Randi Weingarten to testify before House panel over COVID-19 school closures
Rachel Schilke
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American Federation of Teachers President Randi Weingarten will testify before a House committee on Wednesday, the culmination of a three-year battle between Republicans and teachers unions over the closure of schools during COVID-19.
Weingarten will be the only witness at the hearing for the Select Subcommittee on the Coronavirus Pandemic. The hearing is set to focus on “the role Ms. Weingarten and the AFT played in editing the CDC’s school reopening guidance and keeping schools closed longer than necessary,” according to Chairman Brad Wenstrup (R-OH).
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The fight between Republicans and the unions dates back to 2020, when the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention began working on its “Operational Strategy for K-12 Through Phased Mitigation” guidance, which the organization said it worked closely with the AFT to create. GOP lawmakers criticized the CDC for catering to the wishes of teachers unions when creating the pandemic-era policies that ultimately resulted in nationwide school closures.
Wenstrup said he believes that Weingarten “may have jeopardized the well-being of our nation’s children during the COVID-19 pandemic. If so, she should be held accountable.”
In her submitted testimony, Weingarten defends the union and says she pushed for school reopenings since 2020, referencing AFT’s school reopening plan that was released in May 2020. She also plans to deny any inappropriate relationship with the CDC.
“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,” Weingarten will say.
Weingarten also plans to highlight the union’s methods to keep students safe long before vaccines were available in spring 2021, such as “grab and go” meals and crafting “innovative ways to help students learn, engage, and connect.”
The AFT president also will push back against claims that the unions did not want schools opening, citing a poll from 2020 that 76% of education members wanted students to be in school with “the right safety measures” and 80% wanted the same thing in a 2021 poll.
While Weingarten appears to be focusing on presenting herself as a fighter for school reopenings, Republicans plan to focus heavily on the correspondence between the CDC and the AFT, believing that the union pressured the CDC into closing schools.
However, AFT counsel Michael Bromwich sent a letter to Wenstrup last week, calling out the GOP for “false and misleading claims.” Bromwich argued that the only proposal change that the CDC approved was the guidance to encourage schools to provide accommodations for teachers that are at a higher risk for COVID-19. Another proposal change that was accepted was to add language stating that the guidance may be updated if a new variant emerges.
“During the call, the AFT promised to send the CDC proposed language to consider related to accommodations for high-risk educators and staff, which a senior AFT staff member sent to the CDC on February 1, 2021,” Bromwich said, according to the Hill, referring to a call between Weingarten and CDC officials. An email exchange between the union president and health organization was also released through a public records request, which infuriated the GOP.
Weingarten plans to reiterate points made by Democrats on the subcommittee, placing blame on the Trump administration for not prioritizing the creation of safe environments for teachers and students to keep schools open.
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“It is offensive to suggest, as your letter does, that our agenda was otherwise — to keep schools closed. We are schoolteachers, school nurses and school-related personnel. We teach children, and we believe kids need to be in school. In school buildings,” Weingarten plans to say. “And it is even more offensive to suggest that our views at any time were shaped by considerations other than our profound desire and duty to protect children and their educators from the ravages of COVID-19.”
Weingarten is set to testify before the House subcommittee at 2 p.m.