AFT’s Weingarten defends teachers union’s influence over CDC school guidance on COVID lockdowns

, head of the nation’s second-largest teachers union, said educators were “terrified” during the COVID-19 crisis, but she rejected claims that she strong-armed Biden officials to keep schools closed longer than necessary in early 2021. House Republicans said the advice was designed to keep children home., president of the American Federation of Teachers, took numerous swipes at former President Donald Trump in a high-profile grilling Wednesday on Capitol Hill. She said Mr.

“It’s unusual for a political union to have such a role in the scientific guidance process,” said House Oversight and Accountability Committee Chairman James Comer, Kentucky Republican.“Well, hopefully, she’ll give it to me too,” said Rep. Debbie Lesko, Arizona Republican. Mr. Trump asked Americans to stay home for a while in the spring of 2020 but pushed schools to reopen later in the year. Labor unions and Democratic-led states resisted, citing fear of the virus and staffing problems, including the inability to find substitute teachers.

Mr. Wenstrup faulted the teachers union for championing CDC guidance that focused on data on the community spread of the virus and 6 feet of distancing instead of 3 feet. Taken together, he said, strict adherence to the guidance would have kept schools closed in more than 90% of U.S. counties. “Our members were terrified. Others were terrified,” she said. “What we were simply looking for was clear scientific guidance. And we couldn’t get it. We did it ourselves.”

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