WASHINGTON, DC- “Follow the science!” we’re told. That is why in many areas of the country, school-age children are still being forced to learn from home, away from friends and from the social environment that being with their peers allows.
The only problem is, the science says that children should be back in school, doing in-person learning.
Now, we are finding out why schools remained closed earlier this year, and science had absolutely nothing to do with it.
According to The Blaze, newly uncovered emails provided to the New York Post show that one of the two most powerful teachers unions in the country, the American Federation of Teachers (AFT) successfully lobbied the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) from recommending earlier this year that schools reopen for in-person learning, so teachers could actually do what they’re being paid to do.
Of course, as one of the major donors to Democratic Party candidates, having donated some $20 million to Democrats in 2020, there is also the issue of hapless Biden-appointed CDC Director Rochelle Walensky insisting the guidance issued by that agency was “free from political meddling.”
To quote old Slick Willy Clinton, we suppose it depends on “what your definition of” political meddling is.
While some schools in the country, in red states such as Florida and others have largely remained open for the past year, the nation’s largest school districts, in particular New York, Los Angeles and Chicago have resisted efforts to return to in-person learning, backed by the AFT as well as the largest teachers union, the National Education Association (NEA).
According to the New York Post, there was a “flurry of activity between CDC Director Dr. Rochelle Walensky, her top advisors and union officials—with Biden brass being looped in at the White House—in the days before the highly-anticipated Feb. 12 announcement on school-reopening guidelines.”
One email, dated Feb 1 referred to the AFT as a CDC “thought partner” was sent from AFT’s senior director for health issues, Kelly Trautner. She wrote:
“Thank you 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.
“We were able to review a copy of the draft guidance document over the weekend and were able to provide some initial feedback to several staff this morning about possible ways to strengthen the document.
“…we believe our experiences on the ground can inform and enrich thinking around what is practicable and prudent in future guidance documents.”
Subsequently, in another email sent two days later, Trautner thanked Walensky for her “committment (sic) to partnership” and Walensky’s “genuine desire to earn our confidence.” Four days later, Feb. 7, emails seemed to indicate that a phone conversation had also taken place between Walensky and Weingarten.
So the “lack of political meddling” apparently paid off when the CDC released its guidance on Feb. 12 for in-person learning in schools, which included suggestions from the AFT almost verbatim, The Blaze reported.
From the Post:
With the CDC preparing to write that schools could provide in-person instruction regardless of community spread of the virus, Trautner argued for the inclusion of a line reading “In the event of high community-transmission results from a new variant of SARS-CoV-2, a new update of these guidelines may be necessary.” That language appeared on page 22 of the final CDC guidance.
The AFT also demanded special remote work concessions for teachers “who have documented high-risk conditions or who are at increased risk for…COVID-19,” and that similar arrangements should extend to “staff who have a household member” with similar risks. A lengthy provision for that made it into the text of the final guidance.
Despite Walensky’s claim of no “political meddling,” the CDC as well as the AFT defended their collusion on the final guidance.
“As part of long-standing best practices, CDC has traditionally engaged with organizations and groups that are impacted by guidance and recommendations issued by the agency.
We do so to ensure our recommendations are feasible to implement and they adequately address the safety and wellbeing of individuals the guidance is aimed to protect.
These informative and helpful interactions often result in beneficial feedback that we consider in our final revisions to ensure clarity and usability,” a spokesman for Walensky said.
Meantime, a spokesman for AFT, Oriana Korin told the Post the AFT also worked with the Trump administration. This folks is called deflection.
“The AFT represents 1.7 million educators, healthcare professionals and public employees who spent the last 14 months serving on the front lines of the COVID-19 pandemic.
So naturally, we have been in regular touch with the agencies setting policy that affect their work and lives, including the CDC,” Korin said.
“Front lines?” Their definition of “front lines” has as much credibility as Walensky’s definition of “political meddling.” None.
Several months ago, Law Enforcement Today wrote about the extent teachers unions were going to avoid going back into schools and teaching our kids in person. For more on that, we invite you to:
DIG DEEPER
FRANKLIN COUNTY, WA — The president of a local teacher union in the Pasco School District said he is opposed to reopening schools because it is a form of “white supremacy and white privilege” and implored the school board to keep students in remote learning despite recommendations that children return to in-person learning.
Scott Wilson, president of the Pasco Association of Educators (PAE), argued in a bizarre rant during a Jan. 12 virtual school board meeting that it was racist to have students return to classrooms and that concerns about student suicides from pandemic-induced depression simply stem from “white privilege.”
He invoked nearly everything except data and scientists who confirm that students thrive with in-person learning and are in the low-risk group for contracting COVID-19.
A WA teacher's union president says reopening schools is an example of "white supremacy," concern over a child's mental health or suicide risk is "white privilege," and push to reopen schools is like rioters pushing to enter the U.S. Capitol.
READ: https://t.co/QxFazq2Taz pic.twitter.com/ny50MEZG7p
— (((Jason Rantz))) on KTTH Radio (@jasonrantz) January 13, 2021
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) released an updated report on Jan. 8 and recommended how officials should decide opening up for in-person learning:
“School officials should make decisions about school opening and about staying open for in-person learning based on CDC’s Indicators for Dynamic Decision-making.
“The many benefits of in-person schooling should be weighed against the risks of spreading COVID-19 in the school and community.
“Working with States, Tribes, Localities, and Territories (STLT), schools can weigh levels of community transmission and their capacity to implement appropriate mitigation measures in schools to protect students, teachers, administrators, and other staff.”
As @tacomaschools resumes in-person learning starting Jan. 19, school zones beacons will flash before and after school in certain locations. Please slow down, drive a maximum of 20 MPH, and pay special attention when in these zones.
Visit https://t.co/PYphdRz4Y4 for more info. pic.twitter.com/xslrY5Yggu
— City of Tacoma (@CityofTacoma) January 16, 2021
The CDC also noted:
“While fewer children have been sick with COVID-19 compared to adults, children can be infected with the virus that causes COVID-19, can get sick from COVID-19, and can spread the virus that causes COVID-19 to others. Children, like adults, who have COVID-19 but have no symptoms (‘asymptomatic’) can still spread the virus to others.
https://twitter.com/kylenabecker/status/1349735809168011269
“Most children with COVID-19 have mild symptoms or have no symptoms at all. However, some children can get severely ill from COVID-19. They might require hospitalization, intensive care, or a ventilator to help them breathe. In rare cases, they might die.”
“Close the bars and keep the schools open,” Dr. Anthony Fauci says, adding that while there is no solution that is “one size fits all,” the “best way to ensure the safety of the children in school is to get the community level of the spread low.” https://t.co/th9oAKhHYa pic.twitter.com/pDuTdQ0Vfp
— ABC News Politics (@ABCPolitics) November 29, 2020
Last November, Anthony Fauci, an infectious diseases expert and top advisor to the White House on the COVID-19 pandemic, said that he was for closing bars and restaurants but reopening schools. He told ABC News reporter Martha Raddatz:
“The default position should be to try as best as possible, within reason, to keep the children in school, to get them back to school.”
President-elect Joe Biden is unveiling a $1.9 trillion coronavirus plan to speed vaccine rollout, steady the economy and reopen schools. The plan includes $1,400 checks for individuals, on top of $600 provided in the last COVID-19 bill. https://t.co/eEFpoo0zTM
— The Associated Press (@AP) January 14, 2021
The Biden administration also supports opening schools up. Brian Deese, the incoming director of Biden’s National Economic Council, said keeping schools closed hurts parents, especially women:
“We need to get the schools open so that parents, and particularly women, who are being disproportionately hurt in this economy, can get back to work.”
When it comes to COVID learning loss, a recent NWEA study found that in the fall, students in grades 3–8 performed similarly in reading to same-grade students in fall 2019, but about 5 percentile points to 10 percentile points lower in math.
What Should School Accountability Look Like in a Time of COVID-19? https://t.co/RsIcTmgkH6
— Jeffrey A Hinton (@JeffreyAHinton) January 19, 2021
After introducing himself, Wilson addresses the board at time marker 18:45 of the meeting. He politicizes the student-learning issue immediately by mentioning people breaking into the Capitol building earlier this month and others who have held rallies questioning pandemic lockdowns:
“There are decisions to be made. You stand on the lawn of the U.S. Capitol as people break down barriers and head to the doors. Do you follow? You stand at the governor’s mansion. The crowd breaks down barriers to enter the grounds. Do you follow or do you choose a different way?
“We must not ignore the culture of white supremacy and white privilege. We have seen it in the ‘free to breathe, reopen everything’ rodeos and rallies that received county commissioner support. The same commissioner directs our health district.”
Recent remarks from the president of a #WashingtonState #Teachers union have led to public criticism.
Despite warnings of children’s #MentalHealth, he said that opening #Schools is a form of white privilege and supremacy.https://t.co/522CEw4QCG
— NTD News (@news_ntd) January 19, 2021
Wilson then claims “no one wants remote learning,” but then insists that it is the only acceptable option for students, teachers and parents:
“No one wants remote learning. No one wants remote learning, but it is the right thing to do.”
Wilson then brings up “equity” issues and blames some for spreading the virus:
“We know the equity concerns. Virus transmission is high, headed higher with so many ignoring and avoiding measures to stop the spread.”
https://twitter.com/stina0812/status/1351325298197893120
Wilson says the board should continue its “pause” of in-person learning and that it would benefit everyone:
“Remote learning is the right decision. You’ve moved forward as the health district removes the barricades for you. You could choose a different way.
“You could move to pause in-person learning . You could ask for a new path that benefits all, not some. You can have the discussion and vote. You could choose a different way.”
Since the start of the pandemic, multi-generational homes have increased by 61 percent. Pew Research Center found that around 6 in 10 adults who have moved since last March say they relocated to a family member’s home. Of those, 41 percent moved in with their parents or in-laws, 4 percent moved in with an adult child or in-law and 16 percent moved in with another family member.
Wilson raises a concern about the resurgence of multi-generational homes containing people of various ages, but ends up blaming white, privileged people who, according to him, want to reopen everything and put people of color at risk:
“Students are not coming to school. They live in multi-generational homes and have lost family members.
“We speak of equity. We speak of care of all students, and yet we listen and attend the voices saying, ‘Reopen everything’ and ‘free to breathe’ supporting white privilege.”
Can Schools Require the COVID-19 Vaccine? Education, Equity, and the Courts | Bill of Health https://t.co/0Fq8y9fYBC
— Johns Hopkins Berman Institute of Bioethics (@bermaninstitute) January 19, 2021
As the son of a preacher man, Wilson then recalls his father’s political activism and how it incensed “white supremacists” in his hometown:
“My family had to leave the Tri-Cities in ’66. As minister of the first Presbyterian Church of Kennewick, Dad had the audacity to say Jesus Christ would not support a sign telling blacks ‘Stay out of Kennewick after dark.’
“He traveled registering black voters in the south, and white supremacists here were outraged. He made the right decision.”
Wilson claimed that parents are emailing the board and calling the district’s teachers names:
“You receive the same emails as I calling teachers lazy or comparing teachers to store clerks.”
Disturbingly, Wilson downplayed parental reports of children feeling suicidal during the past few months of lockdown:
“They complain their children are suicidal without school or sports.”
Teachers Unions Fail Science – Schools rarely spread COVID-19. Studies on tens of thousands of people found "no consistent relationship between in-person K-12 schooling and the spread of the coronavirus." https://t.co/ySrrdk8vXz
— super czar (@Kristokoff) January 19, 2021
Wilson then said he experienced the suicide of his own son, but was appalled at the concerns of other “white privilege” parents who fear their child may kill themself:
“As a father daily surviving the suicide of my son, I find these statements ignorant and another expression of white privilege.”
My Em returns to in-person learning
for the first time since March 2020. We’re a wee bit nervous, but she’s so excited to be back in class with friends
in @StarkvilleSD. 😷🐝 pic.twitter.com/dnilpfeoBZ— Aundrea Self (@AundreaSelf) January 19, 2021
In conclusion, Wilson reiterated that students should continue remote learning despite data, science, vaccines and mental-health concerns showing that in-person learning is the ideal choice for children. To strengthen his argument, Wilson mentioned sendition for good measure:
“Huge daily death tolls from this pandemic, seditious attacks at our Capitol [building], plus a new, more transmittable strain of the virus while our case numbers are rising again — you have the authority to hit pause, allow time to find a way forward through the end of the year.
“You could choose a different way. Thank you members of the board and Superintendent Whitney.”
—
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