Hi im Steve Clements and i have a question has going back to school become the political football of this season lets get to the bottom line. The new Academic Year is off to a chaotic start for americas 50000000. 00 students and their families in many schools that are open for face to face learning some students or teachers have already tested positive for corona virus we need to quarantine temporary shutdowns within days with vague and conflicting guidance from Public Officials each of these School Districts has had to come up with its own guidelines think about that for a 2nd in a country with more than 13000. 00 separate School Districts each one is out there figuring this out all out on its own and thats on top of President Trump breathing down their necks with repeated tweets like this one well today were fortunate to be talking about these issues with someone who has worked with schools and teachers all her life and has been a High School Teacher herself Randi Weingarten is president of the American Federation of teachers one of the Largest Labor unions in america representing more than 1600000 teachers and School Employees randi thanks for joining us i guess i just want to ask you for the moment did you ever think that schools would become the political battleground that they have right before both Party Conventions are starting in this country well. You know schools. And teachers and teacher unions and financing of schools have become political footballs for years you know i remember. Candidates like alfonse damato when he was in trouble trying to pit parents against teachers using tenure i remember even bob dole you know saying were not going to be controlled by teacher unions at a Republican Convention so im not surprised that trump and de vos would use. You know were trying to pit teachers against parents it doesnt actually ever work but this is what im really surprised about that the reckless disregard of health and safety and using children and teachers in a political game. Creating the lack of the level of fear and uncertainty that is really new and that i have not seen in modern history any government ever attempt to do its it is reckless disregard and deprivation of childrens lives thats what trump and de vos have done here. No you made a statement recently that we cared more about the process of reopening our bars than we did about reopening the schools and ask about what price were putting on the safety of teachers and the safety of children but youre not opposed to reopening a f. T. V. American federation of teachers has issued a set of guidelines could you tell them about us dont tell us about them sure i mean you know what the reason i said that a few weeks ago is because if you looked at any of the original reopening plans particularly the ones coming out of the white house you know the 1st thing they wanted to reopen were bars and restaurants i mean in fact you know theyre trying to figure out how to have. Revive a Tax Deduction for wealthy people for taking people out for business lunches and dinners as opposed to thinking about what is the most important thing we can do after keeping people healthy and safe and and protecting our hospitals and our nurses and our 1st responders its how would you we open School Safely to create confidence that this fall we opening of schools and colleges weve done really you know were done with a way of dedication and fidelity towards childrens needs and thats what was so shocking that it felt like it was an afterthought it felt like it was well you know. Its august or its july oh schools are supposed to open in august and september well maybe we should think about that a little bit and then it just felt like it wasnt a priority and then when they actually started talking in all caps tweet and all you know caps tweet you must reopen schools it just was so shocked. The lack of regard to the science or the complexity of what that actually met it felt like you know kids just didnt mean anything to you know the politics meant something to trump the kids are thought what was we needed to really open schools and a less haphazard and chaotic way than they were closed and since we werent getting any guidance from the c. D. C. At that point or from h h s and certainly not from the department of education we started on our own talking to epidemiologists and vera this and Infectious Disease docs and pediatricians and people. And other and the slavic and others who had actually done this work and then infuse that with the work of our own members who were on the ground as Health Care Practitioners or educators and we came up with a plan about how to reopen School Safely and i think our plan which we distributed published on april 29th was the 1st one out there of any consequence indeed the c. D. C. s 1st guidance came out about 5 weeks later and the science that we relied on in our plan was the same as their science which you know i was comforted by because it did feel like there was a circumstance of readily accessible scientific guidelines that you needed to follow in order to reopen any indoor or anything and particularly to reopen schools and i can go through what that guidance was and is it is as important today as it was in april and i remind people that we did it at the time that the virus west. Still rising in places like new york and new jersey and connecticut our view was you needed plenty of time to create a new more mobile in order to assure children an educator and Community Safety and thats why we went through really focused on the science and then focused on childrens wellbeing right structural needs where you began you were listening to science you were listening to experts and ive got a bit of a clip from idaho state senator stephen fein im listening to experts would love to get your reaction whats happening is were having a standardized approach by people saying that we need to listen to the experts and next listening to experts to set policy is the latest approach and im very fearful of an elitist approach. Im also fearful that it leads to total talent tarion ism especially when you say well were doing it for the public good well america was founded on the idea that people weighed their own risks they did what they did felt was best for their own interests. Well your its you know i dont actually understand how he could be an education and say this meaning. Education is based upon a set of principles that you actually have to learn theres a difference between fact and fiction you can actually you know believe what you want to believe but youre not entitled to their own set of facts and the question i would have for him and you know him stand this way im a substance teacher we often teach about the tensions in america between the social compact and rugged individual ism but with all due respect the constitution as well as the declaration of independence was about how we ceded some of our individual freedom and power to have real long term freedom so you know so so essentially what hes doing is just putting people in fear in harms way by not thinking about the public good and by not thinking about the science and it saddens me but this is a direct response to the fact that the current president of the United States has been a huge denier about the about coated and about the science that underlies it and about what we need to do to actually make sure that people are safe and healthy and if we do that and if we contain the disease then we can actually deal with the economic implications im glad i dont live in the jurisdiction in which he presides theres been a lot of blame that that has been perhaps unfairly directed teachers this but youre in every community why are the divide so. So covert it has actually so if you think about the last several months. It has exposed the inequality in america and in some ways made it much worse. Theres the great thing about america is that going back to jefferson then again sorry i am a soft studies teacher but going back to jefferson even though Public Education was not baked into the United States constitution it has been baked into every states constitution and every territories constitution including puerto rico and the district of columbia and it is a sense that Public Education gives us the or levels the Playing Field to create opportunity for all it doesnt always happen and money really does matter theres lots of studies that say that wealth actually dictates more of outcomes than almost anything else but Public Education can be the way to level the Playing Field what weve learned pretty kovac last few years is that if we really do focus on wellbeing and making sure their kids have a safe and welcoming place. For school and and then use the roots of engagement and wellbeing to to create powerful instruction and make sure that teachers are really prepared particularly in lots of different ways of teaching and are culturally competent to deal with a lot to chew deal with the broad breath of diversity and inclusion that we need to do and that we really involve community and have lead the leadership in the resources we need then you can pretty much turn around virtually every outcome for kids to the better and so thats where Community Schools come in because they provide some of the Wraparound Services you need to really meet the needs. As kids what has happening with coded is that theres been a huge recognition by parents we just saw in the new gallup poll that public schooling is really important parents have been really grateful about the engagement as imperfect as it was and remote is really imperfect and we dont have enough we we have a huge job divide and we dont have enough connectivity and computers for the kids that we need to make sure that that that that we give it to and on and on but my point is. That the that the connection that teachers had with kids the way to kind of calm kids down and calm parents down during some of the highlights of coded in march and april in may when people had no idea what it was or what it meant or how viral. And how deadly it could be that was huge the other thing thats huge is that teaching is an art and a science you dont just get up one morning and say you can be a great teacher it takes practice it takes a lot of tools and parents as they were home schooling saw that over and over again i believe steve that if we can go the virus then there are things that we can do and frankly joe biden has a good plan about this tripling title one or basically you know tripling the federal resources that are needed for the kids who are most at risk and so if we actually can tackle the virus and start some in School Learning so that we actually start engagement with kids again in person so we really decrease the social isolation and we create we create communities with them and then we wrap services around then over the course of those next few months to a year we can rapidly are a some of the learning loss and rapidly a race some of the ajah and stress that kids have and parents now have about kids learning loss but you have to tackle the virus 1st you cant actually have. A situations like in florida where you open kids are not wearing a mask teachers are not Wearing Masks the School System is like the guy you you know you used you show earlier and then all of a sudden a 1000 people are on quarantine theres an in and out theres an uncertainty about. That so we have to tackle the virus 1st and then and start in many places as a default with remote education where we but we make sure that teachers and kids are connected to each other and then we can overcome some of the inequities but the inequities are vast most of the theres a disproportionate number of the essential workers who are black and brown theres a disproportionate number of people whove gotten sick who are black and brown this is a disproportionate number of people who are unemployed who are black and brown theres a disproportionate number of people who need child care that are black and brown so the in equities have been stark and exposed but it also shows that if we can actually target resources to the peak to the School Districts and people who need it most we can actually really reboot after we tackle the disease and actually very optimistic that if biden and harris get in to leadership that and that we have a senate who will actually give us the funding that we need so that people are not buying their own p p e that we can actually a race the loss right now and we can actually we start in a way that people will say we got through coded were pretty resilient lets actually get to teaching and learning and Building Community again randy you just said something so important that many people may not realize which is that teachers often buy their own supplies or they work with their communities in future to sort of pool where theres because they dont have enough money that each you just said theyre now buying their own people either own personal protective equipment and i loved it and if people are male i mean they had to everyone. Percentage arianas you might ask yeah but i just want to underscore something that i was found remarkable when i when i when i heard it is that many of these teachers that are already low salary to begin with for whom youre advocating are out there using their own funds to educate these kids can you just give our both domestic american audience our International Audience a kind of you know pipeline into understanding what those stresses intentions and costs for teachers are so you know and it is one of the most. I dont actually quite understand how in america teachers can be so revered. And disrespected at the same time and what i mean by that is that people just thought well teachers will figure it out well teachers are so birth human beings well teachers will go to school well it doesnt matter that we dont provide any materials or equipment for them theyll subsidize what you know what they need to subsidize the just figured out and so theres that underlying sense that we can figure out anything that and that we will subsidize our childrens education and we will subsidize our classrooms where the only quote business that actually has to subsidize you know what we do in terms of our equipment and our on our supplies and its expected and and i think that that the issue is that that right now. We can we dont have the sun and i had to pick background we dont have the where with or we are not the leaders that are fighting the virus and what do i mean by us subsidizing normally teachers put out of their pocket so the average teacher probably makes 354050000. 00 now we take out of our pocket on average at least a 1000. 00 to subsidize our classes every teacher i know has a story like the stories that i have which is you know buying books for kids by review books for kids i will never forget one day one of my kids who was really really really really proud i would just leave a room book review book a barrons review book just in her locker or her mailbox and never and for a long time she would not know who was leaving it there and when she graduated she said to me were you the person who left that there. Im like yeah but i wouldnt tell her beforehand because i dont remember to return it i dont want to feel you know that pride of of no i can figure it out myself and thats what teachers do all the time but who has the money to do senators in your own room to have your own p. P. For yourself and for your students how does that how is that our job and the fact that there is no respect for it like the fact that the president and the a head of the Senate Mcconnell refused to actually negotiate with schumer and palosi over school funds at n n its just another example of the disrespect. Of not only educators of the children we serve brandy as we head into the School Season now are things better off or worse off its actually just gotten worse not better because of they often are also in the lack of choice and the credibility issues be have a short term disaster that is not going to get better unless we have new National Leadership if we have new National Leadership it will get better because you can see the resilience on a local level will enable us to not lose this year and well really kind of reopen schools but right now its a disaster. Really just in the in the last couple of minutes here just to to get a quick snapshot and ive felt really appreciate your candor in all of this we see attacks today on the Postal Service thats a basic or institution in the country we see a lot of our norms and the infrastructure in the country under stress and duress we see rights of people that are fragile today do you worry that the American School public School System is in danger at this point of being squashed as well that it that it that it is much more fragile than anyone thinks in this time. So i worry that if we dont have a democracy we will not have an america as imperfect as american democracy is and theres a its a throughline steve through this whole conversation there are still there are several things in america that try to ensure that everyone has an opportunity for power one is Public Education another is voting. Another is being able to be part of the union so that you can actually negotiate the terms and conditions with your boss. But what youre seeing here with the post office is that the a piece of what was in our 1st constitution how to ensure that people actually can communicate with each other through a letter that gets sent from one to another which is as important today as it was back in 177 in in the 1700s because of what happened with covert and as important in rural areas as it is in urban areas the fact that you have a president that thinks its ok to undermine a National Election to undermine the post office to undermine any of the norms of democracy in furtherance of only one thing his reelection that is a huge 5 alarm fire in the United States because as we know from history. We dont actually get a do over after autocracy starts so ultimately i have been really encouraged by the fact that throughout america when people saw those post office box is being taken away they said no this is ours this is our post office and ultimately its going to be people in america over these next 80 days that become the check and balance for making sure we can have a free and Fair Election including the norms of our democracy again as imperfect as theyve been like Public Education like voting like the post office are actually intact through november or with that Randi Weingarten thank you so much for your insights and your candor and well see how this plays out in the conventions and we wish you all very well Randi Weingarten president of the American Federation of teachers thank you thank you steve very much so whats the bottom line parents dont need or want School Reopening still be a Political Tool used by the left or the right they just want their kids to be safe and to get the best education they can under the circumstances as Randi Weingarten said today there are ways to reopen but they take dollars and political will to invest in our children and our future that political will is hiding out somewhere its missing in action nowhere to be seen and america which has always been king of the hill on education is now kicking down its own hill and thats the bottom line. Business leaders is for to find a brass palm. Tree for. Business leaders is for to buy no prospal for. The fun. Ive been covering all of that the america for most of my career but no country is alike and its my job to shed light on how and why. Donald trumps former advisor steve bannon is arrested and charged with fraud over a Campaign Fund for the Us Mexico Border wall. Will again im peter w. Watching live from our World Headquarters here also ahead a u. S. Judge deals miss trump a new setback in his bad
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