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Dreamstime
Heritage Foundation
Biden Administration's Confusing Rhetoric on Reopening
Lindsey Burke
Feb 18, 2021
If you have whiplash from all the back-and-forth on school reopening
plans, you’re not alone. After months of mixed messages, parents and
students remain in a perpetual state of uncertainty in too many
districts around the country.
From the White House briefing room to the halls of the Centers for
Disease Control, official guidance on school reopening has been, well,
less than clear.
December 2020: Open the schools. Biden says he wants to ensure "a majority of our schools" are open within 100 days.
February 3rd White House briefing: In the spirit of reopening, CDC
Director Rochelle Walensky says "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."
(White House then distances itself from comments).
February 9th press conference: Revert to closure. White House Press
Secretary Jen Psaki says the Biden administration’s definition of
reopening is “at least one day a week, hopefully it’s more,” for at
least half of schools. In other words, 51 percent of public schools,
with students attending one day per week.
February 12th: CDC releases what is effectively the Biden “school
closure” plan. Includes strict pre-vaccine requirement to keep desks
six feet apart and color-coded guidance based on community spread
rather than incidence rates in schools. Brown University’s Emily Oster
points out “few places in the United States meet the agency’s criteria."
February 16th town hall: Actually, open the schools. Contra Psaki,
Biden says he wants most K-8 schools open for regular classes five days
a week by April 30.
I took to Fox News to detail the many challenges the back-and-forth on school reopenings is creating for students and families.
“As bad as school closures are now, following [the Biden
Administration’s] plan could mean even fewer schools are open to
in-person instruction. The CDC guidance suggests that schools should
only reopen when there are fewer than 50 COVID-19 cases per 100,000
residents during the prior seven days. CDC director Rochelle Walensky
conceded that over 90% of schools would be considered in areas of high
transmission based on that standard.”
Teachers Unions are to Blame for Much of the School Closure Crisis
Writing in the Philadelphia Inquirer, Jonathan Butcher says the vicious
cycle of school districts calling teachers back to work in-person,
followed by teacher unions telling members to stay home, and then city
or district officials giving in to union demands is playing out in
Philadelphia now. He writes, "The Philadelphia School District
struggled to keep students engaged in school before the pandemic.
Nothing during the COVID-19 era indicates the problem has gotten any
better." Read on.
Jonathan also wrote for the Daily Signal this week about how unions are
keeping members--and therefore students--from returning in-person to
school. Many state legislatures are back in session now, and they
should consider three solutions (at least) when union members refuse
calls to return to work in-person: allow students to attend another
public school; remove the caps on charter school growth and private
school scholarships; and put striking members' salaries back in state
coffers and then use the savings to create education savings accounts
and private school scholarships.
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