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Source: AP Photo/Susan Walsh, Pool
Newly-surfaced emails between teachers union executives and officials working for the Centers for Disease Control (CDC) show that the unions played a role in crafting the language of the CDC’s school reopening guidelines, The New York Post reported.
The emails show that CDC Director Dr. Rochelle Walensky coordinated with American Federation of Teachers (AFT) on language for the guidelines, and the union even described the CDC as its “thought partner.”
“We were able to review a copy of the draft guidance document over the weekend and were able to provide some initial feedback to several staff this morning about possible ways to strengthen the document,” AFT senior director Kelly Trautner wrote in an email to coronavirus mitigation officials. “…We believe our experiences on the ground can inform and enrich thinking around what is practicable and prudent in future guidance documents.”
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The American Federation of Teachers successfully lobbied the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention to change its guidance on school reopenings, emails show.
As the CDC was preparing to issue guidance that it was safe to reopen schools fully in February, emails obtained through a Freedom of Information Act request revealed that the AFT was behind the scenes,
lobbying the agency and the Biden administration to adjust the guidance to make it friendlier to school closures and hybrid learning.
“Thank you again for Friday’s rich discussion about forthcoming CDC guidance and for your openness to the suggestions made by our president, Randi Weingarten, and the AFT,” AFT Senior Director for Health Issues Kelly Trautner wrote in one of the emails.
The Biden administration is all about the science. Like all lefties it loves science. Political science. Here s the behind-the-scenes politics of what happened when the CDC decided schools should reopen, but Randi Weingarten and the AFT had a different point of view. CDC Director Rochelle Walensky had already said that schools could reopen, only to be quickly shut down by Jen Psaki, who falsely claimed that the CDC boss, spoke to this in her personal capacity. Our CDC commissioner is going to be coming out with science-based judgment, within I think as early as Wednesday as to lay out what the minimum requirements are, Biden whined.
Virus, technology, unrest make stressful year for teachers
ACACIA CORONADO and KANTELE FRANKO, Associated Press
May 2, 2021
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1of3First-year teacher Cindy Hipps stands outside of Lagos Elementary School, at Manor Independent School District campus east of Austin, Texas where she has taught first grade in a virtual and in-person hybrid classroom during the COVID-19 pandemic. Hipps said she was told she was introduced to the ring of fire of teaching. I feel like a superwoman now, like I can take on anything.” (Acacia Coronado/Report for America via AP)Acacia Coronado/APShow MoreShow Less
2of3First-year teacher Cindy Hipps sits outside of Lagos Elementary School, at Manor Independent School District campus east of Austin, Texas where she has taught first grade in a virtual and in-person hybrid classroom during the COVID-19 pandemic. Hipps said she was told she was introduced to the ring of fire of teaching. I feel like a superwoman now, li