Parents slam Democrats' 'laughable' attempts to rewrite history on school closures after test scores fall
Randi Weingarten, White House attempt to reframe their position on school reopening policies during COVID-19
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}American Federation of Teachers President Randi Weingarten was up in arms after a Wall Street Journal op-ed accused her of "flunking the pandemic," joining the chorus of leftist voices attempting to shift the blame for pandemic-era school closures away from Democrats in charge and onto former President Donald Trump.
Parents Beth Ann Rosica and Rob Kutner along with child educational advocacy non-profit founder Dana Hensley took exception Wednesday on "Fox & Friends First" and slammed the notion that blue states and cities should be let off the hook for slipping test performance among students nationwide.
"I'm not a big Trump supporter, but I can tell you definitively that President Trump, in the summer of 2020, made it very clear that schools should reopen, and that is not what happened in Democratic states," Rosica told host Todd Piro.
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}DEMOCRATS TRY TO REWRITE HISTORY AROUND SCHOOL CLOSINGS, REOPENINGS AMID LEARNING LOSS
A "closed" sign in front of a public elementary school in Grand Rapids, Michigan in March 2020. (iStock)
Rosica, a Pennsylvania mother of two and a former Democrat, said she did not think she could ever vote for the party again.
"I'll never say never because you never know how things could change, but right now, there is certainly no circumstance under which I would vote for a Democrat."
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}Dana Hensley, founder of the Restore Childhood non-profit which advocates for kids in light of COVID-era policies, called the attempts to backtrack on school closures "completely laughable," including White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre's claims from Thursday press briefing when she noted the "mismanaged" pandemic during the Trump administration.
DEMS, WEINGARTEN TRY TO REWRITE HISTORY ON COVID SCHOOL CLOSURES
In-person learning advocate Bethany Mandel feels the COVID pandemic and school closures that coincide with it have "completely destroyed the idea of a meritocracy in America" because children aren’t all receiving the same opportunities. (iStock)
Hensley also described the uphill battle parents endured to see their children reenter the classroom in blue states.
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}"Residents and parents in blue states only had their kids go back to school full-time if they crowd-funded lawsuits, sued their school district and their governors," she said. "There's no way that what the White House is putting out is true."
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San Francisco parent Rob Kutner weighed in next, calling the left's rebranding attempts "so Orwellian [they're] almost Soviet."
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}"These were the people on the internet over the last two years talking about school closures were the way to go," he said, noting the effects children face for being away from their classmates for two years.