Republicans and conservatives criticized the close ties between the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and the American Federation of Teachers following news that the teachers union’s lobbying may have stymied the return of students to the classroom.
“The teachers unions have been lobbying and were able to change CDC guidance for school reopening,” the head of the conservative FightForSchools.com, Ian Prior, said during a conference call hosted by the Republican National Committee on Monday. “I don’t know how anyone can look at the CDC and see any credibility whatsoever when they say follow the science, when their science is talking points being laundered through their agency from teachers unions.”
On Saturday, the New York Post reported on emails obtained by the conservative Americans for Public Trust via a Freedom of Information Act request showing that the CDC worked closely with the AFT on the CDC’s school reopening guidance that was released in mid-February.
Prior to the release of the CDC guidance, the Biden administration had promised to “follow the science” when it came to reopening schools during the pandemic. Much research showed that the risk of COVID-19 infection is low in schools. But teachers unions pushed back, refusing to re-enter the classroom until their demands were met, including vaccinating all teachers.
CDC FINDS LOW COVID-19 SPREAD IN SCHOOLS, BOLSTERING CASE FOR IN-PERSON LEARNING
Prior, a principal deputy director of affairs at the Department of Justice under the Trump administration, has called on CDC Director Rochelle Walensky to resign.
In early February, Walensky seemed to support the immediate reopening of schools.
“I want to be clear. There is increasing data to support that schools can safely reopen and that safe reopening does not suggest teachers need to be vaccinated,” Walensky said at the time.
But the emails suggest that the AFT backed her off that position.
“Thank you again for Friday’s rich discussion about forthcoming CDC guidance and for your openness to the suggestions made by our president, Randi Weingarten, and the AFT,” AFT Senior Director for Health Issues Kelly Trautner wrote in an email about 10 days before the Feb. 12 release of the guidance. “We were able to review a copy of the draft guidance document over the weekend and were able to provide some initial feedback to several staff this morning about possible ways to strengthen the document.”
The teachers union bosses are running the show at the CDC.
It’s time for Joe Biden and CDC Director Walensky to stop putting union bosses before our kids.
If the status quo continues, America’s students will only fall further and further behind.https://t.co/GUiwJF4KdH
— Ted Cruz (@tedcruz) May 3, 2021
Other emails show a call between Walensky and Weingarten on Feb. 7.
In two instances, language that the AFT lobbied for made it into the guidance. The AFT argued that the guidance would need to be updated if a new coronavirus variant caused high community transmission. That language appeared on page 22 of the report. The AFT also succeeded in inserting a provision in the report giving special remote work concessions for teachers who are at increased risk for COVID-19.
The CDC guidance divided schools into four zones for reopening, with “red zones” being the most restrictive. If a school district fell under a red zone, elementary schools would follow a hybrid model of online and in-person instructions, while middle and high schools would have no in-person instructions.
An analysis by CNN showed that nearly 99% of schoolchildren went to schools that were in red zones.
CLICK HERE TO READ MORE FROM THE WASHINGTON EXAMINER
When asked if the inclusion of the red zones in the report was a concession to the ATF, Prior responded, “It certainly raises suspicion at this point … we can’t answer the question with any certainty, but the fact that it raises the question speaks volumes about the CDC’s credibility.”
