The teachers’ unions have been terrifying members about Covid-19 to keep schools closed, writes Erika Sanzi, a parent of three school-aged children. Weingarten has played a “massive role” in “ensuring that millions of other people’s children have not seen their teachers or classmates in 11 months.”
Weingarten “is part of the reason that so many children are regressing at lightning speed both academically and developmentally,” writes Sanzi. “She is part of the reason that so many adolescents barely leave their beds.” She is “not Glinda the Good Witch.”
Teachers don’t want to be seen as standing in the schoolhouse door. Weingarten is “a keen reader of the political tea leaves and a very good tactician,” writes Andrew Rotherham on Eduwonk. She sees governors, mayors and the “influencer class” shifting support to reopening, now that Trump is gone.
As the article indicates, Weingarten appreciates that the finances of public education are more fragile than people think and even a modest change in parent behavior as a result of the pandemic experience would create problems that would impact labor.
School enrollment was expected to fall in most parts of the country because of the baby bust. If you keep telling parents schools are unsafe and drive the less nervous to private schools . . . Who are AFT and NEA teachers going to teach?