CNN political commentator Scott Jennings accused American Federation of Teachers union boss Randi Weingarten of having “no remorse” for the damage done by lengthy pandemic-era school closures during a heated discussion Thursday night.
Jennings pilloried Weingarten, an influential union leader and Biden administration ally, a day after she defended her involvement in the controversial school lockdowns during a contentious hearing on Capitol Hill.
“We don’t know each other, but speaking on behalf of millions of American parents — I have four at home, I had to teach them at home, my wife had to teach them at home — I am stunned at what you have said this week about your claiming to have wanted to reopen schools,” Jennings said during the segment, according to a recording from Mediaite.
“I think you’ll find that most parents believe you were the tip of the spear of school closures,” Jennings continued.
“There are numerous statements you made over the summer of ’20 scaring people to death about the possibility of opening schools, and I hear no remorse whatsoever about the generational damage that’s been done to these kids. I have two kids with learning differences.”
“Do you know how hard it is for them to learn at home and not in a classroom that was designed for them? And for you to sit in front of Congress and the American people and say, ‘What? I wanted to open them the whole time,’” he added. “I am shocked, I am stunned. And there are millions of parents who feel the exact same way.”
Jennings was referencing Weingarten’s remarks on Capitol Hill, where the defiant union boss insisted that she had consistently pushed for school reopenings.
Throughout the pandemic, Weingarten and other union officials pushed for schools to stay closed until strict safety precautions were in place — a move that improperly delayed in-person instruction to the detriment of young children, according to critics.
“We wanted to be in school; I’ve said that over and over again today,” Weingarten said during her testimony.
Earlier this week, The Post reported that Weingarten had consulted with CDC Director Rochelle Walensky and White House officials prior to a Feb. 12, 2021, announcement that slowed a full reopening of in-person instruction for students.
When pressed by Jennings on her actions, Weingarten defended her handling of the situation.
“I don’t know you, sir, and you don’t know me. But I have worked for the last 20 or 30 years helping kids every single day. I’ve been a schoolteacher, I’ve been a union leader,” Weingarten replied. “I knew and understood the importance of reopening the schools and the importance of making sure that people were safe.”
“And poll after poll that we did of parents — and I spent a lot of time with parents — said that they basically understood and supported that we needed to do both. I’m really sorry about your kids,” she added.
Jennings fired back, pointing out that the US had lagged behind European counterparts on return-to-school initiatives.
“You think parents wanted to keep the kids?” Jennings said. “You think parents support you in keeping kids? Why did we fail? How did Europe and the rest of the civilized world get this right and we failed?”
Weingarten said that “nobody wanted to keep kids at home.”
“The schools in Europe that opened sooner than we did, and most of them did, had the mitigating strategies that we were just talking about,” Weingarten added. “It wasn’t negotiable.”
[Written in collaboration with other media outlets with information from the following sources]
