Teachers Union Leader Calls for All Schools to Reopen as Political Backlash Mounts – By Lauren Camera (US News) / May 13 2021
The head of the politically powerful American Federation of Teachers says in a speech that ‘conditions have changed’ and that it is time to fully reopen schools.
The head of the American Federation of Teachers – one of the country’s largest and most politically powerful teachers unions – will call on all schools to reopen for in-person learning, full time, five days a week in a major speech that comes as political backlash mounts over school districts that are still using virtual learning, especially the urban school districts from where the union draws most of its membership.
“There is no doubt,” Randi Weingarten, president of the American Federation of Teachers, will say in a speech she’s set to deliver Thursday, according to prepared remarks obtained by U.S. News. “Schools must be open – in person, five days a week.”
“Conditions have changed,” she’ll say, blaming the previous administration for creating an environment of fear and mistrust at the outset of the pandemic that stymied efforts to reopen schools, even now, more than a year later. “We can and we must reopen schools in the fall for in-person teaching, learning and support. And keep them open. Fully and safely, five days a week.”
