President Joe Biden has clarified his administration's plans for reopening schools, saying that he hopes to open "the majority of schools in K-through-eighth grade" by the end of his first 100 days in office, which will occur in April.
White House press secretary Jen Psaki said last week that the administration's goal was for more than half of schools to have "some teaching" done in-person "at least one day a week," within Biden's first 100 days.
When asked during a CNN town hall on Tuesday night if his administration was backtracking on reopening schools, Biden said: "No, that's not true. That's what was reported; that's not true. There was a mistake in the communication," he said. "But what I — what I'm talking about is I said opening the majority of schools in K-through-eighth grade because they're the easiest to open, the most needed to be opened, in terms of the impact on children and families having to stay home."
He added, "I think we'll be close to that at the end of the first 100 days," and said later that "many" of the schools will be open "five days a week," noting, "The goal would be five days a week."
Biden also said that schools are "probably going to be pushing to open all summer to continue like it's a different semester."
Psaki previously said last week that schools won't be open during the summer.
"And you're right: Schools won't be in session for the summer, but this is a pandemic we're working to get under control, making progress every month," she said. "And we're certainly hopeful that things will be — more kids will be back in school five days a week as quickly as it can safely happen."
Psaki clarified on Tuesday that "Last week I said @POTUS goal was to open schools five days a week as quickly as possible. And that we are going to rely on science. Which is exactly what we are doing."
Theodore Bunker ✉
Theodore Bunker, a Newsmax writer, has more than a decade covering news, media, and politics.
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