(Headline USA) House Republicans announced this week that they will hold a hearing to look into the consequences of the Biden administration’s directives encouraging school closures during the pandemic.
Rep. Brad Wenstrup, R-Ohio, said the Select Subcommittee on the Coronavirus Pandemic will tackle this issue in order to provide accountability for the many families and students who were devastated by extended distance-learning. He specifically blasted Randi Weingarten, president of the American Federation of Teachers, who helped draft the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s school closure guidance.
“The influence of Randi Weingarten, President of the American Federation of Teachers (AFT), may have jeopardized the well-being of our nation’s children during the COVID-19 pandemic. If so, she should be held accountable,” Wenstrup, the chairman of the committee, said.
Weingarten and the other teachers union officials who advocated against schools reopening seemed to have had political motivations, Wenstrup pointed out.
“Even when healthy and successful learning environments were possible, Ms. Weingarten and the AFT advocated against school reopenings. Safely returning our children to school as soon as possible should have been our top priority,” he said. “I look forward to hearing Ms. Weingarten’s testimony and learning about the role AFT played in promoting school closures that ultimately harmed the academic, mental, physical, and social development of our youth.”
The committee held its first hearing on this topic last month, during which witnesses testified that evidence did not support keeping schools closed.
“At the Select Subcommittee’s first hearing on pandemic-era school closures in March, expert witnesses testified that the ‘science’ never justified the prolonged closing of schools. Chairman Wenstrup sent a letter to Randi Weingarten last month requesting documents and information related to AFT’s impact on the CDC’s scientific school reopening guidance,” the subcommittee said in a statement.
