Don t let Randi Weingarten whitewash her role in school closures

Last week, The Washington Post ran an adoring interview with Weingarten, the latest in a string of carefully placed pieces in friendly outlets aimed at fixing her shattered reputation. Here she is taking a strong stand ; there she is calling for reopening all classrooms next year.

It s gaslighting, and the record must be set straight.

Last September, as schools across the country were trying to open, Weingarten could be counted on to oppose any such move. If community spread is too high . . . if you don t have the ­infrastructure of testing, and if you don t have the safeguards that prevent the spread of viruses in the school, we believe that you cannot reopen in person, Weingarten said.

It was nonsense. Other countries had long opened their schools by that point, and we had real-world models for making in-person school work. Schools in Europe had opened without masking, without social distancing and with no infrastructure of testing.  

The Europeans put kids first, resting safe on (scientific) evidence that kids are at minuscule risk from the virus and spread it at a much lower rate than do adults. Weingarten was determined to put kids last.

In February, when the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention was finally going to issue guidance urging full reopening of ­in-person schooling, the AFT successfully lobbied for language that kept schools closed. 

via nypost.com

Order of priorities

1. Teachers Union bosses
2. Relevant politicians
3. Teachers Union employees
4. School Administrators
5. Teachers
. . .
n. Students
n+1. Parents