The Biden administration announced new members of its school safety board this week, including Randi Weingarten, the teachers’ union head who backed school closures throughout the pandemic.
The Homeland Security Academic Partnership Council, which makes recommendations on safety concerns in schools, received 20 new appointments this week including Weingarten, head of the American Federation of Teachers. DHS secretary Alejandro Mayorkas, who has faced Republican pushback for his response to the ongoing border crisis, announced the selections this week.
“Leaders of our academic institutions and campus life have a great deal to offer in helping us counter the evolving and emerging threats to the homeland,” Mayorkas said in a statement. The group advises on campus safety, its website says.
Weingarten has long faced criticism for her role in government lockdowns. She was recently called out by political commentator and father Scott Jennings for denying her responsibility in prolonging school closures.
“Speaking on behalf of millions of American parents … I am stunned at what you have said this week about your claiming to have wanted to reopen schools,” Jennings said during an April CNN panel discussion.
Weingarten testified in front of Congress in April surrounding her union’s role in shaping public policy on school lockdowns. Weingarten told Congress that “we spent every day from February on trying to get schools open. We knew that remote education was not a substitute for opening schools.”
A review of Weingarten’s statements by the Washington Free Beacon found that she was actually not the school reopening champion she says she was. She called then-president Donald Trump’s desire to reopen schools “reckless,” “callous,” and “cruel.”
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