{"id":464127,"date":"2021-05-02T12:05:37","date_gmt":"2021-05-02T16:05:37","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/?p=464127"},"modified":"2021-05-02T12:05:40","modified_gmt":"2021-05-02T16:05:40","slug":"report-nations-second-largest-teachers-union-influenced-cdc-on-school-reopening-guidelines-delayed-return-to-classrooms","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/report-nations-second-largest-teachers-union-influenced-cdc-on-school-reopening-guidelines-delayed-return-to-classrooms\/","title":{"rendered":"Report: Nation\u2019s Second Largest Teachers Union Influenced CDC On School Reopening Guidelines, Delayed Return To Classrooms"},"content":{"rendered":"<aside class=\"mashsb-container mashsb-main mashsb-stretched\"><div class=\"mashsb-box\"><div class=\"mashsb-count mash-medium\" style=\"&quot;\"><div class=\"counts mashsbcount\">32<\/div><span class=\"mashsb-sharetext\">SHARES<\/span><\/div><div class=\"mashsb-buttons\"><a class=\"mashicon-facebook mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/sharer.php?u=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.conservativenewsdaily.net%2Fbreaking-news%2Freport-nations-second-largest-teachers-union-influenced-cdc-on-school-reopening-guidelines-delayed-return-to-classrooms%2F\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Facebook<\/span><\/a><a class=\"mashicon-twitter mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/intent\/tweet?text=&amp;url=https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/?p=464127&amp;via=ConservNewsDly\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Twitter<\/span><\/a><a class=\"mashicon-subscribe mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"#\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Subscribe<\/span><\/a><div class=\"onoffswitch2 mash-medium mashsb-noshadow\" style=\"display:none\"><\/div><\/div>\n            <\/div>\n                <div style=\"clear:both\"><\/div><\/aside>\n            <!-- Share buttons by mashshare.net - Version: 4.0.47--><div><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/05\/weingarten-1200x800-1.jpg\" class=\"ff-og-image-inserted\"  style=\"display:none\"><\/div>\n<p>The American Federation of Teachers, led by Randi Weingarten, appears to have lobbied the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention to keep schools shuttered amid the coronavirus pandemic and \u201ceven suggested language for the federal agency\u2019s school-reopening guidance released in February,\u201d according to <a href=\"https:\/\/nypost.com\/2021\/05\/01\/teachers-union-collaborated-with-cdc-on-school-reopening-emails\/?utm_source=twitter_sitebuttons&#038;utm_medium=site%20buttons&#038;utm_campaign=site%20buttons\">a Saturday report from the New York Post<\/a>, based on emails between the AFT and CDC.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThe powerful teachers union\u2019s full-court press preceded the federal agency putting the brakes on a full re-opening of in-person classrooms, emails between top CDC, AFT, and White House officials show,\u201d the Post reported Saturday.<\/p>\n<p>The AFT, of course, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.opensecrets.org\/orgs\/american-federation-of-teachers\/summary?id=D000000083\">spent $20 million to elect Democrats<\/a> in the 2020 election cycle, and teachers\u2019 unions have been instrumental, across the country, in <a href=\"https:\/\/www.dailywire.com\/news\/where-teachers-unions-are-still-delaying-return-to-the-classroom\">delaying in-person learning and a return to classrooms<\/a> following the COVID-19 pandemic.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThe emails were obtained through a Freedom of Information Act request by the conservative watchdog group Americans for Public Trust and provided to The Post,\u201d the outlet noted. \u201cThe documents show a flurry of activity between CDC Director Dr. Rochelle Walensky, her top advisors, and union officials \u2014 with Biden brass being looped in at the White House \u2014 in the days before the highly-anticipated Feb. 12 announcement on school-reopening guidelines.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Just days before the February 12th announcement, the Washington Post reported that CDC researchers, in an article for the Journal of the American Medical Association (JAMA) had concluded that schools could reopen safely, provided they took certain safety precautions like mandated social distancing.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThe CDC team reviewed data from studies in the United States and abroad and found the experience in schools different from nursing homes and high-density work sites where rapid spread has occurred,\u201d\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/www.washingtonpost.com\/education\/cdc-school-virus-spread\/2021\/01\/26\/bf949222-5fe6-11eb-9061-07abcc1f9229_story.html\">The Post reported<\/a>. \u201cThe review, which echoes the conclusions of other researchers, comes as many school districts continue to wrestle with whether and how to reopen schools and as President Biden makes a return to in-person learning one of his top pandemic-related priorities.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Days later, the head of the CDC, Dr. Rochelle Walensky, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.dailywire.com\/news\/cdc-director-schools-can-open-without-teacher-vaccines-but-require-mandatory-masking\">noted that schools could reopen safely<\/a> without teacher vaccination, so long as they practiced \u201cuniversal masking.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>But the CDC\u2019s guidance, released on February 12th, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.npr.org\/2021\/02\/12\/967033554\/cdc-offers-clearest-guidance-yet-for-reopening-schools\">was less direct and did not make a universal judgment<\/a> on whether schools could reopen, urging, instead, a \u201cdata-driven\u201d response based on information about the spread of coronavirus in surrounding communities.<\/p>\n<p>The CDC later admitted that \u201cscience\u201d was not the sole driving factor in establishing its school reopening guidelines and that officials coordinated with \u201coutside groups\u201d to make its recommendations on the subject, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.dailywire.com\/news\/cdc-director-admits-its-not-just-science-that-affects-our-guidance-on-opening-schools\">per a report from the Daily Wire<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>Now, the Post notes that those \u201coutside groups\u201d included the nation\u2019s second-largest teacher\u2019s union, which seems to have prevented the CDC from using the language it wanted: \u201cthat schools could provide in-person instruction regardless of community spread\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201c\u2019Thank you again for Friday\u2019s rich discussion about forthcoming CDC guidance and for your openness to the suggestions made by our president, Randi Weingarten, and the AFT,\u2019 wrote AFT senior director for health issues Kelly Trautner in a Feb 1 email \u2014 which described the union as the CDC\u2019s \u2018thought partner,&#8217;\u201d according to the Post.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWe 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,\u201d Trautner continued. \u201cWe believe our experiences on the ground can inform and enrich thinking around what is practicable and prudent in future guidance documents.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>The AFT reportedly demanded that the CDC not make a blanket statement on reopening schools and that the CDC include language demanding accommodations for teachers \u201cwho have documented high-risk conditions or who are at increased risk for \u2026 COVID-19.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWhat seems strange to me here is there would be this very intimate back and forth including phone calls where this political group gets to help formulate scientific guidance for our major public health organization in the United States,\u201d one medical expert told the Post. \u201cThis is not how science-based guidelines should work or be put together.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Both the union and the CDC defended working together on the guidelines.<\/p>\n<p><em>The Daily Wire is one of America\u2019s fastest-growing conservative media companies and counter-cultural outlets for news, opinion, and entertainment. Get inside access to The Daily Wire by becoming a\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/www.dailywire.com\/subscribe\">member<\/a>.<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>The American Federation of Teachers, led by Randi Weingarten, appears to have lobbied the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention to keep schools shuttered amid the coronavirus pandemic and \u201ceven &#8230;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":2277166,"comment_status":"close","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_mo_disable_npp":"","fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/05\/weingarten-1200x800-1.jpg","fifu_image_alt":"Report: Nation\u2019s Second Largest Teachers Union Influenced CDC On School Reopening Guidelines, Delayed Return To Classrooms","footnotes":""},"categories":[],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-464127","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry"],"fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/05\/weingarten-1200x800-1.jpg","fifu_image_alt":"Report: Nation\u2019s Second Largest Teachers Union Influenced CDC On School Reopening Guidelines, Delayed Return To Classrooms","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/464127","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=464127"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/464127\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2277166"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=464127"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=464127"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=464127"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}