[Editor's note: This story originally was published by Real Clear Wire.] By Michael O'Neill Real Clear Wire On June 21, the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) announced new appointments to its Homeland Security Academic Partnership Council. Among them was Randi Weingarten, who, when not retweeting liberal op-eds and political endorsements dozens of times a day,…
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Teachers union boss Randi Weingarten shouts outside the Supreme Court building in Washington. (LiveNOW from FOX / YouTube screen shot)
[Editor's note: This story originally was published by Real Clear Wire.]
By Michael O'Neill
Real Clear Wire
On June 21, the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) announced new appointments to its Homeland Security Academic Partnership Council. Among them was Randi Weingarten, who, when not retweeting liberal op-eds and political endorsements dozens of times a day, leads the American Federation of Teachers (AFT). In her new government “advisory” post, Weingarten will now advise the DHS on scholarship funding and research opportunities, school safety, and career development for the DHS workforce of the future.
Among deans, superintendents, and law enforcement officials, Weingarten stands out as perhaps the most baffling appointment given her recent professional track record. During the COVID-19 pandemic, Weingarten battled to keep schools closed, acting as a consultant for the Center for Disease Control (CDC). Since then, she has done nothing but obfuscate and mislead about her role in keeping children out of classrooms to keep the shifting political winds ever at her back.
In an April hearing of the House Select Subcommittee on the Coronavirus Pandemic, Weingarten claimed that “we [the AFT] spent every day from February on trying to get schools open...,” This echoed previous comments she had made, among other places, in a 2021 speech to AFT membership. In the same April hearing, she also said that the CDC consulted the AFT on guidelines for reopening schools, but that the CDC was not influenced by the AFT in their decisions to prevent full reopening in February of 2021.
Unfortunately, the truth about her stance on school closures seems to be quite the opposite. In tweets throughout 2020, she repeatedly lauded school closings, such as those in downstate New York that October, stating “I agree, @AndyPallotta! ‘Erring on the side of caution means closing school buildings when there is serious risk of spreading COVID-19, and we believe the state is taking the right steps by seeking to close schools in these hotspots.’@nysut.” Earlier in 2020, she labeled Trump-era plans to re-open school doors in the fall as “cruel” and “reckless.” She even went so far as to suggest the AFT go on strike if teachers were told to do their jobs in person.
Weingarten’s statements about AFT’s involvement with the CDC are no closer to reality. In multiple emails from February 2021, Weingarten’s staff demanded that the CDC include triggers in their guidelines which would shut down schools again if COVID numbers rose. The government provided copies of CDC guidelines and sought input from AFT before their publication. The CDC incorporated those edits into their final product. This access to, and influence on, CDC decision-making was undoubtedly reinforced by direct phone calls from Weingarten to CDC Director Dr. Rochelle Walensky. Despite their repeated requests, these transcripts have still not been provided to Congress.
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Perhaps amnesia explains Weingarten’s revisionist history of her terrible policies. But regardless of the source or motivation for her misstatements, the question remains as to what exactly in her dismal record qualifies Weingarten to advise DHS on academic policy and school safety. The American people deserve an answer. The House Oversight or Homeland Security Committee ought to ask the question.
Michael O’Neill is the Vice President of Legal Affairs at Landmark Legal Foundation.
This article was originally published by RealClearPolicy and made available via RealClearWire.
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