White House press secretary Jen Psaki reaffirmed President Joe Biden’s commitment to opening up schools across the country to in-person learning on Monday but stopped short of saying that teachers in Chicago should end their five-day strike.
Psaki fielded repeated questions during Monday’s press briefing about the protest by the Chicago Teachers Union and confirmed that the White House has been in contact with Illinois Gov. J.B. Pritzker and Chicago Mayor Lori Lightfoot in recent days about the negotiations.
CHICAGO SCHOOLS CANCEL CLASSES FOR FOURTH-STRAIGHT DAY AMID TEACHER STRIKE
“We have been very clear, publicly and privately, that we want to see schools open, that the president fought for additional assistance in the American Rescue Plan, $130 billion, including $5 billion that went to Illinois, $10 billion that went to testing across the country to ensure we were prepared and had resources needed to address whatever may come up in the pandemic,” she said in one exchange. “The president’s view is that schools should be open across the country, and more than 95% are, across the country, that the mental health impact on kids of not having schools open is very harsh and hard, and he does not want to see schools closed across the country.”
Still, asked in a follow-up question about Biden’s long-standing union allyship, Psaki denied the White House is disregarding “concerns” voiced by the union that “classrooms aren’t safe.”
“We’ve prioritized teachers getting vaccinated first. We fought for — the president fought for an enormous amount of funding to ensure that schools and classrooms and teachers could take steps that could put in place mitigation measures to make sure students, school teachers, and members of school communities are safe,” she said. “And I think what I’m echoing is what a number of people in the public health community have conveyed, that those measures can make sure that schools are safe and ensure people attending school are safe.”
“But we are in a very different place than we were earlier this year,” Psaki continued. “It’s important for people to be mindful of the mental health impact on kids, something that of course many parents across the country feel very strongly about.”
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You can watch Monday’s entire briefing below.
