Randi Weingarten, President of the American Federation of Teachers (AFT), was recently appointed to a new Department of Homeland Security (DHS) school safety advisory council.
Weingarten is known, among other things, for advocating for school closures during the COVID-19 pandemic. The AFT pushed for delays in school openings, significantly later than many other developed nations.
In the fall of 2020, Weingarten denounced calls to reopen schools as “reckless, callous, cruel,” and this stance has received criticism due to the impact on academic achievement rates and mental health. This news comes as the National Assessment of Education Progress (NAEP) reveals that math scores for 13-year-olds in the US have hit a decades low and reading scores are also in decline.
The announcement of Weingarten’s appointment has been met with condemnation. Representative Ben Cline (R-VA) stated, “Randi Weingarten chose appeasing teacher unions over getting students back in the classroom during the pandemic. Now, math and reading scores for the Nation’s 13-year-olds are at the worst decline in decades.” He further questioned why DHS is “rewarding bad policy.”
Senator Rick Scott (R-FL) expressed similar sentiment, stating Weingarten “is the last person who should be advising anyone on school safety.”
However, DHS Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas sees value in Weingarten’s appointment. He stated, “Leaders of our academic institutions and campus life have a great deal to offer in helping us counter the evolving and emerging threats to the homeland.”
Weingarten, when questioned by House Republicans on the AFT’s involvement in public-health discussions with the CDC, didn’t have a clear response regarding the number of child COVID-19 deaths in 2020, leading to further questioning of her qualifications to advise on school safety and preparedness measures.
