Randi Weingarten and her teachers' union are struggling to rewrite the history of how they kept schools shuttered

School closures during the pandemic had a devastating impact on at least one generation of children. Multitudes of kids fell years behind in math, reading, science, and general learning. America's youth also saw significant correlated spikes in mental illness, suicide, and obesity. In exceptional cases, kids forced out of the classroom suffered nightmarish tortures and abuse without anyone cluing in.

Over the past year, Republican lawmakers have zeroed in on how American Federation of Teachers boss Randi Weingarten and her union jeopardized American children's prospects and well being during the pandemic.

Weingarten called the Trump administration's proposal to reopen in-person learning in 2020 "reckless" and "cruel." While the AFT resisted a return to real work, union affiliates joined in, staging sickouts and going so far as to call reopening schools racist.

Weingarten and her union, ever-ready to strike, reportedly also had a decisive hand in shaping the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention guidance, again preventing a wide scale resumption of normalcy.

Rather than assume accountability in the present, the AFT is now trying to rewrite the past.

The AFT, which has endorsed President Joe Biden for 2024 and donated millions of dollars exclusively to Democrats in the 2022 election cycle, released a report last week accusing Republican lawmakers of building "a false narrative about the AFT and school closures" with the intent to "demonize and scapegoat educators and their unions."

The report, entitled "In Search of Scapegoats: The GOP's Failed Scheme to Blame the American Federation of Teachers for School Closures During the Pandemic," refutes claims made by Republicans on the House Select Subcommittee on the Coronavirus Pandemic, including Rep. Steve Scalise's (R-La.) suggestion that the AFT was "granted 'uncommon' access to draft, edit, and review official government school re-opening guidance."

Scalise was referencing publicized communications between Weingarten and former CDC Director Rochelle Walensky from the days leading up to the Feb. 12, 2021, announcement of the center's "Operational Strategy for K-12 Schools Through Phased Mitigation" guidance, which dashed any hopes that American children might return to in-person classes en masse.

The New York Post reported that the CDC, the Biden White House, and the AFT reportedly coordinated not only on the language of the guidance, but also on how it would be presented to the press.

For instance, the AFT suggested that the CDC make mention of providing remote work opportunities to teachers claiming to suffer higher risks of infection or to live with a high-risk "household member," as well as to advise the shuttering of schools in areas with allegedly high COVID transmission levels.

The CDC originally intended to permit in-school instruction regardless of transmission rates but appears to have caved to the union.

Although the AFT appears keen now to paint a different picture, Walensky confirmed as much in a congressional hearing in June.

Weingarten stressed last week that the Republican effort to illuminate the AFT's hand in keeping schools closed amounts to an attempt to "protect [President Trump], who actually created confusion, and exacerbated the fear that people felt as opposed to doing what countries in Europe did, which was prioritizing schools over bars and over restaurants and over commerce."

When former President Donald Trump and elements of his administration advocated for a return to in-person classes after the initial closures, the AFT called for "safety strikes" if its demands were not met in June 2020, reported Politico.

"If the authorities don't protect the safety and health of those we represent and those we serve, as our executive council voted last week, nothing is off the table — not advocacy or protests, negotiations, grievances or lawsuits, or, if necessary and authorized by a local union, as a last resort, safety strikes," said Weingarten.

While Weingarten suggested the strikes were in part about keeping kids safe, then-Deputy Education Secretary Mitchell Zais stressed, "The research and science continue to suggest that it is safer, healthier and better for students to be in school full time."

Weingarten later gave away the game.

"As much as we want to feel 'normal' again, we can do better than the old 'normal' of narrow test-based accountability systems, vast inequality, and chronic underfunding," Weingarten in July 2021. "We have a rare opportunity to reimagine public schooling and pursue bold initiatives that will help all our kids thrive."

The pandemic provided the AFT with an opportunity, which it did not fail to exploit to the fullest.

Now that the pandemic is history and the opportunity has been tapped out, Weingarten — who has previously claimed criticism of her "will lead to violence"; peddled falsehoods to paint Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis in a negative light; and suggested parental resistance to leftist curricula "is the way in which wars start" — said Tuesday it is time to focus on real solutions for kids and communities, not "cynical politics."

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