Secretary of Education Miguel Cardona drew howls online with a tweet praising teachers union boss Randi Weingarten for urging a return to the classroom “quickly.”
Weingarten, the president of the American Federation of Teachers, finally came around to backing a return to in-person school by next fall after her union fought against such a move throughout the COVID-19 pandemic. Despite studies showing children were far less susceptible to the virus and several states and school districts keeping schools open, Weingarten only came around this week.
“There is no doubt: Schools must be open. In person. Five days a week,” said Weingarten, who heads the nation’s second-largest teachers union.
Cardona tweeted his praise on Friday morning, saying, “Thank you [Weingarten] and 1.7 million [AFT union] educators for supporting getting back to schools safely & quickly.”
That was too much for the Twitterverse, in which parents and education advocates let loose on the union boss and the bureaucrat.
TEACHERS UNION PRESIDENT TO CALL FOR SCHOOLS TO REOPEN IN THE FALL
In addition to the AFT, other teachers unions have sought prolonged school closures, citing COVID-19 fears. Some have pushed for full teacher vaccinations before children could be brought back into the classroom, while others have attached seemingly unrelated demands. A Los Angeles teachers union demanded defunding of the police and a wealth tax, a North Carolina teachers union demanded “Medicare for all” and more welfare for illegal immigrants, and a San Francisco teachers union demanded the installation of new toilet lids, all before returning to work.
Currently, roughly half of the country’s public schools are still not fully open, which would offer five days a week of in-person learning, according to a New York Times report.
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The Washington Examiner reached out to the AFT for comment.
