The leader of one of the country鈥檚 largest teachers鈥� unions went head to head with Republican lawmakers on Wednesday, saying assertions the union conspired with the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention to keep schools closed longer than necessary at the height of the pandemic are 鈥減atently false.鈥�
The accusations鈥攁 focal point of an by the House Oversight Committee鈥檚 Subcommittee on the Coronavirus Pandemic鈥攈inge on last-minute revisions made to CDC guidance to reopen schools, released in February 2021, about a year after the first cases of COVID-19 were reported in the United States.
The revisions were made after leaders of the union, the American Federation of Teachers, were allowed to review the draft guidance and provide feedback, and before it was released publicly.
Republicans have seized on the collaboration鈥攚hich resulted in two substantial revisions, AFT President Randi Weingarten said Wednesday鈥攁s evidence the union purposefully sought to keep schools closed. The closures had devastating consequences for students鈥� academics and mental health, committee members said, citing national assessment data. They say the CDC circumvented normal procedures to allow the union鈥檚 review.
In a letter to Weingarten in March, Rep. Brad Wenstrup, R-Ohio, who chairs the pandemic subcommittee, alleged the CDC 鈥溾�� by letting her and AFT leaders 鈥渞evise and edit an internal draft,鈥� and the exchange 鈥渃oincidentally shifted CDC鈥檚 guidance to align with AFT鈥檚 agenda鈥攌eeping schools closed.鈥�
Weingarten rejected the accusations from majority Republicans during Wednesday鈥檚 hearing.
In a , Weingarten said the CDC consulted with more than 50 organizations before releasing the guidelines. It would have been 鈥済overnmental malpractice of the highest order鈥� to not include the union in the review, Weingarten wrote.
The union represents more than 1.7 million members in education, government, and health care professions in more than 3,000 local chapters across the country.
鈥淣ot surprisingly, the CDC would want to consult with the leadership of the country鈥檚 largest teachers union to consider our insights, expertise and suggestions on a strategy that would directly affect our membership in matters of life and death,鈥� she wrote.
AFT鈥檚 larger counterpart, the National Education Association, was also able to review the CDC guidance before its release, .
Though billed as a hearing to examine the process of developing the CDC guidance, it at times seemed like more of a postmortem examination of school closures, which were largely decided on the district level, but districts generally followed guidance from state and federal public health officials. Lawmakers鈥� questions and statements often diverted to other topics, such as the medical knowledge of AFT members, future Republican budget priorities, school safety and gun violence, 鈥渃ulture wars,鈥� and book bans.
Weingarten and Democratic members of the committee were at odds with the Republican majority about what drove the extended school closures.
Republicans claimed the AFT had outsized influence over the development of the CDC鈥檚 guidance because of its political donations to Democrats and advocacy groups. The union used that influence, GOP members said, to extend the closures beyond what science and data available at the time supported.
鈥淵our organization has demonstrated that what you actually care about is gaining and exerting political influence and lining your pockets with taxpayer money, even if that is at the expense of our own children,鈥� said Rep. Ronny Jackson, R-Texas, a former White House physician for presidents Barack Obama and Donald Trump.
Weingarten and Democrats argued that including the union in the development of reopening guidance was appropriate because it affected its members. The AFT wanted schools to reopen as quickly as possible, Weingarten said, but only when public health professionals thought it was safe and with appropriate precautions in place.
鈥淲e spent every day from February on trying to get schools open,鈥� she said Wednesday. 鈥淲e knew remote education was not a substitute for opening schools but we also knew people had to be safe.鈥�
The union鈥檚 push for pandemic precautions
To be sure, Weingarten called on schools to reopen safely starting in the early days of the pandemic. The union, which Weingarten has led since 2008, developed , released in April 2020.
But she was also adamant that schools only reopen with what the union had deemed to be appropriate safeguards鈥攍ike masking, access to regular COVID-19 testing, and having nurses on staff in schools to help manage pandemic needs. Those priorities were also outlined in the AFT鈥檚 2020 reopening guide.
Those safeguards, and an inability for all districts to access them, were often the sticking points for local unions as they pushed back on district reopening plans.
In July 2020, months after the first cases of COVID-19 were detected in the United States, Weingarten said if districts didn鈥檛 meet the AFT鈥檚 expectations for safe return plans that 鈥渘othing is off the table鈥攏ot advocacy or protests, negotiations, grievances or lawsuits, or, if necessary and authorized by a local union, as a last resort, safety strikes.鈥�
Sending teachers and students back into schools without safety measures in place would have been reckless and unsafe, Weingarten reiterated Wednesday.
鈥淲e knew that the safety protocols we advocated for were not an obstacle to reopening schools, as some officials claimed at the time鈥�,鈥� Weingarten wrote in her message to the committee prior to the hearing. 鈥淗ealth and safety protocols were the pathway for students and staff to get back to school and stay in school and to create trust throughout the school community.鈥�
Members of the coronavirus pandemic subcommittee, including Wenstrup, argued that the requested safety precautions鈥攕pecifically distancing requirements, routine testing, and use of the rate of community spread of the virus to determine opening procedures鈥攚ere 鈥渘ot based on sound science鈥� but 鈥渨ere all directly supported by the AFT community.鈥�
鈥淚t became clear, in fact, essential, long before the beginning of the fall of 2020 semester that schools needed to be and safely could be open for in-person instruction,鈥� Wenstrup said.
Two substantial revisions
The two revisions to the guidance suggested by the AFT and incorporated by the CDC, according to Weingarten鈥檚 testimony, were:
- Encouraging schools to provide options, like reassignment or remote work, for staff members who were at high risk for complications if they contracted COVID-19; and
- Adding language that, in the event a new strain of the virus surfaced, the guidance document may need to be revised to respond to different conditions.
The latter equated to a single sentence, Weingarten testified. And adding language to allow flexibility for staff was intended to 鈥渢ry to avoid unnecessary illness or death and allow teachers to continue doing their job,鈥� she wrote in her memo to the committee.
鈥淚t is hard to understand how any reasonable and humane person would oppose this suggestion,鈥� Weingarten wrote.
Weingarten was accused by some subcommittee members, including Rep. James Comer, R-Kentucky, of having an 鈥渦nusual鈥� opportunity to do 鈥渓ine-by-line edits鈥� of the draft CDC guidance in 2021.
She said the AFT provided feedback and 鈥渃oncepts鈥� for the agency to consider.
Focusing on the future
The consequences of the extended school closures are clear: Students鈥攔egardless of gender, race, or socioeconomic status鈥�suffered major blows to academic achievement, as evidenced by the most recent results from the National Assessment of Educational Progress. It鈥檚 likely to take years to catch kids up academically, alongside the urgent need to address the pandemic鈥檚 effects on students鈥� mental health and social development, experts say.
U.S. Surgeon General Vivek Murthy on Tuesday said the increase in youth mental health needs, driven at least in part by the pandemic, is the 鈥渄efining public health crisis of our time,鈥� building on previous calls to action he has made for 鈥渁n all-of-society effort, including policy, institutional, and individual changes in how we view and prioritize mental health.鈥�
Children鈥檚 needs should be lawmakers鈥� focus now, said Rep. Raul Ruiz of California, the subcommittee鈥檚 ranking Democrat. Focusing on 鈥減olitical鈥� allegations of wrongdoing is not helpful, he said.
鈥淭hese uncredible allegations will do nothing to prepare us for the next deadly airborne pandemic and keep our schools safely open while reducing its transmission,鈥� Ruiz said.
