Less than a month into the Biden administration the president made it painfully clear that he cares more about retaining the support of teachers’ unions than he does about the future and education of America’s children.
The final nail in the coffin was pounded in by Dr. Anthony Fauci, when he claimed on ABC’s "This Week," that schools need additional resources" in order to safely reopen.
In other words, Congress has to approve a stimulus bill in order for schools to safely get teachers back into the business of teaching as opposed to scarfing down bonbons while binge-watching Netflix videos.
And the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) director Dr. Rochelle Walensky repeated the party line.
She claimed over the weekend that despite new guidance from her agency for reopening schools, "I think we need a lot more resources in order to get the schools safe."
Walensky added during her appearance on "Fox News Sunday." that "One of the things that’s really been emphasized in the school reopening is how unsafe some of our school ventilations are."
The brouhaha began Feb. 3 when CDC director Walensky made an announcement that everyone believed had put the issue to rest.
"There is increasing data to suggest that schools can safely reopen and that that safe reopening does not suggest that teachers need to be vaccinated in order to reopen safely," she said. "While we are implementing the criteria of the Advisory Committee and of the state and local guidances to get vaccination across these eligible communities, I would also say that safe reopening of schools is not — that vaccination of teachers is not a prerequisite for safe reopening of schools."
Although her statement was clear, convincing, and unambiguous, White House press secretary Jen Psaki dismissed it when it was brought up the following day.
"Dr. Walensky spoke to this in her personal capacity," she claimed. "Obviously, she’s the head of the CDC, but we’re going to wait for the final guidance to come out so we can use that as a guide for schools around the country."
Well no, she was speaking at the White House in her official capacity, Jen.
And after observing that there were "no ifs, ands, buts, caveats, or uncertainty in Walensky’s statement," National Review senior political correspondent Jim Geraghty called Psaki’s claim “utter nonsense."
But Psaki’s "utter nonsense" was also a preview of coming attractions.
White House coronavirus adviser Andy Slavitt announced Thursday that the CDC would issue new guidelines for schools reopening the following day.
"Tomorrow, the CDC is going to roll out their operating plan to give school districts, local communities, the guidance they need to know to begin to do that and to begin to do that aggressively," Slavitt said.
Well, maybe not all that "aggressively."
The guidelines had all the hallmarks and complexity of a communist five-year economic plan. It divided schools' reopening options into four zones based on per capita COVID cases: blue, yellow, orange and red.
But still, it at least offered a roadmap for reopening schools.
However, Biden’s definition of reopening schools is at odds with that of most Americans. He claimed last week that opening schools one day a week constitutes reopening schools, and that he plans to do exactly that within the next 100 days, The Wall Street Journal reported.
The CDC’s reversal begs the question of how much pressure the White House exerted on Dr. Walensky prior to her Fox News appearance yesterday.
The CDC’s statement yesterday reverses her statement of Feb. 3, flies in the face of the guidelines she issued last week, and ignores observable data that parochial and other private schools, as well as charter schools, have successfully engaged in full-time, in-person classes for many months and encountered no problems.
Within two days of Biden’s inauguration, first lady Jill Biden entertained union leaders at the White House and reiterated that teachers’ unions “will always have a seat at the table” in the administration.
There goes school choice and school re-openings — all the issues that benefit students but unions oppose.
With the Biden administration, it’s not science that matters — it’s the politics. But what’s worse is that union support trumps the future of America’s kids in Biden’s world.
Michael Dorstewitz is a retired lawyer and has been a frequent contributor to BizPac Review and Liberty Unyielding. He is also a former U.S. Merchant Marine officer and an enthusiastic Second Amendment supporter, who can often be found honing his skills at the range. Read Dorstewitz's Reports — More Here.
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