The American Federation of Teachers (AFT) sent a letter to the chairman and ranking member of the Select Subcommittee on the Coronavirus Pandemic on Wednesday, blasting Republicans for “false and misleading claims” ahead of a hearing next week featuring the union’s head.
AFT President Randi Weingarten is prepping her testimony for April 26 after she agreed to be a witness in a hearing titled “The Consequences of School Closures, Part 2: The President of the American Federation of Teachers Ms. Randi Weingarten.”
The purpose of the hearing, according to Chairman Brad Wenstrup (R-Ohio), is to “delve into the role Ms. Weingarten and the AFT played in editing the CDC’s school reopening guidance and keeping schools closed longer than necessary.”
AFT counsel Michael Bromwich sent a letter to Wenstrup and ranking member Jamie Raskin (D-Md.) hitting back on the assertions Republicans have made about AFT’s role in the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s (CDC) guidance for reopening schools.
Republicans have said the AFT had an outsized role in developing the CDC’s “Operational Strategy for K-12 Through Phased Mitigation” during the pandemic, which they say led to prolonged school closures.
“The AFT’s role has been exaggerated and falsified to support pre-conceived conclusions that the Operational Strategy was subject to undue and inappropriate outside influence,” Bromwich said in the letter.
The letter details the communications the AFT had with the CDC, including a call Weingarten joined in January 2021 with CDC members to share concerns the union’s 1.7 million members might have about it.
Bromwich said many of the issues raised in the call were already in the CDC’s draft guidance, except a concern about school staff who could be a high risk for the coronavirus.
“During the call, the AFT promised to send the CDC proposed language to consider related to accommodations for high-risk educators and staff, which a senior AFT staff member sent to the CDC on February 1, 2021,” he said.
Another concern Republicans raised was that AFT was able to make line-by-line edits of the CDC’s reopening guidance, which Bromwich said was minimal.
“The suggestion that the AFT played a major role in revising and editing the Operational Strategy is wildly exaggerated. In fact, the AFT’s role was extremely limited. It proposed changes that amounted to a few sentences in a 38-page document. The need to clarify these points was obvious and should have been uncontroversial,” he said.
Along with the minimal edits Bromwich said AFT made to the document, the letter also states the CDC only accepted two changes proposed by AFT. The first was schools should provide accommodations for staff who could be a high risk for COVID-19, and the second language that said if a new COVID-19 variant spiked transmission rates, then the guidance might have to be revised.
Last month, Wenstrup requested that the AFT and 14 other organizations provide information about their contact with the CDC and their role in developing the reopening guidance.
Bromwich emphasized the fact that Republicans even admitted the CDC worked with other organizations, not just AFT.
“In the context of developing a strategy that was explicitly aimed at schools, it would have been reckless and irresponsible—indeed, malpractice—for the CDC not to have consulted with stakeholders, including but not limited to the AFT, representing teachers, school administrators, and students and parents throughout the country, and taken their concerns and suggestions seriously,” he said.
The subcommittee brushed off the letter sent by Bromwich, seeking to focus on the hearing coming up next week.
“A letter is like a free throw, no one is playing defense. Next week, Ms. Weingarten will be under oath. The Select Subcommittee appreciates AFT foreshadowing her testimony, and we look forward to discussing it on Wednesday,” a spokesperson said.
The hearing next week is expected to produce fireworks as Republicans have been staunch in their stance that teachers unions, such as AFT, played a major role in keeping schools closed during the pandemic and contributing to the decades of learning loss students experienced.
“Ms. Weingarten looks forward to providing this Subcommittee with further evidence and facts when she appears before you on April 26,” Bromwich concludes in the letter.
—Updated Thursday at 9:40 p.m.