President of the American Federation of Teachers Randi Weingarten, one of the largest education unions in the country, isn't promising schools will be open in the fall.
During an interview with MSNBC this week, Weingarten argued the Delta variant of Wuhan coronavirus has thrown a "curveball" into reopening efforts.
"We want schools to reopen and have a safe and welcoming climate in the fall," Weingarten said. "Delta threw us a real curveball and, you know, the lack of the herd immunity and enough people being vaccinated and, you know, kids not being able to get vaccines 12 and under."
"We're going to keep kids safe. We're going to keep our members safe, and we're going to try to open up schools and we're going to try to move through this political battlefield," she continued.
Teacher union head Randi Weingarten won't say whether or not schools should open in the fall. pic.twitter.com/DvUMtziBdd
— The First (@TheFirstonTV) July 28, 2021
This comes after union teachers demanded they jump the line for vaccinations earlier this year. They were accommodated and still refused to go back to work.
Despite the rapidly increasing number of shots administered to school officials, teachers unions have remained reluctant to have their members return to the classroom for in-person teaching.
Legal battles have popped up around the nation from San Francisco to Chicago, largely surrounding the issue of getting teachers back in the classroom for in-person instruction.
In late March, an agreement in Oakland, Calif., to reopen classrooms early for high-needs students, including homeless, foster and special needs kids, was rescinded after not enough teachers agreed to return to the classroom, despite cash incentives and vaccine prioritization.
Demands for billions of federal tax dollars for school ventilation and other mitigation measures were passed through Congress, and yet, the extortion continues.
As debates raged earlier this year over reopening schools and including money for education in a massive coronavirus relief package, the nation’s largest teachers unions sharply increased their spending on political contributions, a comparison to the same period in 2019 shows.
The money overwhelmingly went to Democrats, who had just taken control of the White House and the Senate while retaining House control.
The American Federation of Teachers political action committee gave $1.6 million to congressional candidates and committees, including $1 million to House Majority PAC, a super PAC that boosts Democratic candidates, a CQ Roll Call analysis of federal filings showed.