ‘layered mitigation’ to reopen,” he said during a congressional hearing.
“The way Mrs. Weingarten mentioned me in her testimony, you might have thought that I was being consulted all along, but that was not the case,” Høeg said, shattering the union leader’s assumptions.
“Despite the wording a [Randi Weingarten’s] written testimony, I *consistently* disagreed with what she and the AFT were asking for in terms of mitigation to reopen schools and have consistently said so (on social media, in op-eds, in news interviews) since that our study was published. “
In the meantime, Weingarten doubled down on Twitter and blocked replies from the general public!
Covid scared the nation, but we tried to do everything we could to reopen schools safely. It would have helped if Trump/DeVos helped instead of granted. Now we must do everything we can to help children learn and overcome the effects of the pandemic. https://t.co/waWT8BuCQh
— Randi Weingarten 🇺🇦🇺🇸💪🏿👩🎓 (@rweingarten) April 28, 2023
Notes from the community to the rescue;
Then and now;
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