Vicky Arias, FISM News
The American Federation of Teachers (AFT) union president, Randi Weingarten, told Congress on Wednesday that President Joe Biden’s transition team consulted with the union regarding pandemic school closures.
Weingarten testified before the House Select Subcommittee on the Coronavirus Pandemic regarding the AFT’s role in influencing government guidance on pandemic school closures.
A press release from the subcommittee asserted that the goal of the hearing was to investigate “school closure decisions — specifically the role the … AFT played in developing and influencing the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s (CDC) ‘science-based’ school reopening guidance. [Chairman of the subcommittee, Rep. Brad Wenstrup (R-Ohio)] highlighted the scientific support for safely reopening schools and laid out the inaccurate recommendations promoted by the AFT.”
Weingarten testified that the teachers union was in touch with President Biden’s transition team and that she has the direct phone number for Rochelle Walensky, the director of the CDC.
“We were talking to the Biden transition team before he was sworn into office,” Weingarten stated.
The AFT has received criticism from conservatives for their influence on school closure policies during the pandemic.
According to the New York Post, “Weingarten spoke twice by phone with CDC Director Rochelle Walensky in the week leading up to the Feb. 12, 2021, announcement that halted full re-opening of in-person classes — including the day before the guidance was released, according to records obtained by the conservative watchdog Americans for Public Trust.”
Weingarten stated the CDC’s consultations with the teachers union are nothing more than business as usual.
“The CDC conferred with more than 50 organizations about the guidance, according to Dr. Walensky,” Weingarten stated. “Any claim that the contact the AFT had with the CDC was unusual or inappropriate, particularly in reviewing its February 2021 Operational Strategy, is simply wrong.”
WENSTRUP SAYS UNION INFLUENCED CDC POLICY
In prepared hearing remarks, subcommittee Chairman Wenstrup stated that “it is reasonable for the CDC to seek outside opinions,” but asked whether “some opinions [were] accepted and others not considered.”
Wenstrup continued, alleging that the AFT influenced the CDC to alter its guidance on reopening schools by suggesting that the CDC change the language of its policy.
CDC policy was set to say that “at any level of community transmission, all schools can provide in-person instruction.” However, according to Wenstrup, AFT staff took issue with the guideline and suggested a revision to the statement, which would read that “in the event [of] high-community transmission … a new update of these guidelines may be necessary.”
Wenstrup also stated that the teachers union pushed for six-foot distancing rather than three-foot distancing in the classroom, further burdening schools that, otherwise, may have been able to reopen.
“AFT’s support for these unscientific mitigation policies calls into question why it was offering scientific advice to the CDC in the first place, the scientific expertise of the AFT, and the high level of access and influence the AFT was provided by the CDC,” Wenstrup stated.
CLOSED IN VAIN
Studies have revealed that school closures with the goal of limiting the transmission of COVID-19 may have largely been in vain.
A 2021 study from “Children,” a peer-reviewed journal of pediatrics, showed that “data for COVID-19 indicates that children less than 18 years of age and adolescents, 10–19 years, are less susceptible to it than older adults, do not appear to significantly drive transmission, are a small fraction of the total COVID-19 cases, and have reduced vulnerability to complications as compared to adults.”
The effects of school closures on children have been devastating, creating steep learning loss and mental health challenges.
A 2022 report from Unicef stated that “in the U.S., learning losses have been observed in many states including Texas, California, Colorado, Tennessee, North Carolina, Ohio, Virginia, and Maryland. In Texas, for example, two-thirds of children in grade 3 tested below their grade level in math in 2021, compared to half of children in 2019.”
Additionally, the International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health published a study reporting that “the COVID-19 pandemic resulted in a loss of peer connection, disruption to daily schedules, and health, academic, emotional, and economic stressors for youth. This led in turn to an increase in emotional and behavioral problems of up to 43%.”